I Made A Thing!

Actually, I made a bunch of things.  I made my bedroom clean. (And re-arranged the furniture).  And then I made my sewing room clean. (And rearranged the shelving).   Pics of all that soon.

For now, though:  my sewing chair reeeeally needed an update.  I re-covered the back of it when I brought it home from the as-is bin at Ikea, waaaaay back in October of 2011.  The back fabric was still okay (aside from a couple of holes), but the seat had never been recovered, and it had definitely seen better days. It was covered with paint and loose threads, and the fabric had been worn shiny in a couple of large, butt-cheek-shaped spots.

Before: 

Oh, also?  It was...beige.  So office-y. 

After: 

Is that not some crazy grandma-riffic fabric?  Hee.  I've had this (printed, drapery-weight, cotton) fabric sitting in a bin for a couple of years, and though it's pretty horrible, I couldn't bring myself to get rid of it.  It's BLUE!  Like 90% of my stuff is blue.  And it's fun-horrible, tee-hee.

Both the seat cover and the back are just slip-

covers closed with a drawstring underneath.
Ikea's seat cover was permanently affixed to the
under-side of the seat.  I left the beige cover on
the back, because it was the only thing covering

the bare foam. 

The back also has a discreet zipper on one side

edge. When I made the original beige cover, I had

to slip-stitch the open side closed by hand (because the top of the back is wider than the 

bottom). This time I just happened to have a zipper

that kinda coordinated. :) 

The whole slipcover project only took me about an hour.

That was after an hour of ripping four years' worth of sewing detritus from inside the wheels.  It rolls again! Yay! Ew.

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Couch Slipcover: Epilogue

I recovered the couch in July/August 2010.  *checks watch*  It is now June of 2012 - almost exactly two years later - and the slipcover is in great shape, still comfy, nice and soft, and although there are a couple of spots where the cats have clawed at the fabric, it's not bad at all.  I'm still really pleased with how it's holding up.

Except for one thing.  It's fading

1. really fast
2. unevenly - as in, the whole couch looks like it was made with four different brown fabrics.   Which is what happens when you use curtain panels to upholster your furniture:  they didn't all come out of the same dye batch, so they're aging differently.  Which I knew, but...well, they were cheap.  I needed cheap. 

Options: 

• throw a gigantic soft throw of some kind over the whole thing.  If I can find one large enough to look right, that is not just a bedsheet.  Which I can't. 
• remove the entire cover, wash it, and attempt to dye it. 
• remove it, take it apart, and use the pieces as a pattern to make a new cover...yup, completely replace the cover after only 2 years.   

I'm tempted to be mad that the thing is getting weird after two years - but I kind of intended it to last for a couple-three years, just until I could figure out and make a nicer cover for it.  I used what I had, intending to replace it.  And it's getting to be time.  What to do, though? 

1.  I've always wanted a blue velvet couch
2. have you ever tried to scrape cat hair off velvet?

funky-comfy drop cover, or soft linen?
But, the whole reason I slipcovered the thing
was so I didn't have to drape blankets over it! 

pattern-y? 

slightly more monochrome pattern-y?

or, since it's mostly the cushion fabric that's faded,
not the main body of the couch, I could do a co-
ordinating fabric on the cushions only, for the time
being.  I've done it before, and it was neat.  But..

Hm.

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Grunge-Be-Gone: A Gnu Before-N-After

On my last trip to Ikea I found a little office chair in the as-is section for $9.99. Yup. A $140 NOMINELL chair for ten bucks.  SCORE.

Before:

It'd been a floor model.  For a long, long...long...long time, it would seem:

ewww.

EWWW!

But, never fear!  It only took about half an hour to remove the old (grungy, red, microfiber) cover, separate it into its pattern pieces and use them to make a new cover...

the little hooties that go around the posts under the back

After: 

TADA!   New clean chair that coordinates with the color scheme that will be in the room once I finish painting things, and get some real flooring down over that green-painted concrete:

oooh, aaah.

CLEEEEEAAANN!!

Awesome.

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Floorplan Mischief Managed! (Living Room Before + After)

OHAI, a real post!  :D

The other week I got all fired up about re-arranging the furniture in my living room.  The old arrangement lacked seating space for guests, and while I had the space broken up into two rooms by function, they weren't really separated - it was just a bunch of furniture in one big space.  It was cluttered, and there was a bit of a floating couch situation: 

meh.

 The new plan called for taking the tv/entertainment center off the wall and arranging the seating area perpendicular to the room instead of parallel to it, like this: 

yay!

