Back to School

Classrooms need all the room they can get. When I was asked to make book pockets for my friends private school classroom how could I say no. You already must know it's hard for me to say no. :) She had purchased some canvas in blue and khaki and her Mom gave some decorator fabric samples to aid in the project.

 

 

 

Measure the chair back it will sit on. Decide how large you want the pockets to be. One pocket on the front lower side, one pocket on the back upper end. And there you have it. Our teachers are amazing. Let's give them all the help we can!  Linda

T-shirt Refashion 2013

You may remember last summers  VBS T-shirt refashion. Check it out 

here . I wanted to do another refashion but did not want to repeat but as I

am the VBS Director I had just a few things on my plate and did not want

to task my brain any more than necessary. So I decided to repeat a refashion

from last September. Check it out here to get the tutorial. But here are the

quick steps.

 

 

Start with an oversized t-shirt.

 

 

You'll also need a sewing machine, scissors, thread, straight pins, marking pencil, elastic, satin ribbon and another t-shirt in a contrasting color. I kind of goofed on this one as I got a 3XL. This caused more work than expected as it was WAY too big and made the emblem lower than I wanted so I had to cut the shoulders and re-seam them.

 

 

Cut the sleeves off and set aside.

 

Next cut your neckline. It's easy to get it even if you cut half, fold it

 over to use as a guide and cut the other side.

 

 

Decide how much to cut off of the sides if any. Sew your new side seams.

 

 

Now decide if you want an empire waistband or at the waist. Sew your casing on. I used the satin ribbon. It made it quick and easy. Thread your elastic into your new casing, adjust to fit and sew ends of elastic to secure.

 

 

Now it's time to grab those sleeves you set aside. Cut off the seam so it is not bulky when you reattach it to the garment at the sleeve. Trim down the circumference of the sleeve to fit. I wanted elastic around the sleeves so next I cut elastic and stretched it as I sewed it on. You'll have to cut the t-shirt where you want the shoulder seam to sit. And you'll want to trim the length of the sleeve to your liking before reattaching it to the dress. Reattach.

 

Now I really have to apologize as I do not have any more photos of the next steps.

 But look back here to get pictures and more detail.

 

I bought a childs'  t-shirt to make a ruffle for around the neckline. Cut 1" strips twice the length around the neckline. Sew strips together to make one long stip. Baste down center of strip and gather. Fit to desired look, pin to neckline and sew right over the basting.

 

I wanted this to be a dress, so taking the childs t-shirt I cut the length needed and sewed it to the bottom of the t-shirt. I think it turned out super cute and got tons of complements. If you have questions please leave me a comment and I'll try my best to get you an answer.  Linda

 

 

 

Chevron Stripe

When  my friends' daughter asks me for help I just can't say no.

They had moved and wanted to add her own style to her bedroom.

First we painted the room gray.

 

 

It's very light but you can see we chalked our lines. Kelsey wanted

one big stripe so we measured center, how thick we wanted

the stripe and took it from there.

 

Next use a good brand of painters tape and tape off your lines. Press them firmly onto the wall.

 

 

 

Kelsey chose a light shade of gray. Start filling in the stripe. When painting next to the painters tape, it's ok to paint on the tape, but I do recommend painting into the stripe. This will help not get paint under your tape. I also recommend less is more when painting near the tape. The thing you don't want your paint to bleed. So paint thin coats.

 

 

Take the tape off right away after you've painted. This will keep a crisp clean line.

 

 

Give it a try. I know you'll be great at it.   Linda

 

 

 

 

Tiling for a friend

There's nothing I like better than viewing a finished

project. I tiled this bathroom for a friend.

Unfortunately this spring they found themselves

ankle deep in water after a downpour. Ok maybe

not ankle deep but bad enough all the flooring on the lower

level had to be removed. So they took up the carpet,

removed tac strips and then I went to work.

 

I choose not to use the cement board

underlayment this time. Instead I used a Schluter-Kerdi brand

product. I highly recommend it for a flooring

moisture barrier. (The orange waffle stuff)  And wow was it easy to lay.

