DIY Embellished Chair Cushions

Hello everyone!

A small-scale home improvement project happened in the Sutton house this week.  After years of numb backsides with each meal, I finally got around to making some seat cushions for our kitchen table chairs.

Here is one of our wooden chairs:

Nice and sturdy.... but not so cozy. 

Since our 4 chairs aren't all the same, I have been looking for a way to unify them. I've been toying with the idea of refinishing these chairs for a while, but I decided to incorporate a little pattern and fun into the cushions.  I think this makes them look a little more intentional rather than the hodge-podge collection that they actually are. :)

I read a lot of existing tutorials, and this one was my favorite by PrettyPrudent:

DINING CHAIR CUSHION TUTORIAL

I love the embellishments she added to the cushions. :)  

I made a few changes, but I used her dimensions and technique for creating the cushion covers.

Here is what I came up with:

I found a fun patterned upholstery fabric at Jo-Ann Fabric. 

  

I cut the foam and fabric to the measurements from the tutorial.

*An electric serrated knife made cutting the foam SO easy... and therapeutic. :)

I wanted to accentuate the triangles and add just a little color, without making the pattern too busy. 

I decided to use a running stitch to outline one triangle on each cushion.

Since we put a good bit of wear on our cushions, I used upholstery thread in the construction of the cushions. (I also used a straight stitch rather than a zig-zag stitch.)

After the cushion covers were sewn and stuffed, I went ahead and sewed them closed by hand with a whip stitch.  

*We have broken/torn cushion ties on more than one occasion.  Maybe we're aggressive sitters?  I don't know why it happens, but I decided to save myself the heartache of them ripping out and just avoid them all together.

Rather than the cushion ties, I used self-adhesive (no-sew) velcro to secure the cushions to the chairs.

*Note: Please read the instructions on the velcro and make sure it is meant to be used with fabric.  I was a little hasty with my purchase, but you can avoid my mistake! :)  Check out this velcro as an option for you. :) 

So far, so good!  We may just linger at the dinner table a little longer these days! 

Have a wonderful week!

Garden fun: Burlap Makeover for Hanging Baskets

Hello!

IMPORTANT NEWS: SPRING IS TWO WEEKS AWAY!!!

To celebrate that delightful fact, I'm getting my mind ready for some gardening.

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This week's project was born of necessity... as so many are. :) And, bonus, it's ridiculously quick and easy.

I don't know if you're like me, but playing in the dirt is my favorite kind of therapy.  The problem for me is that plants and garden things aren't free.  Boo.

When I bought pretty hanging baskets with liners made from coconut fibers, my wallet hurt a little bit.  That being said, I wasn't too keen on buying replacements for the coconut liners when they started to get really sad after one season.  The sun, wind and heat take their toll on these basket liners; and according to the trusty internet, birds love to make nests with the coconut fibers. Silly birds!  

Check out the "before" shot of the baskets:

Every time I watered them or it rained, soil would wash out from where the liner was weak or broken. Sad. 

I have to give credit to my budget-loving husband, (praise the Lord for him), who found the idea to use burlap as a substitute.   :)

Here is what you'll need:

-Scissors

-Burlap (I looked at our local Home Depot and Lowe's stores, but they only sold big rolls of burlap, pre-packaged.  I just decided to buy burlap by the yard at the fabric store.)

$3.99 per yard-- but keep an eye out for sales or use a coupon!

Step 1:

Ok, this is probably obvious, but you need to remove the old liner from the basket.  Leave the soil and plants in it, and remove it as one piece.  Set it aside; it should stay together in one piece. 

Step 2: 

No measuring is required, but cut the length of burlap you think you'll need for your basket.  I was being generous, but I used slightly less than 1 yd of burlap for each basket.  

Step 3:

Fold and position the burlap so that you'll have excess over the rim of the basket all the way around it.  This may take a few tries, but take your time.

Step 4:

Once the burlap is ready, place the old coconut liner and plants/soil into the new burlap liner. 