Having finally rendered the Minicouch functional (if not done - yet!), and finished the silver floor lamp, I have finally finished moving everything around:   

<-- tv's over here

It's soooo much more comfortable.  There's real conversation space, with views of the windows and the rest of the room from the seating area, instead of the couch just facing the tv.  The two spaces - living area and office/music - are separated  by the entertainment center and a screen behind it

Still to do in this room:

• art for the big empty wall above the Minicouch (er...the black thing is the old tv wall bracket, which also needs to be taken down and the holes patched)
• a slipcover for the Minicouch, too
• some sort of rug situation (working on it)
• a round coffee table??
• an ottoman and floor cushions 
• the meditation pallet is still in the corner behind the brown couch, but needs de-cluttering and spiffing up

As with everything - more on all of this later!  In the meantime, I really do love the new seating arrangement.  This little corner between the couches, I think, is my favorite...and hey, there's that silver lamp!  Tada:

To be continued...



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Before + After: Secret Beer!

Before: 

After:

"furniture"

That's a storage ottoman that keeps things cold - and it only cost me $8, since this drapery fabric was on uber-clearance at Hobby Lobby.  I already had cord for the welting and thick quilt batting in The Storage Pit (what Kress has taken to calling my supply stores...or maybe he's referring to my craft room.  I really don't know.  Maybe I should clean it again at some point).

the buttons are TOO SMALL - but it's what I had

Really, I just like saying "secret beer."  At the event this weekend, this cooler will actually hold ice, bottled water, a couple of sodas, and finger-munchies to snack on during the day before the big feast in the evening.  :)


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Secret Beer & Other Plans

As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago (I think...?)  Kress and I have recently joined the SCA.  Very simply, for those of you who might not know what that is:  the folks who get dressed up in Medieval and Renaissance costumes and fight with sticks in the park.  This is why I'm so busy this week: I'm up to my ass in alligators with costuming and putting together gear for our first event, which is in two weeks!

The SCA involves camping, and camping involves, amongst other things, brightly-colored plastic coolers...which don't exactly add to the ambiance.  My friend Nan sews cushioned slipcovers to drop over hers, to turn a plastic cooler into an ottoman!  Camouflage and additional seating! Awesome.

So in addition to three full adult costumes, I'm sewing an "ottoman" disguise for my rectangular, rolling cooler this week, based on this pattern:

And since we're on the subject of me sewing things, here are a couple more ideas I'm planning to put into action as soon as I'm done with all this costume business:

That's:

1. another cooler cover, this one to turn a cube-cooler into a Moroccan pouf
2. a drop-cover for the old desk chair that I use at my sewing table, because it's FUGLY and scratched and stained and torn
3. a canvas "tent"  cover for the wire shelving units that I currently use to hold up my sewing table top (1), which will eventually be replaced with nice shelving, once I have the extra funds and the time to build them, paint them, and fill them with baskets (2)

2 and 3 actually use fabric that I already have in my "Storage Pit" which is what Kress has taken to calling my craft room closet, which he swears has an entrance to Fabric-Narnia hidden in the back behind the stack of spare pillows, LOL.

cube-cooler pouf:  yeah?

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By the way...

 There! Happy now? JEEZ.    Just kidding.  :)  This is the whole couch-cover that I made from Ikea curtains.  Ta-da!  Down-filled cushions = floppy cushions no matter how much I try to straighten them out.

View of the "whole" living room - the main seating area, anyway.  The cat is Evie - I guess she thought this particular photo shoot was a bit lacking in the feline element.

And here's the Majesty Palm I picked up the other day for ten dollars.  :)

In Which Our Heroine Is SICK OF SEWING OMG

Once upon a time, there was an old wicker chair that had been scratched to death and un-strung by cats, faded with age and sunlight, and covered in an aging, faded, and stained fabric that had once been...well, okay, it was probably always ugly. 

It was Kress' chair, actually, and though he wanted to trash it when he moved in this past Spring, I convinced him to let me try fixing it up.  I cleaned it and repaired the frayed and un-woven pieces, and set about doing a really nifty antique'd/shabby teal finish on it...which did NOT come out right at all, so I stopped halfway through, after which the cushions sat stacked in a closet and the frame sat in the garage for six months holding up a couple of fish tanks that I kept meaning to throw away but hadn't yet. .

Once again I didn't take a "before" picture yesterday before I started re-painting it, because I thought I had one, but I didn't.  Here, though, is a picture of half of a new paint job and the old cushion covers (look closely - the print on the back cushion is actually upside-down):

Wow, that's...tropical.

