sewing « ModHomeEc

Redesigned Sewing Table

May 18th, 2011

Remember the gaping sewing table from yesterday?

First, I spray painted the entire table with primer and then shiny silver paint. Next, I glued the flip floppy top securely in place.

Here she is all dressed up in mirror tiles. Yep, all I did was go to Lowes, buy a pack of 12″ x 12″ mirror tiles and score, cut and glue ‘um on.

I figured out a simple pattern with paper, measured and drew lines on the mirrors with a Sharpie.
Next, I carefully scored the surface with a little glass cutting tool (read the directions!). After cutting glass, CAREFULLY rub the edges with a fine sandpaper, being careful not to cut your hand!!!!

Snap off excess mirror at the score lines and glue on to the surfaces you want to cover. I started with the top, let it dry, flipped the table on one side, then the next and then the front.

For a little pizazz-a-roony, I added one of my handmade vintage polymer/vintage earring knobs. What was once a big, brown box became a glittery, glammy bedroom side table.

Wallpaper to Match the Guy, or Guy to Match the Wallpaper?

April 21st, 2011

Earlier today I told you I was searching for a killer piece of upholstered furniture to dazzle.So far, no luck.
I did stumble upon this great image of Zach Braff in his wallpaper coordinating shirt. I’m a big fan of wearing clothes that match your decor. Not really. However, I do get a kick out of a guy who would ever go to that length for a chuckle.
I’m sure this photo had something to do with Garden State, but it did give me an idea.

Restoring 1963 Scandinavian Twin Sofas

March 14th, 2011

Not one, but two 1963 Scandinavian sofas came for a visit and a makeover. You can see the full project at IndyStar.com, but here’s a sneak peek, as well as the follow up to my Sofa Rescue series.

Remove the old fabric coverings
Chisel (yes, I said chisel) off the old foam from the back cushion mounting boards
Cut new foam and wrap them with dacron
Glue the new back cushions on to the mounting boards
Measure, cut, sew and topstitch the new cushion covers
Stuff the new seat cushions in the covers, and
Upholster the fabric coverings on the new back cushions
Carefully attach the back piece of fabric to the mounting boards

It wasn’t that hard, it just took a lot of time and patience.

Repurposed Kitchen Table Becomes a Rolling Work Table

March 7th, 2011

Having the right work surface is a ‘must’ for a busy studio. After teaching a pillow workshop using a an old banquet table, I quickly realized I had to find a more work surface for these popular sewing workshops. Originally, I planned to build individual, rolling sewing tables, but then I spied this $29.00 kitchen table at Goodwill, I knew, with a bit of tweaking, it would be the perfect roll away work table.

Go to Indystar.com to see the step-by-step conversion of this discarded kitchen table into a rolling, communal sewing station for small sewing workshops. We just love it!

All Photos: Indystar.com

Turn a Closet into Your Sewing Cubby

March 2nd, 2011

Being in the middle of organizing my own space, (upholstery and sewing) I was tickled to come across this efficient little sewing space carved out of a closet. It’s not that easy to find a small table for a sewing machine that is the right height.

Over on Instructables, Alpine Butterfly cleverly utilized every square inch of space to convert her closet into a workable sewing station. It reminds me of the perfectly efficient airplane kitchens.

There’s also a handy tutorial for hanging the pegboard. I love pegboards!

Before and After: Modern Office Chair Refresher

February 17th, 2011

To start things off on this warm February morning, here’s the sad Before state of Holly’s thrifted office chair. As you can see, whatever is supposed to support the seat is not doing its job. After removing the seat cushion and taking a quick glance at the frame, it was obvious that old, dried out, rubberized webbing was the culprit.

After rewebbing and cutting new foam, Holly got to be the first one in class to try out the OLD industrial Consew sewing machine we purchased from the previous tenant. She handily sewed her new cushion cover, upholstered the seat and Voila’.

Sofa Rescue: Repair Torn Cushion Top

January 17th, 2011

Ripped out cording is one of the most annoying problems with cushion slipcovers, as well as cushion covers in general.
Once you break it down, repairing the frayed tear isn’t hard at all. I posted this tutorial I on Curbly, but since we’re doing all things sofa related until the end of the month, I thought it was worth dusting off and re-introducing.

If you have some areas of thread bare or worn out cording, those are also repairable. Stay tuned for that one.

Sofa Rescue Workshop

January 10th, 2011

From now to the end of January, we’re running the Sofa Rescue Workshop right here at ModHomeEc. Whether you’ve had it with your worn and torn seat cushions, the saggy, slumpy back cushions, the intolerable frump factor, or you finally just threw a bedspread over the whole ugly mess, there’s a solution.

Image

You won’t have to go another month with your sofa disaster staring you in the face every morning like this one. Help has arrived.

This week, I’m going to show you how to make and sew all new sofa cushions as well as some other slick sofa rescue techniques. This will include new foam (mine will be delivered today or tomorrow), a dacron wrapping to add softness and much needed loft, fabric layout, cutting, sewing a zipper in the back piece of the boxing and stitching all the pieces together so you have a perfectly aligned cushion.

Oh yeah, as a bonus, when we’re ready to stuff the cushion, I’ll show you a virtual physics demo that you’ll love.
To prime your cushion-making, sofa-saving pump, take a look at this inspiring big cushion making post over at www. icouldmakethat.org.

Here’s what I love about this project, besides the fact they’re fantastic:
1. She just sucked it up and did it, way to take charge!
2. She made all of that tedious cording and was able to stitch it in place beautifully
3. All of those fun pillows on the back of her sofa.
4. The fabric she chose

Read the full post right here.
By the way, my tutorials that she referred to were done a while ago. I’m a much better photographer and teacher now. Here’s a link to the old cushion tutorial, but we’ll be doing an entirely new one this week. If you don’t understand something, ASK! Remember-there are no stupid questions. Personally, I always need more than one explanation when I’m trying to learn how to do something.
So, get your notebooks ready and let’s go rescue your sofa.

Cococozy Launches Her Home Line

January 6th, 2011

Cococozy, one of my favorite bloggers, has busted right on through her blog and is launching her own line of throws, pillows, draperies, bedding and fabric by the yard. Wait! Did you say fabric by the yard??? Does this mean there will be upholstery weight fabric available in these patterns? I don’t know the answer yet, but I’ll let you know. You can be sure I’ll get my hands on some of it.
She’s taken her trademark gray logo, as well as other traditional designs, put a crisp modern spin on them and then turned them into warm and cozy linens and bedding.

What I love so much is that she shows us some behind the scenes photographs of the fabric being printed and pillows being photographed. (I always love to see what goes on behind the scenes.)
She’s packing up and headed to the New York International Gift Fair this month to sell her wares. I don’t foresee any lack of customers for her.