*Note: My coconut liners were tired and sad, but still mostly intact.  I decided it would be better to keep them, thinking that the extra barrier for the plants against heat/cold would be helpful.  BUT, if your liner is not salvageable at all, and your plants are dead (*sigh*, it happens), just discard it.  Try to save some of the soil if you can, but if it has all fallen out, just use new soil. 

As you replace the plants/soil, pull on the burlap to make sure you keep some excess above the rim of the basket.

Step 5:

Hang your baskets, water your plants, and enjoy!  

Thanks for reading!  Have a beautiful weekend!!

....and think warm thoughts!  Spring HAS to come soon!!

DIY Lampshade Face-lifts

Hello all!

So, I don't know if you've been there, but I have had the worst crafter's block these last couple weeks. You know... no motivation, no ideas, procrastination... the usual. 

I decided to try to get myself back into the swing of things. 

If you ever find yourself in that boat, either take a break from it or try to make something just for fun, no special occasion required. :)

Just do something you enjoy, to remind you that it's fun to be creative!

Here is the new friend I made to help break me out of my rut:

Not sure who will own this little deer, but she was fun to make. :)

After getting a little crafting energy back, I started looking around the house to see if anything needed fixing or updating.  I found two lamps with incredibly sad, dingy and tired lampshades.  

Lampshades aren't cheap, so I wanted to find a way to give these two a face-lift.

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I scanned Pinterest for ideas, and found this great post from Mari Makes.

Check out the link below for this great tutorial!

"Well Defined Lampshade" Tutorial from Mari Makes

I decided to warm up by trying out this tutorial for one of my seen-better-days-lampshades.  Instead of a vintage dictionary, I used my Spanish-English dictionary... who doesn't like educational redecorating??

If you need to look up a word in Spanish that starts with the letters A-G, just come check out my lamp. :)

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Next, I wanted to make-over another lampshade by changing out its tired trim for a new trim I made from fabric.

Materials:

-Plain lampshade, any size would work!

-Fun fabric to make trim 

-Iron

-Hot glue

Ok, this is pretty simple, and you probably don't even need a tutorial. :)  But here we go anyways!

1-- Strip your lampshade of any previous trim. I was able to just sort of tear it off without damaging the shade fabric underneath.

2-- Select your fabric! For the trim, I actually used a fabric napkin I bought at Target a few years ago.  You never know where you'll find a great print! I've used pretty fabric napkins from World Market and Target several times for throw pillows, artwork.... and now, a lampshade. :)

You could certainly use any fabric you like, but the fabric napkin has the added benefit of having finished edges which I used on the lamp too.  Reduce, reuse, recycle, right?  Nothing is wasted!

3-- Determine the width of the trim you want for your lampshade.  For the bottom trim of this shade, I cut strips that were 2" wide and used the lines on the print to make sure each strip showed the same view of that print.

4-- Use the iron to fold in the raw edges.  I folded 1/2" in on each side to leave 1" wide trim with no raw edges showing.

5-- For the vertical seams and the top of this lampshade, I wanted a smaller trim.  You could just cut a smaller width of fabric (maybe 1 or 1.5") and repeat the same process as for the 1" wide trim.  Since the fabric napkins had finished edges that were ~1/2", I just cut out the the finished edges, trimming them so no raw edges from the fabric would be visible.  No ironing necessary for these because the manufacturer already did the work for me!

6-- Now it's time to start applying the trim. I think you could do this in any order, but I started with the vertical seam trim, then the bottom and top.  

Use hot glue sparingly to apply the trim.  Some thinner fabrics or ribbon could show the lumps and bumps from hot glue, but this fabric concealed it well.

Time for the bottom of the shade...

Whenever you finish one section of trim, just fold over the end, to hide the raw edge, and glue it.

The corners of this shade were a little tricky; I tried to make it work, lining up the trim with the bottom of the shade and cinching the fabric on the tapered corners.

 Last step: use the last of the ready-made trim from the napkin for the top of the shade.

  

I think this would work well with any shape/size lampshade.  Just follow the curves and lines of the shade, and have fun!  

Done!

Crafter's block reversed! (for now)

Thanks for reading!