 The frame got a smooth coat of a sort of tree-bark-brown color, and then dry-brushed with an off-black to give the color some depth so that it wouldn't look just painted. 

I re-covered the cushions using the old covers as a pattern; the fabric is from an old papasan-chair cushion cover that I had stashed away in a box of upholstery fabrics.  The pattern doesn't really work with the style of my living room, although the color's nice;  I just needed something so that I could use the chair in the room.  This'll do fine until I find the perfect fabric:

I also decided to take the opportunity to try top-stitching a soft, wide, false roll- edge, since I love the look but had never done it myself.   I didn't measure or mark the fabric, I just eyeballed it, to get a feel for it - it's not perfect, but I kind of love the way it turned out.  Definitely going to be doing this again.

After my hands heal, because MY GOD this was hard on my arthritis and carpal tunnel!  There's probably some sort of nifty clamp-thing you can use to pinch the cushion edge while you sew with the other hand; but since I don't have one, I just did it all with my fingers.  You would not BELIEVE how much my knuckles hurt by the time I was finished (two hours later, if you want to know).  UGH. 

P.S. - the wicker chair happened yesterday (Saturday).  Today, I finished the couch cushion covers - the couch cover job is actually complete!  Pics later this week when I can get some sunlight up in here.  (So, um, yeah:  I'm pretty sick of sewing right now). 

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Couchness

Remember the couch cover?  I'd almost forgotten about it myself - or would have, if not for the fact that after all the work I did in July, my couch is pretty much STILL covered by spare blankets.  Ugh.

But look!

Seat cushion covers!

This is where a zipper would go, if I had any upholstery zippers.  As it is, I'm stitching them closed for the time being, just to get them in place;  I'll go back and put zippers in at some later date.  At the moment, I just want the couch *done*.

plain ol' whipstitch

Oh, I'll still keep a [matching!] drop-cover over it to keep dust and cat hair off of the couch; but I'll be able to remove it for guests so they can sit on an actual, normal couch-looking couch.

Procrastination much?   Heh.  I know, I know.

Plus I still need to make covers for the back cushions.   Almost there...


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Coming Attractions

Things I've Done In the Past Few Days About Which I Have Not Yet Blogged: 

• moved the sari quilt from the wall in the bedroom to a wall in the living room (much, much better there!)
• hung something up on the bedroom wall in its place that I don't like there, which will be coming back down any day now
• [Kress] purchased a *beaufitul*  hand-painted Kali+Shiva fabric wall hanging at the little Indian shop at the renaissance festival on Saturday (called Kala Gurjari, but alas, they don't have a website)  
• (Also purchased:  shoulder bag made from wool hand-woven tapestry from here, pair of green wrap-pants and a deep blue embroidered kurta from here, and some new incense from my favorite incense maker, here (it's pure incense - no stick, so, no burning-stick smell when you get to the end!)  ...None of which has anything to do with decor, but...squee!! :) 
• got off my butt finally and sewed covers for the seat cushions of the couch!  Now all I have left is to make the back cushions! 

More, and pictures, to come, later this week.  Today I'm dealing with MONDAY.  Boooo!  ;)

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Slipcovering a Sofa: A Novel In Two Parts

Part I:  The Base Unit

I have officially completed* the cover for my sofa most of my sofa!

DARE I even post the "before" pictures?  I'm afraid you won't like me anymore if I do, but hey -

...it can only go up from here, right?!?  EGAD what a nightmare.  This is my Ikea Ektorp sofa, which has been covered with old blankets for two months since I bought it - in which time Rabi has completely gutted the...I'm gonna go with "armpits" ...of my couch.  !$^@$% cat! 

 This is officially the third tailored slipcover I've made in my life; and I'm pleased to report that I did NOT sew my finger this time (the last one I made, there was a bit of a mishap which ended with my hand being pulled up under the machine, and the needle went through my fingertip and out the other side - I actually had to pull out the thread.  Yay, tetanus shots).

A bit about the process, because I took 198 photos last night, and by god, you're going to look at each and every one.   Okay, not really.

I find it easiest to do this starting with one arm, and then filling in from there.  Fabric goes inside-out on the piece (the Ritva curtains are actually the same on both sides, so I didn't have to bother with paying attention to that, thank goodness).  I pin around the edges of the arm, where the seams will be, and trim the fabric up around where I've pinned.  I keep a chalk pencil handy while I'm doing this, to mark shapes and seam lines on pieces I won't be working with for a while, in case I forget by the time I get there.  0:)

Sew; flip that sucker right-side out, and voila:   a finished arm!  Which I then rip apart and use as a pattern for the second arm, then put both together once I've made the welting that goes along the seams.

