Painted Upholstery

Remember how I am slowly trying to redecorate my house? 

This project has been a long time in the making, meaning I have wanted to do something but it wasn't until I read this post on painting upholstery that I knew what I wanted to do!

You see last year my sister gave me this chair I really liked it a lot but it was a little old fashioned in ways I didn't like (the skirt for example) and the fabric was dirty looking despite my scrubbing it. You will have to trust me here (because the picture doesn't do it justice) it was really dirty looking! It had pen marks on it, plus B had a bloody nose one night and he got some of it on the chair that wouldn't come out.

So I painted it!

Here is a better close up of the cushion before, imagine it looking a lot like this everywhere.

Here is the chair before and after

Notice that I got rid of the skirt?

Here is the process I went through:

First I tore/razor-bladed off the skirt, that was my glowing with pride at my genius moment!

After I finished taking off the skirt I was scared! What the heck had I done?! I didn't have a plan for what to do with the raggedy raw edges leftover from my cutting either!

I decided that I could use the skirt, sew it together in strips like bias tape and hot glue them over those edges. It worked really well, I was SO relieved!

Then I started painting, I followed this tutorial exclusively as I went. I was worried after the first coat it looked a lot worse than I thought it would just like the tutorial said it would.

After the first coat the picture doesn't really show that the paint was pretty uneven at this point.

It started to look a little better by the 2nd coat and I was feeling better about it! 

After the final coat it looked new again, whew!

The before and after again!!!!

A close up of the cushion after.

I love that the skirt is gone and you can see the legs now!

A few notes about the chair after painting it:

-The paint dries to an almost faux leather/canvas feel.

-I would like to try painting it only in the base coats and see if it dries differently, with the final coat it is pretty stiff even after sanding it and working very well into the fabric.

-My kids have already gat stuff on it and it has wiped off just fine!

-After a few days it has softened more than right after it was done.

-Definitely only try this on something you are going to redo anyways so you don't mess it up a lot!

P's christmas Jammies

P was willing to model (after some bribing) He loves his jammies and so do I, I just want to squeeze him in them he looks so fluffy!

 I used the same patterns as B's but in a smaller size (naturally). Actually all my boys were the same patterns I just changed up the fabric and sleeve/torso colors. Its kind of nice that they are all 2 years apart because I just find B's size and skip down 2 to find the next size and so on, lol!

(Well mostly see below)

 Unilke B, P is on the small side and I really should have made him a 3 in his pants instead of a 4 same with the shirt, oh well live and learn  (and then measure)!

 I hemmed them up 2-3 inches and they still are quite big but so are all his size 4 pants so the pattern is sized right, imo.

I made the pants using a bunch of fleece that my sister-in-law gave me, the shirts were made from old shirts and knit I had on hand so the project was nearly free!  I LOVE projects like that!

Sew Boy January 2013

The first sew boy of 2013! I have to admit I never thought I would still be doing these, I thought I would run out of stuff and ideas but a lot of people are posting more and more stuff for boys, its great!

(Click on images to go to tutorial)

 Handmade Martini had the most awesome idea for making your adjustable pants, seriously why did I never think of it? It is a great tutorial so be sure to check is out!

 

 Have some old T's laying around? The works has a free pattern and tutorial for a raglan T-shirt. I love T-shirts and free is really nice too!

 

Smallfacotry has a free jacket pattern and tutorial. Love the design add some big buttons and it would make a really cute pea coat for a boy or girl!

 

Cheer your child's day shared a free tutorial and pattern to make your own stuffed ninja!  If your boys are into ninjajos they would LOVE this!

PS. remember to check the free boy patterns tab at the top.

New fabric!!!

 As I was shopping at Walmart I decided to check out their fabric department, boy was I surprised to find some Gorgeous knit fabric and here is the kicker it was....$1 a yard!!!!

 The floral isn't knit fabric but the rest are! I bought several yards of each, usually I only buy a yard but it was soooo cheap I bought a lot more!

You want to know another cheap source of fabric? Sheets. 

These ones at my Walmart are $4.97 I bought this to back a little quilt I have been working on. It isn't 100% cotton but I thought it still felt good for what I needed it for. The twin sheets are the best bang for you buck because the next size is $9.97 and you only get a little bit more fabric.

B's Christmas Jammies

 Did you all have a great Christmas and new years? We sure did! Even though all the kids got a nasty cold bug we still managed to have fun and enjoy the time off from school/work/life.

First up B's jammies:

 He is a size 8 now and finding cute stuff in his size is getting harder so I tried my first ever pattern from an Ottobre magazine I got 2-3 years ago. I was so intimidated! They're not your usual patterns and they are all on the same piece of paper and you have to find the one you want by color and trace it. Did I mention a lot of it is in Swedish? Luckily I started with a t-shirt and there wasn't much to it (whew!).

 

 The bottoms were from here and are F.R.E.E. I really, really and I mean really loved this pattern! It was so easy and they fit prefect! the only changes I made (and only to B's) was to lengthen them by 2-3 inches, he is pretty tall and I have to do that for all his pants I make.

 I didn't add any embellishments to the top I decided to leave them plain and I really like how they turned out!