Body Pillow Turned Sofa Pillow

One of the many pieces of advice I have heard everywhere regarding the pregnancy is to get myself a body pillow.  I heard this from so many people and read it in so many books that a few months ago I decided that I could not live without one and picked one up at Target.  Unfortunately the body pillow was not my passport to comfort and deep sleep.  These people and books all forgot to mention the other thing that comes with a body pillow…extreme heat!  And I already feel like my body temperature is about 10 degrees above normal.

But oh well.  It was worth the try.  I found another great use for the body pillow when I took it out to my living room and found that it fit the back of my sofa just about perfectly.  Mike and I tried sitting on the sofa with the pillow behind us, and it was oh so comfortable! 

I covered the pillow with some fabulous fabric that I found shopping at the Los Angeles Fashion district (yellow, of course, and only $2 a yard!!) while visiting family.  One of these days my living room is going to go into yellow overload, but maybe I can squeeze just a tiny bit more of my favorite color into it…

I made up the pattern for the pillow as I went along.  I measured the length and width, and cut the front rectangle from that measurement.  For the back, I divided the length in 2 and added a couple inches, and overlapped the pieces to make an envelope style closure.

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Fluorescent Light Shade

The apartment that Mike and I moved into has nothing but fluorescent lights throughout all the rooms.  I have never been a big fan of these lights, they are just to harsh.  My idea was to hide the ugly lights, and to soften their glow.  The project was somewhat successful.  These shades do help to filter the harsh light, and make the rooms much more pleasant to be in.  However, I am not sure the shade helps with the ugliness problem, as the shades are not much to look at.  It is really difficult to eliminate all the folds and wrinkles in the fabric.  I am actually thinking I might try some heavy duty fabric starch to help it hold its shape better.  Does anyone have any suggestions? 

To make the shade, I used wire hangers, cream  colored fabric, and hot glue.  I cut the hangers to fit around the light, and bended them into a square shape with two little hooks at the top that can hook over the light and hold the shade in place.  I then cut the fabric to the length of the light, and the width of the three sides of the hangers.  I used hot glue to attach the fabric to the hangers.

It’s not too bad for a first try, but I think it does need some tweaking.  Oh, and before I forget, thank-you everyone for the great home-decor resources you gave me.  Already, they have been a lot of help!  I am finding lots of inspiration for my home, and I think it is already starting to look better.  Now, to pick a paint color…

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Sofa, Recovered!

 

The longest work-in-progress is finished!  I started trying to recover this couch back in May.  When Mike and I decided to do it, we thought this would take a lot of work, but not too much time.  Four months later, I know that we were wrong (about the time thing, not about the work thing)!

It feels so nice to have this project done.  Our new place has not felt like home since we moved in because we haven’t really had much time to make everything nice in there.  It really feels like we have conquered a huge obstacle here.  Now I feel like I can get on with making some curtains to go on those curtain rods, and some pillows to go on the “new” couch, and maybe even a coat of paint to tone down the harsh white walls!  Ugh!  The list really never ends!

Actually, this leads me to a question I have for you…do you have any home design blogs that you really enjoy reading?  I am in desperate need of inspiration!

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Leather Bag, Part II

As promised, today I am sharing some more details about my leather bag.  First I should tell you that I fashioned this bag after a lovely bag at Anthropologie (suprise suprise).  Mine turned out a little more square-shaped, but for my purposes I think that is better.

The first thing I did was rip out the seams of the jacket.  I left the back of the jacket in one piece even though it was made up of 4 pieces of fabric because I knew that I would want to use it as one piece.  There was also a front flap and two cuffs that I removed from the main body of the jacket but did not deconstruct completely because I wanted to use them as they were for the strap.  I took apart everything else.  I discarded the jacket lining because it was not in very good condition and I wanted something with a little more style to use as the lining of the bag.

I had some trouble deciding on what part of the jacket to use for the main back piece of the bag.  I finally ended up taking the two front pieces (they were separate because of the zipper) and sewing them together. This made a large enough piece to cut out the back.  The added bonus of using the front of the jacket for the back of the purse is it had 4 pockets that I was able to include.  These are really useful for storing my phone and wallet because I can access them very easily and they are more secure than storing things in the front pocket.  What the back of the bag lacks in style it certainly makes up for in convenience.

The pockets on the front of the bag were cut from the arms of the jacket.  It was helpful that the jacket was pretty large because I was able to use some of the “smaller” parts, like the arms, for some suprisingly large pieces.

I bought most of the hardware that I used on the bag, with an exception of the zipper.  I reused the zipper that was on the jacket.  That worked out really well because it was the perfect size for my bag.  If I was making a smaller bag I probably would have used the zipper still, but I would have cut it to size and used thread to stop the zipper from coming off.

To line the bag I made another bag out of the striped fabric and sewed it to the inside of the leather bag.  I didn’t add any pockets to the inside because there are so many pockets on the outside, but I may end up adding some if I need them.