MAN do I hate making welting:

It's not difficult, but it takes FOR FREAKING EVER.  But it looks great when it's done;  small details like this make a huge difference:

Messy-looking, so far, yes, but just wait...

Same process makes the inside, front, seat, and back.  I split the back down the middle, and will close it with either velcro or a zipper, once I (a) decide which and (b) go get some/one.  The cover would have been too tight to get over the couch without an opening here;  this also enabled me to conserve fabric on the back piece, since I have a limited supply.

Anyway, Ikea's slipcovers, as it turns out, are meant to be secured along the back of the seat by means of a strip of Velcro.  On an upholstered piece, there's a gap between the seat and the back, where the lost change and remote controls live.  Normally, I'd make a long pocket of fabric across the inside seat back and stuff a long wooden rod or broom handle into the pocket, down into the joint between the back and seat, which keeps the fabric in place very well.  But noooo, Ikea has to be different.  Now I have to go buy some velcro to apply to the inside of the cover, which I've marked, so I can just cut it and pop it in when I get to it:

BUT!   

The cover for the base unit is finished*!

*  Well...mostly.   As you can see, it's still loose - the back still need to be closed, stray threads and strings trimmed off, the whole thing needs to be washed again to tighten up the fresh seams, and the bottom edge needs to be pulled tight underneath the sofa and stapled into place.

And it needs cushion covers!  And throw pillows, and throw blankets, and FEET that are not made of plastic (ew).  *falls over*

Anyhoo, lest you fall under the impression that I did this all myself, I'll have to admit that I did have help.  I'd like to give special thanks to my supporting cast:

Evie, Sasha, Daisy & Shelly, and Kress, my hawt-y heavy-metal-bassist boyfriend, who provided the soundtrack (which at one point was "Mary Had A Little Lamb" in a minor key, just to see if I was paying attention, LOL). 

Special thanks to Rabi, my Production Manager, who FUCKED WITH ME EVERY STEP OF THE WAY, ALL NIGHT LONG.
*boots the cat across the room* 

(This is the same little monster that destroyed the armpits of my sofa, and I love him to millions of itty tiny pieces.  :)



Not pictured: TWO more cats and another dog, who sat on their asses all night and didn't lift a single toe, like the lazy bastards they are.



Stay tuned for Part II:  Cushions!  


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Surprise Sofa Slipcover!

A few weeks ago, this friend I keep mentioning that I keep swapping household items with, hehe - gave me several curtain panels she didn't need anymore.  Five Ikea Ritva panels - and I had 3/4 of a panel leftover from having made a pair of pants out of them last year.  They're 100% cotton, linen-weave, chocolate-brown.

I'd been thinking about working them into some sort of roller shade for the living room windows, but I wasn't terribly excited about the idea.  This weekend I realized there was exactly enough fabric there to make the slipcover for my sofa!  I'd been planning to use a microfiber, because I like the fuzziness, but the original idea was to use the Ritvas, for the soft, casual, slightly worn and wrinkled linen-y look.

Basically, I've had a free sofa cover for like three weeks and hadn't realized it.  DERP. 

I spent yesterday preparing the fabric.  I picked out all the stitching on the hems and rod pockets, washed all the panels to pre-shrink them, and ironed those bitches for TWO HOURS.  Good GOD I hate ironing.  But at least my day ended with a trip to the fabric store for welting cord, and a berry smoothie along the way, since I had a coupon.  Mmm, smoothies.

So the fabric's all ready to go, now - if I'm not completely exhausted after work tonight, I'll start on the base unit cover when I get home.  One of the panels is faded in some spots from the sun, but I can use that one on the seat of the sofa underneath the cushions where it won't show - or I could use that one to make all the welting I'll need for the edges. We'll see how it works out.  In any case, I'll probably need to hit Ikea on payday to get one more pair of brown Ritvas; but we'll see how much is left over after the base unit is covered.

Whee!  Thank you, Couch Fabric Fairy!  :)


P.S. - speaking of stuff I wanted that I realized I already had?   The bench I was thinking about purchasing/building to use as a window seat in the dining room?  Was in my garage - the farmhouse-style dining room table that currently lives in my sewing room as a cutting table has two long benches that go with it, that I'd completely forgotten about.  I ran out to the garage all excited about them the other day...only to be stymied by the legs, which were missing.  Like, completely missing - there are no legs, there haven't been for years, according to my boyfriend (his father built the set).   Guess I'll have to make some.  :)

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