Just measure the area. Cut the orange waffle stuff with a utility knife,

mix your mortar  a little thinner than normal for tile laying

(read instructions to get the correct type), cover the

floor and lay the orange stuff in place. You can walk on it right away

and begin laying the tile. I used another Schluter-Kerdi

product on our shower walls. Bathroom Remodel Day 4

 The wall stuff was harder to use as it was flimsy and face it

working on a vertical surface gives a new meaning to "ugh".

 

 

And here you see the tile in place with 1/4 inch spacers.

 

Once mortar is set, grouting was done.

 

To save money I like to reuse baseboard. I sanded it down,

bought quarter round and painted both to match.

 

 

I blogged about my 1/2 bath tile install. You can find clearer how to's here:

 Tiling the 1/2 bath and more

 

 

I am very happy with the end result and my friends are too. I can't wait till their daughter gets home from school to see how it turned out.

Next I'll show you the project we completed in the bedroom for them. I think you'll want to try it in a room of your own. Check back soon to see what it is!!

 

Linda

 

A New Look

I am experimenting with the look of my blog. I was never the pink person in the previous look. I'm not sure this one pins me down either, but I think I like it. It reminds me of a wallpaper you might see in an old country home. Follow me down the dirt road that's lined with wild flowers to a front yard with a dog laying on the big wrap around porch. Maybe even an apple pie cooling in the kitchen. What do you think? I would love to hear from you. Let me know.

Red Door of Welcome!

 

This door was plain and boring. Something had to be done, so when I walked past the unacceptable colors of paint customers did not want and saw the perfect color for $2.00 I had to get it. The original paint is in good condition so I did not do any sanding on the door. Red needs many coats to come out a uniform color. I started by taping all the windows and on coat 3 or 4 I decided I was just using too much tape when I could use a blade to trim off the excess from the glass.

 

I used a 1 1/2 inch brush to paint the trim and a very small foam roller to do the flat surfaces. Typically I might add Floetrol to help reduce brush marks but didn't on this project. It looks great!! Someone told me having a red door is a welcoming gesture. I couldn't agree more.

Curtains, Curtains, Curtains!

 

This was my starting point. I saw this fabric ages ago at Hobby Lobby and thought I want curtains made from that. I put that thought on the back burner. Several months went by and I saw it in the clearance aisle and decided it was time to swoop it up before someone else did. This is laid out in my front entry because it is a great place to cut large pieces of fabric. I'm doing a simple panel for the sliding glass door. We have lived in this house for some time now and really it is time we get something up at this slider. To do yours you will need:

fabric

lining fabric

thread

tape measure

scissors

pins

sewing machine

 

I measured the area I wanted to cover, determined where the rod would hang, added a couple inches for ruffle above the rod and decided I would sew in 1/2 inch seams. The general rule of thumb is to measure the width of the window you want to cover and then double that number. Unless of course you just want a straight flat piece of fabric hanging there. I did not so I doubled the width. Go ahead and cut your fabric. Next cut your lining fabric the same size.

 

 



Pin right sides together. Mark where you want to leave open for the rod. Sew around all sides of the curtain leaving the rod pocket area open. Turn right side out and press. You can hand sew a hem in this area if you choose. Mark horizontal lines at the top and bottom of the rod pocket. Sew to create your rod pocket.

 

 

And this is the completed project. I wanted to give just a bit of privacy and leave access to the door opening. The dark colors are a good contrast to the lighter walls.

 

This is the curtain rod I bought on clearance. I am all about keeping the budget under check when doing all my projects.

 

 

I bought extra fabric and decided the other windows in the kitchen and side door needed to match. This is over the kitchen sink. I wanted something that laid more flat but had a little something special about them. I decided to make pleats in them.

 

This one is at the side door.

 

At the top of the pleats I added a little bling so I could hide my hand stitching of holding the pleats together.

 

Basically I just added enough width to iron in a pleat. I ran the rod threw the pocket. With the pleat tacked at the top on the front side only, it allows the pleat to remain in place and the rod to go all the way through.

 

I had some fabric I liked to line these two little valances. It really gives a little extra pizazz when you look at the window from outside. Find the fabric you love and give those windows some extra love with your creations!