fabric

IKEA Office Drawer Makeover {Mod Podge}

Posted by Nat on Mar 7, 2012 | 16 comments

It’s time to get craftin’ around here a bit more.  I have been spending the last few weeks really cleaning out my craft room and getting it organized.  It’s getting to be pretty awesome.  Now all that remains is plowing through some projects so that I can clear off the bed, since the room is also technically a guest room.

I’ve had this little drawer organizer for over 10 years.  It’s one of the first things I ever bought from IKEA, and it’s one of the only things I’ve bought from there that did not require assembly.  I LOVE assembling IKEA furniture.  I’m weird like that.

I decided that since we are going to be in this house until our kids are grown and in college, it’s time to commit to spiffing this thing up.  I also organized all of my office stuff, and purged a lot, so it’s much more feasible to use this in a logical way.  The little orange tabs you see above are what I used to temporarily label the drawers while I pondered what to do with this thing.

You may or may not have seen my sewing & crafting organizers, but this is the same fabric.  Here’s my before and after; below you’ll see a bit about my process.  Doesn’t it look soooo much cooler?!

To prepare the fabric, I measured the width of the drawers. I know that fabric tends to stretch a bit when you use it with Mod Podge, but I also wanted a wrap around on the drawers, so I added about 1/2 inch to the measurement.  I pressed my fabric in the middle of the pattern- you can see the crease below.  Then I measured the height of the drawers and cut very precisely.  I actually had to do this twice because I messed up and Mod Podged a piece on upside down.  Whoops.  Note:  once you put the fabric on, it’s never going to be the same, so if you mess up, you mess up.  It’s best to have extra fabric for this project, unless you are perfect in every way.  Ha.

I knew that I’d be working on this in spurts, so I labeled the pieces of fabric with the corresponding drawer and also an arrow to remind me which was way up.  To do this, I used tailor’s chalk so it just brushed off before I Mod Podged. I didn’t want to leave anything to chance- that’s dangerous for me.

To attach the pieces, I applied a layer of MP to half of the drawer face, pressed the fabric down, and gave it a good rub down.  Then I did the other side.  Before the MP dried, I also poked a hole where the drawer pulls would go back in later.  I just used a sharp pair of scissors.  On the right, below, you can see the little bit of fabric that wrapped around the edge.  These were stubborn- I had to hold them down for about 30 seconds while the MP did it’s work.  I coated the top of the fabric with two coats of MP.

For the top, I measure the fabric and cut to size.  There’s a metal trim, and the fabric stretched over it, so after it dried completely I used an exacto knife and trimmed it off.  I coated the top with Hard Coat Mod Podge, and then sprayed acrylic sealer on it (just one coat) so that it wouldn’t be tacky on the top where I am putting some often-used supplies.

The drawers I labeled with vellum so that the pattern of the fabric wouldn’t be interrupted.  I just love it.

Click here to see all of my Mod Podge projects!

Here’s the before and after again:

Also, you may have noticed my sewing machine cords back there on the left.  I stuck two 3M Command Strips to the wall and I hang my sewing machine cords on them.  That way, when I’m not using my machine and it’s covered up, the cords aren’t under the table getting in the way.  Genius, right?!  🙂

DIY: IKEA Chair Makeover, Part 2

Posted by Nat on Jan 10, 2012 | 9 comments

I am so excited!  The chairs are done!  Read here if you missed Part 1.  If you are considering doing this yourself, be sure to read to the bottom- I link up to a few posts that really helped me out.  And if you like what you see, feel free to leave me some comment love!

Here they are- check them out:

And here’s a “before and after” comparison- doesn’t it look sooo much better?

Side note:  the light in the “before” picture is 3:30 p.m.-ish.  The light in the “after” picture is 9:30 a.m.-ish.  Interesting, eh?

I’ve decided that I am a color person.  I like rooms, especially rooms with light, to have color.  It helps my eyes dance around and it makes my heart happy.

