Monday, January 26, 2015

A Productive Day Off.

Lately my Sunday off has meant reading  novels and not much else. I'm a bit brain dead, what with working long hours and this heat. But, it drives me bananas too when there are so many jobs outstanding!
So, I resolved that in spite of the heat and the lethargy, I was going to knock off two important domestic creative projects.
1) Recover the foot pouf. MrC and I made the pouf in 2002 and it has been recovered once before this, in 2008. That cover was fabulous, but it had ended up looking like this:
SO threadbare - look at the red flowers around the sides - most of the red had faded and worn off the top. And yes, that is a gaping hole. :(
The new fabric we bought from Graham and Sons in Martinborough. It was a short end and we got it for a fraction of the usual price. I love it SO much!
It has Tartars on horses! And goats! And flowers as big as the Tartars on the horses and the goats!!! And of course, it is red and gold and black. LOVE.
It looks blue in the evening light but it is black with lots of rich golds, olive greens and of course, reds. 
New pouf has a button on the top, a pretty antique bronze one. I hope it lasts longer than the previous button. The top is made of three pieces patched together on account of lack of fabric. Two halves, then one I sliced and swapped over so the Tartar was balanced with his bro across the other side. I did some illusory pattern matching and it all seems to work very well!
The piping is a bit wavy - it ought to be cut on the bias but there simply wasn't enough fabric. Ah well.

2) Lampshades! this is my third attempt at shades for over the kitchen bench. The first wallpaper ones were just appalling. The second ones looked awesome but the fabric was so dark, it didn't let the light into the room! A triumph of style over substance!
And so, in a different and more recent trip over the hill, we ended up at Emporos in Greytown and I simply had to buy this French linen.
SO in love. They sell remnants from France and so have things no one else seems to.
This third time, I made the shades 18 inches in diameter (previous ones were 15) to allow for maximum light.
My favourite part of this fabric is actually the in between bit which looks like a flow diagram drawn by a crazy botanist. And has lions and monkeys!

Aren't they pretty! Or elegant maybe!

I have the piece in the photo above left over, about 0.5m, which is not enough to make the enormous stacked piece of fabulosity I have planned for the beam over the living space, but I will not be thwarted! There's still some left in the shop.....




10 comments:

  1. Lovely - and such gorgeous fabric. I need one of those poufs. Maybe I might make one. I am inspired by yours.

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    1. It is a great item of furniture - two discs of MDF 500m in diameter the bottom one then had a bighole cut in it. A frame of 12 struts spaced around the perimeter of 2 by 4, a foam disc tied to the top through holes drilled in the top. The whole thing was then wrapped in dacron batting and a firm calico shell stapled underneath. The cover went over that and four wooden bun feet screwed to the base ring, which I just remembered had blocks glued into it at those places. It is possibly ovor engineered but it is very solid which in our house is always a binus!

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  2. Wonderful shades and the pouf looks totally renewed. Great work!

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    1. Thank you Bunny! It was very satisfying ticking these off the list! :)

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  3. Love the pouf and lampshades. Don't throw out your small scraps. Feel a collage coming on.

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    1. I can't bar to throw out scraps, especially not of such gorgeous fabrics.

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  4. Okay, I love both of your projects! I REALLY like the fabrics you chose, especially that pouf! I want to do more home sewing too - I have a couple of pillows to go with our booth that I really should get on.

    AND I finally solved why I haven't been seeing your posts on my feed - I'm not sure why exact, but the last post blogger acknowledged was over a year ago. I think I've fixed it now, so I shouldn't miss any more of your posts. Or if I do, it's not the fault of blogger. :D

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    1. Oh dear, that sort of thing seems to happen a lot, not just on Blogger, but on Blog lovin' too. I think the interbwbs is just too complicated for its own good. Nice to see you back!
      Home sewing is great in that it is mostly straight lines and pretty simple compared with the things we sew for ourslves!

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    2. I think it keeps deleting people that I follow, because I swear I was following so-and-so, and yet blogger claims I'm not. Annoying. >:( Ah well, it just means I need to go searching out new and wonderful blogs!

      I'm looking forward to sewing some things for home, but even the Boyfriend agrees that I'm never making curtains again! The last time involved a great deal of swearing... :D

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  5. That really was a productive day! Ï'm doing an upholstery course at the end of Feb to make a new footstool - can't wait!

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