Weekend project: Rob Ryan cushions

Believe it or not the success of this project took three whole years of planning, acquiring the right skills and tools! Don't get me wrong, all this adds to the ultimate sense of achievement at the end, every time I look at these cushions now I can't help but smile (and let out a sigh of relief!). Here's why...

After I met Rob Ryan at the Somerset house "Pick Me Up" exhibition in 2010, I fell in love with his work. So for my birthday that year, my boyfriend took me to Ryantown and I picked this Clothkits sewing pack as a birthday present...little did I glance over the word "sewing" because I can't sew (hmm yes, slight problem...) the lovely printed fabric plus instructions stayed on my to-do-shelf for another two years...

On my thirty birthday, perhaps feeling a bit more mature and overly ambitious, I asked for a second hand sewing machine to make some curtains and boxed cushions (the fact that I still haven't got round to blog about these projects may indicate the amount of effort required for me to actually complete them, though I am proud to report they were finished and currently in use!).

So three years later, two old curtains revamped, one box cushion (still in one piece), piping and mock button tufting mastered. I finally felt equipped to give these cushions a go and confident that I will do these beautiful fabric justice.

(Notice I only added piping to one of the cushions. I miss calculated the length of piping required for both cushions and after spending 2 hours on the right hand beauty, I had a decision to make either 1. spend another hour faffing with new piping and pinning it to the fabric before sewing it into a cushion or 2. just run a few stitches over the two pieces of fabric to make the second cushion. Guess which option I took :p)

See my Pinterest board for more DIY inspirations!

Second hand chest of drawers (Upholstery Friday)

This weekend's furniture revamp project is to turn this second hand chest of drawers into a lovable piece again - we picked it up on the curb outside of our flat a few months ago. The kids who used to own it must have grown up! It doesn't show on the photos but on the side it was full of stickers.

 These were taken after we have sanded down the thing,
it used to be the same colour as the feet.

Other than painting a school playhouse for charity, I have never painted any furniture before. After a bit of research, I wrote a shopping list and went to Wickes to stock up on the essentials (Post on Oscar's day trip to the hardware store):

• Fine sand paper - a mask is also recommended for sanding
• Good quality paint brushes - I bought a 75mm (3") and a 18mm (3/4") for the fiddly areas
• Masking tape (to cover the areas you don't want to paint)
• Wood/Multi purpose/Universal primer in white - Anti-corrosive and water based (dries quicker and easier to clean the brushes afterwards)
• Paint for wood - the colour I chose was Eggshell Pistachio (this is a solvent based paint so needed some white spirit to wash the brushes afterwards) 
• Beeswax for wood - Natural colour
• Lint free cloth - for applying the Beeswax and pollishing the surface

We completed the project in a weekend, removing the bl**dy stickers, sanding the paint off and applying the primer on the first day, it only took about 2 hours for the water based primer to dry. The hardest parts were the handles, as they have been stuck to the drawers instead of screwed on we couldn't take them off. We primed and painted them carefully but still needed to sand bits around the handles to clean them afterwards.

On the second day, it was a really hot and sunny day, so probably didn't help the solvent based paint dry, after 6hrs it was still a little bit sticky. Initially I wanted to stick mirror sheets on the drawers, but because of the difficulties with the handles, I have decided to keep them bare as the wood grain doesn't look as worn off on the drawers. I just used beeswax along the grain to give it a polish the wood.
 

Sticky paint drying in the hot sunny day

 

Pimp my sofa

This is the lovely sofabed that has served us and our guests well for the last 4 years. That's why eventhough the duck down back cushions are not holding shape anymore, we're not going to give it up just yet (and that would be so wasteful!). It's getting a bit annoying though, the feathers in the custhions shift all the time so I have to puff and reposition them everytime I want to sit down. Luckily, I trawled through the web and found this upholstery method called "Mock Tufting". (Initially I wanted a button tufted look but soon realised that it's not easy to achieve without paying someone to professionally upholster them - qouted at £30 per cushion in case anyone fancy getting theirs done).

Voilà! It took me about 2 hours to mock tuft the cushions and they look much neater now, don't they? I am quite pleased with the finishing products, especially when it means I don't have to fiddle with the cushions everytime I want to sit down now!

You will need some upholstery needles and thick thread - I used an 8 inches long needle with threads we used to make friendship bracelets with. Also measure and mark the cushions where you want to sew in the "tuft". For this task, lazyniss doesn't pay well as I learn the long way (thought after measuring and doing my first cushion I can "feel" my way around the second one. But the tufts didn't align and had to take them out and re-start the damn thing) :p

Next, the futon inside the sofabed needs changing, it's sagging a bit and you can feel the mesh underneath holding it all together. But a cheap double futon on ebay is at least £100, I wonder if there's another trick that I can find to sort out the old one instead...?

Changed my mind

I have been helping some friends to design their wedding invitations, and thought the Brighton crafts fair would give me some inspiration. It turned out to be the biggest craft fair/market I have ever been to in my life. Materials from card marking and paper crafts to textile arts. It's amazing how many different trimmers and cutters you can get nowadays. Anyone (with money for the tools) can make a decent card. It reminded me that a few years ago I was obsessed with Craftster and Etsy. I should re-ignite my crafty fingers again and make my boyfriend a Valentine's card/present. How about also making some products to sell as well?

Gajamay is currently collecting photo-craft ideas!

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