So a few things about my process/what I did:

• I bought my fabric at a local upholstery fabric store.  The guy I spoke with at the store thought I was crazy for my fabric choice.  It’s cotton, and he seemed a bit car salesman-ish to me.  It was the only thing I liked in the store, so I bought it anyway.   I Scotchguarded the crap out of it- I think there are 4 coats on it.  We’ll see how they hold up.  The nice thing is that even if the fabric doesn’t hold up, I love the color, so I can just find new fabric and redo the seats if needed- that won’t take much time at all.
• I used Rustoleum primer and paint.  I believe the green color is called “Eden.”  I did two coats of primer, two coats of green.  I think I probably should have done 3 coats of green for good luck, but I didn’t.  Oh well.  I used every drop of every can I bought, which was 3 cans of primer and 3 cans of paint.
• I sanded the chairs lightly and wiped them down before priming.  I’m not sure it was necessary, but I did it just in case.
• I’ve never been entirely sure how long I had to wait between coats, but I had one morning to bust this out while Anna & Jack were in preschool from 8-12.  So after reading the directions on the can, I came up with a plan.  It took me about 20-25 minutes to do one coat on all 4 chairs, which is about how long the can said to wait.  So I just worked my way around the chairs, checked my watch when one “round” was complete, and then moved on.  I started at 9:30 and finished at 11:45.  I will say this:  it was VERY hot the day I did this and the sun was VERY bright.  This actually made it harder to see any missed spots when I went from white primer to green.

After letting the chairs dry for 24 hours, I coated them with one coat of Polycrylic (I used Minwax).  I HATE that stuff.  It was not fun to use at.  All.  I’m hoping it really does help because I was cussing inwardly a lot.  It did give the green a nice sheen, as the finish of the paint was “Satin” and it wasn’t quite as glossy as I wanted.  But you can see below that the chairs have bubbles in a few places.  Oh well.  I still love them.

I did ponder sanding the bubbles down, but it seemed like I would go through the paint and have to repaint again.  Not gonna go there- I am DONE painting furniture for a while. So, we’ll live with the bubbles and it will be fine.  They are just in a few spots, anyway.

The seat cushions were easy.  I did two coats of Scotchguard to the fabric before cutting and stapling it to the seat pads (I did it several days before actually doing the pads).  As you can see below, I stapled all four sides down in the center, pulling tight, then I worked on each side, and then folded in the corners.  It doesn’t look as neat and tidy as the original Ikea fabric, but I bet that was done by a machine or a person who does a bazillion a day, and no one is going to look underneath my chairs, so… I don’t care. 🙂  Once the fabric was attached, I Scotchguarded it two more times with very light coats.  I’ll keep you posted with how the fabric holds up- I’m curious to see how it does.

One final view.  I just love them.  They’re so bright and cheery.  The first time we used them we talked about sitting on rainbows.  Ha!

The following links proved very helpful to me in this process:

All Things Thrifty posted here about her spraypaint knowledge- uber helpful.

She also posted here with a Spray Painting 101, which includes a video of someone spray painting the correct way.

Lovely Nest’s post here about her dining chair makeover helped in terms of learning about Polycrylic.

Felt Obsession

Posted by Nat on Jan 3, 2012 | Comments Off on Felt Obsession

This project was a little toooo fun for me.  And for my mom.

Did you play with these when you were little?  If you’re a child of the mid- to late-70s, you may have.  They are flat, sort of like a glorified paper doll/Flat Stanley.

They are called “Twigs and Wigs” dolls, and after a little research I found that they are not made anymore, so I have officially dubbed them “cool retro dolls.”  We had 3, perhaps because I am one of three {awesome} girls.  My sisters and I wore them out!  They came with felt clothes that were uber-easy to put on and take off, which is one reason we loved them so much.  After a visit last winter where Anna played with the old, tired clothes, my mom and I decided to give them a new wardrobe and then give them to Anna at Christmas.  We started during my parents’ visit in late-September, but I finished them up just before we left for Christmas.  Before I go on, check it out- they even had a patent number and everything- aren’t they official?

Felt is addictive.  Not as addictive as Pinterest, but pretty addictive.  It’s so easy to work with, sews nicely, and just feels yummy under your fingers.  We used the old hair-do’s and clothes to make templates, but then I tried to add some new flare to the clothes.  The following pictures are not everything we made, but a nice sampling:

(not so happy with the hat, but Anna loves it)

(the rainbow shirt is my favorite)

Here a few dolls dressed and ready for action:

To keep everything together I also made a little bag with a divider in it so she can put them all away when she’s done (in theory, of course).

She’s played with them several times since Christmas- she loves them.

(Side note:  can anyone tell me when the “I can’t smile for the camera” phase ends?  And yes, that’s my arm tickling her, trying to get her to smile a natural smile…)

Linking up to:

Today’s Creative Blog

Ta-Da Tuesday @ Mommy By Day, Crafter By Night

Hookin’ Up with HoH!

