Renovating Box Seats 2017 Part 3

Renovating Box Seats 2017 Part 3

I had difficulty finding the material I wanted at the price I could afford. That was until I had an Idea.

Curtains

I got these curtains off eBay for under a tenner. The material is much more than I need for the Box Seats so with a little bit of luck I will be able to cover something else too.

Measuring Large Box Front

I am going to use both measures this time. I have used the ruler for the Front of the Box as it holds it nicely whilst I measure.

Measuring the Sides

When measuring the sides I had to remember to include the depth of the foam on both sides. The measuring tape was better for this as it could bend.

Marking out the Material

As you can see in the photograph above I am taking advantage of the fact that the Curtain Material is already hemmed. This gives me a nice straight edge to measure from.

Two Covers Roughly Hemmed

Once cut I hemmed with a simple backstitch around both pieces of material.

Measuring for the Second Hem

After the rough hem was done I re-measured against the Box Seat to see how much I needed to take in.

Cut Short

Oops on one cover I have cut it a little short therefore I need to make the second hem as small as possible to keep as much material as I can. I will let you know how I get on.

Renovating Box Seats 2017 Part 2

Renovating Box Seats 2017 Part 2

Now my Boxes were clean and painted (and dry) I could move on to the next part which is adding the Foam padding. I bought some off the market and now had to cut to size.

Rough Foam Cut

I cut the Foam roughly to size then I needed to measure it properly to cut off the excess.

Measuring Foam

To ensure I had a straight edge rather than using a measuring tape I used my ruler and scored along it with the scissors.

Marking Both Edges Ready to Cut

I had lined up the already cut edges of the Foam with the edges of the box lids and cut down the middle. This meant that I only had two edges on both that needed straightening. I like cutting down the work as much as possible.

I trimmed the edges down a bit at a time so I didn’t take too much off although I think it was touch and go in some places. Unlike flat material where you can just cut across easily this Foam was roughly an inch and a half thick.

This means that during cutting it was difficult to keep the scissors straight. Afterwards I found that I had kept to the line at the top but had veered off underneath so I had to trim and correct.

Securing The Foam

When I was satisfied that I had got the Foam cut as good as I was going to get it was time to secure it to the lids. Otherwise when I start trying to measure the material they would keep sliding around.

I wanted to keep the nails to a minimum as it lessened the risk of them poking through the material so I just put one nail in each corner of both of the Box Seats. This should be ample for the next part.

Renovating Box Seats 2017 Part 1

Renovating Box Seats 2017 Part 1

Sometime ago I found on the market what I shall term a Box Seat. I am not sure what the correct term is but it is like a mini Ottoman. I got this for the amazing price of £2 so I snapped it up quick.

The paint was flaky and the material ripped. So I gave it a good clean and sanded off the loose pieces and painted it over with black paint. I meant to come back to it sometime at a later date to do the reupholstering. Then lo and behold I found another one from the same place about 8 months later. It is slightly smaller and has different arms but I took it as a sign to get on with the rest of the work.

Box Seats Before

As you can see I have already rubbed down and repainted the smaller Box Seat. The next step was to remove the fabric.

First Layer 

It wasn’t until I started removing the material on the smaller Box Seat I realised there was more than one layer of fabric.

Second Layer

Then I found another layer below the first.

Third Layer

Then after removing that I found the third and final layer which I have to say was horrible and bitty and came away in pieces.

Fortunately the larger Box Seat only had one layer of material and the padding so took a lot less time.

Larger Box Seat Pre-wiped

As you can see even with the padding removed it is pretty filthy. Before I could do anything I was going to have to do some cleaning.

Both Box Seats Wiped Down

I gave both Seats a good wipe down and tried to remove as much of the spare material as possible.

Large Box Seat With Excess Nails

Even though some nails came out whilst I was removing the fabric there were still quite a few left. There were also odd bits of material left attached to the lid. These would all need removing before I could do the next step.

Small Box Seat Lid

Argh! Whilst trying to remove some nails the lid came completely off. This was another job I could add to the list. 

Repair Lid

 

I also needed to repair the raised part so it was flat against the rest of the wood.

Small Box Seat Nails

The above picture shows the Small Box Seat minus its lid. I have to remove all the excess nails from this before I can reattach the lid to it. You may also notice that there is paint missing at the back. When I have reattached the lid I am going to give both Boxes another good wipe down and another lick of paint.

Autumn Cape A Long Term Project Night Time Side Embellishments 2017

Autumn Cape A Long Term Project Night Time Side Embellishments 2017

I know it seems forever since I last blogged about how my Long Term Project is going. To be frank it has been so hot I really didn’t want to be playing with a giant woolly blanket. Therefore I switched to some lighter work making and embroidering summer items.

Speaking of embroidery before I start on another part of the cape I want to do a little more embellishing. This is because I do not want to run out of the right type of wool. Therefore I am putting in a few branches and also finishing the Night Time side panel

Night Time Pre Branch Embroidery

This is the area at the top of the side panel. Note the changes of the colour orange from the side to the Front Night Time Piece.

Top Side Part Mid-Embroidery

Here you can see I have started elongating the branches.

Night Time Side Panel Embellished

I had several ideas for this side panel one of which was to include a bat. However when I began even after a few stitches I wasn’t happy. I am not exactly sure what I didn’t like about it. I think it might have because it was against the dark green rather than the sky.

Therefore I went back to the original idea I had. This was to have a decaying branch or log on the ground covered with fungi. This seemed to work quite well as the white and silver mushrooms stood out against the two browns.

Night Time Front Piece Foliage 

I also put a few small bushes on the Front Night Time Piece. This is to break up the horizon a little as I feel it is a little too flat. I will carry on tinkering this at a later date as I am still using certain wools sparingly.

The next section to work on will be extending the Hood. However that is going to take some thinking about so until then happy crafting.

Keep Cool and Keep Calm -Ice Inspirations 2017 Part 4

Keep Cool and Keep Calm -Ice Inspirations 2017 Part 4

This is the final part of the Ice Inspiration Icepack’s and frankly I think I may have gone a bit mad on what is for all intents and purposes a simple bag.

Penguin Design Idea

I have done Snowflakes, Igloo’s, Snowmen so far in my previous designs so I wondered what else I could come up with in my Ice Inspiration series. Then it hit me Igloo’s are found in the Arctic so let’s do something from the Antarctic. Hence the Penguin Design

Penguin Outline

It started off well with me doing my usual backstitch outline. Then as I was doing the feet a thought struck me. If I filled in the black areas they would merge into one. I had to pause and have a think.

Penguin White Section

Whilst I was contemplating the black areas I thought I would make a start on the white. This is again in backstitch but I have stitched back and forth across the Penguin in white in parallel lines thereby creating what I hope to be layers of feathers.

I also filled in the eyes and the orange areas of the feet and beak. For some reason I have also filled in a kind of widows peak. I think I might have been influenced by the succession of horror movies I was watching whilst embroidering.

Penguin Chick

Once I almost filled in the areas already mentioned the solution to my problem manifested itself. Instead of doing a Penguin I would do a Penguin Chick. Now I admit I have taken some artistic license but my ideas and ability do not always tally up. Instead of filling in the rest of the Penguin in black I have filled in the feathers with a dark grey.

This bright idea of mine took literally hours to do. Each little stitch was at a diagonal angle in order to create the feathery look.

Washed and Pressed Baby Penguin Chick

 

After laboriously filling in all the feathers I thought it still lacked something. Therefore I added a bit of coast, cold water and Icebergs. Only thing left to do was then add the press studs and sew the edges as before.

Here is the finished product all washed and pressed. Phew what will I come up with next?