DIY French style chair reupholstery

About two years ago(!) I posted about my DIY project to reupholster an old dining room chair and transform it into a chic French style bedroom chair. I can finally say I've finished it and I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out:

Before:

After:

The total cost of the transformation was under £15 as I had a bargain with the fabric - it was one half of a curtain set from Dunelm that had been used on a display, but the other had had got lost, so the remaining curtain was reduced down to £1 - much cheaper than buy fabric of the same size off the roll. I bought a sample pot of paint from Laura Ashley for just under £3 and the fabric I used to cover the underneath of the chair was only about £2 as it was the end of the roll and the trim was less than £2. The most expensive part was the seat pad which came in at around £5.

Another attempt at something creative...the reupholstery edition

Yesterday I decided to reupholster an old dining room chair for my bedroom. I've been looking for a nice bedroom chair for a while, and found one from Next shown below that I like a lot, but at £199 it's a bit out of my price range at the moment, so for now it's been stuck on my computer "bookmarks" and I'm trying my hand at another crafty project.

Mayfair chair @ Next, £199

 If you've read any of my previous posts (including but not limited to the recent two-tiered leaning tower of cake) then you may be sceptical at my chances of success. I am too. But I'm not the sort of person who'd let something like having no upholstery experience or a history of craft-related failures get in my way. (I wish it would). So anyway I've removed the old fabric - which required taking out about 200 staples (my hands still hurt), and made a start on sanding down the wood with an electric sander (at least my aching hands are super smooth now). I keep asking family members to "show me how to sand" as "I don't think I'm doing it right", but unfortunately no one has fallen for it yet, so no doubt it'll be another day or two of sanding before I can prime it. I'll write a proper post up on my upholstery adventure when (and if...) I finish it! In the meantime, here are a few pictures of the wildlife I snapped in the garden whilst I was sanding...

Hand-made Vintage Style Make Up Brush Purse

A little while ago I treated myself to some make-up brushes by Stila. As they cost a little more than I would normally spend on brushes I decided that before I used them I wanted something to store them in to keep them clean and stop them from getting damaged in my make up bag. So, one trip to the haberdashery stall (where I'm fast becoming a regular), and an hour on my sewing machine later and I've made a vintage-inspired floral zip purse to keep my new brushes in.

Plain Poundland Case to Pretty Floral Cover for £2.50!

I've been enjoying my new sewing machine a lot this week. I've already made a pretty cushion (which I blogged about here) and several drawstring bags which I'll probably post about soon, but today I made a case for my tablet to keep it safe from knocks and scratches. I cheated a little by purchasing a laptop case from Poundland like the ones below to use for the padding of my case to make sure it was secure enough (it was cheaper and simpler than buying foam too).

I then cut the case to size (in half approximately for a snug fit) and measured some pretty floral fabric for the cover, which only cost 75p for a fat quarter from my local haberdashery and I still have half of it left over. I purchased a zip in a matching pink from the market for 75p and then set about stitching it all together. Once the zip was attached to the fabric I just fitted the pre-cut poundland case inside and my new tablet case was ready for the grand total of £2.50!

From Primark tea-towel to pretty cushion for £2!

A couple of weeks ago I blogged about a gorgeous tea-towel I had bought from Primark here, and on Tuesday I finally got around to turning it into something pretty. I really loved the fresh floral and bird print, and having just bought a sewing machine I decided to try it out and make a cushion for my chair.
 

I was aiming to be as economical as possible with my little project, and the total cost to make the cushion cover was just £2. The tea towel cost £1.20 from Primark and is a thin cotton material which worked really well on my sewing machine. I headed to my local market haberdashery stall for a 12" zip in a co-ordinating pale blue colour where I paid only 80p. (I had previously looked in a craft shop and a high-street haberdashery and the prices for a basic zip were as high as £4.00, so I'd recommend looking for independent retailers and market stalls for the best prices).


As it has been some years since I last undertook a real sewing project I wanted to make my first project as simple as possible. So I just folded my tea towel in half and cut it, putting one half aside, before measuring the other piece to find 1/4 and cutting it again. I then pinned each half of zip in place to the 1/4 and 3/4 of the fabric having double folded it to create a neat edge and also conceal the zip, and sewed across. Once the zip was in it was as simple as pinning the two halves back together (and facing each other) and sewing, (remembering to the leave the zip open so you can turn it out the right way after...not that I forgot to do this and had to struggle to unzip it...!). Finally I had a look through my sewing box for old bags of sequins that had come with jumpers and found some dark pink sequins and beads that matched the roses perfectly, and sewed a few on by hand.

So here's the finished result!

the front

the back

It took little over an hour to make from start to finish and i'm really pleased with the results. Although the stitching could be neater in places I think it just requires a little practice and it's a great project for beginners. I think the cushion would make a lovely gift so I'm tempted to go back for more tea towels and pick up the other patterns from Primark, as one was a red floral/spotty print, very cath kidston-esque, and the other was a beige cafe/coffee cup print that would look great on a bistro/patio chair, and at only £1.20 each it is far cheaper than buying a metre of material, which were as much as £9.99 at one of the craft stores I visited for some of the nicer prints.

P.S. I used an old cushion to fill the cover but I've found cushions from as little as £2 online after a quick search so even if you don't have an old one to up-cycle, a new one doesn't have to be costly!

Croissants and Homemade Easter Eggs

With snow on the ground outside gardening has been out of the question this weekend, so I decided to spend some time baking instead. In the fridge I had a can of Jus Rol Croissants which I've not tried before and was somewhat sceptical about, but I was pleasantly surprised with the results.

You simply unwrap the can, and unroll the sheet of pre-marked pastry and cut into triangles. Then simply roll up and twist into a croissant shape and pop in the oven.

The croissants were quite small but light and tasty, and being smaller than the ones you buy in the supermarket is the perfect excuse to indulge in a second!

 After dinner I was at a loose end so I decided to try out the new easter egg moulds I purchased a few days ago from Hobbycraft. They were on sale for £1 and contained 2 sets of small and 2 large easter egg moulds. 

I didn't want to spend too much money on chocolate as it was just a fun little project to fill my evening, so I bought 3 bags of Asda buttons on offer at 3 for £1 (2 milk chocolate and 1 white chocolate) and had plenty to fill the small trays. I also used some heart chocolate shapes I had in my cupboard in the mould and then poured in a little melted chocolate to decorate some of the eggs. 

And here's the finished result! They're a little messy but next time I won't fill the moulds as much. Even so they tasted delicious :)