Fingerprints on the Fridge

Anna’s Coat

Posted by Nat on Oct 31, 2011 | 3 comments

*sidebar:  Alternate post titles that were considered:

Respect the Coat

Go Big or Don’t Sew

I Fully Admit I Have No Idea What I’m Doing (my former tag line)

What Was I Thinking? (already taken- see here and here)

Coats are Magic

Irons Are Hot and Dangerous

*end sidebar, other than to say that this post will be LONG.  It’s therapy people- almost like giving birth.  Feel free to just scroll and look at pictures, but I will type out my thoughts, too, though it may be a bit wonky….  Here goes…

A while ago I introduced you to Anna’s Bear, and how I was incorporating him into part of her Halloween costume.  I finally finished!  Here are some photos of Anna in her coat:

The coat by itself:

(some of these photos make the corduroy look really wrinkly, but it’s been pressed, I promise!)

And here are some specific photos in the book that led to my choice of fabric, pattern selection, etc.

Lastly, I couldn’t resist a side-by-side comparison- isn’t she a cutie?

And the backstory:  Anna decided that she wanted to be the little girl from Corduroy, which surprised me given her affinity for ballerinas, princesses and other typical 4-year-old-girl stuff.  One night, as we were reading Corduroy, I mentioned, “Hey, that would be a fun costume for Halloween! We could use Bear as Corduroy, and I could make him some green overalls just like in the book.”  I didn’t think it would stick, but it did.  I asked her randomly for several weeks if she wanted to be a princess, like Rapunzel or Snow White?  Nope.  The Girl from Corduroy (her name is Lisa, but she doesn’t seem to remember that).  Izzy from Jake and the Neverland Pirates?  Nope.  The Girl from Corduroy.   A butterfly?  Nope.  The Girl from Corduroy.  All righty then.

I was on a mission.  After sewing the overalls for Bear I started looking for pink coats (this was also an issue- she said it was pink, I thought it looked more red, but we all know that if I made her a red coat when she wanted pink….).  At the time of my search there were no dark pink anything online- lots of powder pink.  So I searched the books at Joann’s and found it.  Burda #9596 (this link is to a Flickr stream- I cannot find a link to it for purchase online!).  I figured that I could sew it for her in a bit larger size and then we’d have more than just a costume- we’d have a coat for a while, too.  Here is where things got hilarious.

Have I ever sewn a pattern before?  No.

Have I ever sewn an article of clothing for a human to wear before?  No.  (Unless you count some horrendous shirt I sewed in my sewing class that I think I took when I was 8 or 9.)

Have I taken any kind of sewing lessons as an adult?  No.

Hmm.  Well, that makes it perfectly logical to think that I could just whip up a coat, right?  Heh.

I actually bought the pattern and the fabric and other necessities when I bought the stuff for Bear’s overalls, but then we got busy.  My parents were here, my wonderful friend from college was here, and it was a great excuse to mentally prepare.

Some skills that I learned in this process:

• I learned what facings are.  I can’t really tell you what they are in a text book way, but if you take a coat and look just inside it, you’ll probably see the same fabric that’s on the outside of the coat run around the edges and the collar.  Then the lining of the coat will be sewn to it.  Those are facings.
• I learned how to sew pockets into things.
• I learned why, when you buy certain garments, the pockets are sewn shut (actually, they are basted shut).
• I learned why it’s so important to press open seam allowances.
• I learned how to not burn myself when pressing open seam allowances.
• I learned about interfacing.
• I learned how to read a pattern, though there are still parts I don’t quite get.
• I learned that I should probably take a sewing class or two, but am not sure when that will happen.

There are several imperfections on the coat.  One of them is that I somehow missed the part where I was supposed to sew the top and bottom facings together.  I looked back over the instructions and it was not clear at all.  So I made little patches to go over the exposed hems that were a result of my newbie status and called it a day.

The pocket openings are two different sizes, but Anna has yet to notice- she’s just happy to have pockets.  This particular pattern was definitely assuming that one knew what one was doing (ha) so I had to look up a lot of things online.  There was also a lot of lingo that made no sense, so I had to literally stare at the pattern diagram, stare at the coat.  Stare at the pattern diagram, stare at the coat.  And then after about 20 minutes of that something in my brain would click and all of a sudden it would make sense.  I also couldn’t figure out how to sew the lining to the inside of the cuffs at the end of the sleeves, but no one will see that unless I show it to them, and I may have a friend who can help with that.