Finally, I made the strap from the cuffs and front flap of the jacket, which ended up being just the right length!  I can wear it over one shoulder comfortably, like I usually do with purses, but it is also long enough to put over my head, across the chest so that I can carry it easily while riding my bike.  Yay!  No more messenger bag for me!

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Bag from a Leather Jacket

This is what I was up to over the weekend…refashioning a leather jacket into a shoulder bag!  Mike has been doing lots of studying, so I have had plenty of time on my own to work on my sewing/crafting (though I never seem to have enough time to think that trying to tackle my un-upholstered couch is a good idea…I think I’ll have to work up to that one!).  I have heard about people refashioning leather jackets and then selling them on Etsy, and I decided to give it a try.

This was my first time sewing with leather, and I found out quickly that it is a bit different than working with regular fabric.  One thing that I found I had to be careful about was once you poke a hole in the leather, there is no getting it out.  This meant that I could not use pins to hold the leather in place, which was a little difficult at first, but since leather is so sturdy, I soon got the hang of it.  The leather would pretty much go wherever I told it to, unlike fabric, which can sometimes have a mind of its own.

The permanent hole problem also showed up when making the actual stitches…I had to be extremely careful to line everything up properly, and only sew the seams once to avoid having a whole bunch of extra holes in my bag.

You can see from the pictures that I haven’t quite finished the bag yet, though I am getting really close.  I still want to put a couple of tabs on the pocket flap that will go through the little loops on the bottom of the pocket.  I have made the liner for the bag, but I still have to put it in and attach the zipper.  And of course I have to put a strap on it.  I will post a finished picture of it on Wednesday so you all can see how it turned out.  I will also give you some more details on what parts of the jacket I used for what.  Because a leather jacket has only so much fabric, you have to be a little creative in using it.

How was your weekend?

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Garden Dress

I spent yesterday planning some fall transition clothes to make for the upcoming season…fall just seems to be getting closer and closer!  I fell in love with this Tulip Study Dress at Anthropologie.  It is so stylish, but also very carefree due to the black jersey bodice.  It looks like the perfect dress to slip on on a hot day, or wear under a warm sweater with tights on a cool day.

To make the dress, I took a black jersey dress that I no longer wear, cut off the skirt, and attached the beautiful floral fabric, but project would also work well with a simple black tank top as the bodice.  I chose the fabric because the colors are bright and cheery for summer, but will transfer well to autumn.  The fabric also has a beautiful sheen to it that catches the light perfectly. 

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Magnolia Pillowcase Top

I went camping again this weekend and those things I made really came in handy!  My water bottle holder became a pouch for all the little pieces of rose quartz that I collected throughout the trip.  We got back yesterday, and I had just enough time to put together this little top.

The main body of the top is made from an old pillowcase that I had pre-marriage.  I have been saving it because I love the pattern on the fabric.  It is hard to see in the pictures, but it is a white on off white floral pattern…perfectly subtle (as you all know…my favorite!).  The straps are made of 1/2″ bias tape that I had left over from this blanket.  The flowers are made from some cream colored cotton.  I cut out petals in the rough shape of figure-8s and sewed two on top of each other.  I then took four of these figure-8 petals, folded them in half and stitched them together in a random order.  I made five of these “petal bunches” and then stitched them along the right side of the top.  I really love the size of these flowers.  At first they seemed a bit too big for me, but they make me feel so feminine!

Last night I also altered a pair of trousers that I have been meaning to do for a long time…I put them on inside out and placed the pins along the outer edges where I wanted the seam to be…very easy with great results.  I will definately be doing this with all my jeans and trousers that don’t fit me.

And finally, I couldn’t resist posting this picture from our camping trip.  This was a farm that we saw on our way up into the mountains.  The sky was so clear with these massive fluffy clouds.  Absolutely beautiful!

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Repurposed Dress Shirt

I have had this dress shirt for a few years now.  I originally bought it because I loved the fabric, but it was a bit to big for me, so I never really wore it.  I have been admiring all the summer tunics that have been in style this summer, so I decided to make the top into a tunic.

What you will need:

• dress shirt that is two sizes too big for you
• seam ripper
• matching thread
• scissors
• pencil
• straight pins
• iron

1. Remove the collar with the seam ripper.  Re-stitch the along the top where the collar once was.

2. Remove all the buttons from the top.

3. Measure 6″ down the front and mark with a pencil or a straight pin.

4. Turn shirt inside out.  Align the front button panel with right sides facing.  Secure with pins.

5. Stitch just on the inside of these button panels, starting at the bottom and ending at the mark you made in step 3.  Iron seam open.  At the top, the button panels will be folded in half.

6. Stitch the top of the folded button panels at 1/4″ (or smaller if the button panels are smaller).

7. With the shirt inside out, measure 6″ (more or less for shorter or longer sleeves) up each sleeve and mark with a pencil or straight pin.  Cut sleeves at this mark.

8.  Fold cut sleeve over at 1/2″ and iron.  Stitch along sleeve edge at 1/4″.

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