Overall I am uber-happy with how it turned out.  If I could go back, I would buy a more sturdy, higher-quality corduroy for the coat.  But lesson learned- hopefully it will hold up…

So there you have it- Anna’s coat.  And someday, Emily’s coat, I hope.  I’d also like to take this opportunity to thank my mother.  Some day I will post pictures of the plethora of dance costumes she made for my sister and I.  They were almost always made of satin, lined, and lots of tulle was involved as well.  Props to you, Mom- after one coat, much respect!

Happy Halloween everyone!

I’m linking up to Mady by You Mondays on Skip to My Lou

Coffee Table Upgrade with Mod Podge

Posted by Nat on Jun 18, 2011 | 12 comments

What else would I use to upgrade something?  I mean, really.

So we bought this table from West Elm right after we got married in 2005.  I cannot say that I recommend West Elm furniture for families with small children- it just didn’t hold up.  I loved the table when we first got it- it’s not too big, round (I love round tables for some reason), looked cool for a long time.  But our first condo faced west and the sun hit it during sunset, which took its toll.  Then Anna came, and she did a doozy on it.  I didn’t help either, what with my in-home-acetone-using-French-pedicures (ahem).  So, it was looking pretty sad.  We are now in abode #3, and it was really looking bad.  But we didn’t/don’t have the budget for new furniture right now.  We do, however, have a budget for craftiness and fabric- couldn’t possibly cost as much, right?!  Hmmm… not so sure, but I sure do like how this turned out.  Here’s the before:

I went to my local JoAnn Fabrics, spotted the fabric and loved it right away, so I bought 3 yards, and some black upholstery/pillow trim.  I stocked up on staples for my staple gun, made sure I had plenty of Mod Podge (fabric and hard coat) and a brayer (new fave tool!) and off I went.  In case you aren’t in the mood to scroll, here’s the finished product:

I apologize for the lack of photos- this was done months ago during my blogging break, but I will describe it as best I can.  I won’t say this is a tutorial, but if you ever ponder doing the same thing with one of your pieces of furniture, please shoot me questions and I’m happy to answer them.

First I poured a pretty hefty amount of Mod Podge (fabric) on the table and spread it out as evenly as I could over the top, but not the sides.  Then, I carefully laid the fabric on top, like so:

Then I used the brayer to roll the fabric out as flat as possible until I could see no air bubbles, no bumps, etc.  With the pattern in the fabric my eyes did cross a bit from time to time, and eventually I had to sit down and take a breather.

I waited a bit, and then I carefully trimmed off the excess fabric.  This is when the stapling began.  I wasn’t really sure how I was going to do this part- it was definitely a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants project.  But I ended up being happy with the results.  Basically I pulled the fabric straight down and stapled until I absolutely had to pleat it because of the direction the fabric was pulling.  It seemed scientifically impossible to get it all to lay flat on the sides.  You’ll see in the collage below that there are just some pleats here and there- I stapled them as tight as I could- my fingers were nearly raw by the time I finished.

Finally, I added the trim with a hot glue gun.  I think in hindsight I should have stapled at least the beginning down with a staple or two, but it’s holding up great so far, so maybe it’s not completely necessary?

I wasn’t done yet, though.   I started the Mod Podge process with the hard coat formula using sponge applicators.  I have only been able to find MP hard coat in the smaller jar, and I started with two jars, but ended up buying two or three more.  I always did these coats after the kids went to bed so it could dry over-night.  I decided to go with the “built up finish” because I knew this table would be put under great duress by us and the kids, and the more layers, the better.  This equates to a minimum of 5 coats.  After 5 coats, I didn’t feel it was done yet.  There were lots of ripples in the MP, and I was curious to see if they would go away with a few more coats.  I think I probably did 10 coats or so- it was a lot.  It was also a bit tacky, as MP sometimes is, and I didn’t know what to do about that.  In the end I first sanded it a bit with a really fine-grain sand paper, then sprayed the top and sides with two coats of clear acrylic spray.  I’m actually not convinced I’m done with it, but it’s holding up great until I figure out what to do- maybe I’ll put some custom-cut glass on it someday when the kids are a bit older?  Or maybe by then we’ll be able to afford a new table… Hmmm…     Anyhoo, here are some more shots of the finished product: