The Sewing Place

House Beautiful Contest - January 1st to February 28th

Sewingsue

Re: House Beautiful Contest - January 1st to February 28th
« Reply #15 on: December 23, 2018, 15:46:11 PM »
Hmm, maybe I should use the contests as motivation and inspiration to getting things done.
Thinking about how many years I have thought 'next year I will...' I wonder if doing that would work.

Or maybe I would stick at wishful thinking again.
Bernina Aurora 440QE, Brother BC-2500, Singer 99K (1938), Juki MO-654DE overlocker, Silver Viscount 620D overlocker.

elisep

Re: House Beautiful Contest - January 1st to February 28th
« Reply #16 on: December 24, 2018, 12:16:40 PM »
Ooh, hopefully I can join in this one (seeing as how I didn't manage to finish my SWAKOP :( )

I've decided to give silk painting a try, and was thinking of a cushion cover for my first project. Guess this makes it official! Just need to wait for my supplies to arrive!
Stash Busting 2023
Used: 4 metres

Manuela

Re: House Beautiful Contest - January 1st to February 28th
« Reply #17 on: December 25, 2018, 02:27:12 AM »
They look lovely @Francesca
I’ll finish the new covers for the chair tomorrow....

Sizun

Re: House Beautiful Contest - January 1st to February 28th
« Reply #18 on: December 25, 2018, 09:19:57 AM »
Our living room is currently furnished with a red armchair and a teal sofa. Both are quite worn out so I have grand plans about making taupe or cream slipcovers and colorful seasonal cushions. However, as we're moving soon, buying a huge amount of fabric is not the wisest thing to do. I think I'm just going to make cushion covers and the slipcovers will have to wait until next summer. In the meantime, decluttering can be fun and lead to happy discoveries of treasures long forgotten in the depth of the fabric stash.

Manuela

Re: House Beautiful Contest - January 1st to February 28th
« Reply #19 on: December 27, 2018, 02:28:54 AM »
It’s done, and I am very happy with it. I also added another cushion for more flexibility. That was a fun project, I hope to find more small ones like this.... Picture time - that blue thingy at the background is the sea  ;)

Here the zippers:
Top - almost perfectly matched invisible zipper
Centre - invisible zipper (I underlined the perforated denim with black cotton)
Bottom - ‘artistically frayed’ exposed zipper (as this is real patchwork I used the existing seams and stiched them onto the zipper band to prevent bulk)

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Chair with its original small cushion redone

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Chair wih the new big cushion in perforated denim

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Complete overkill: chair with both cushions  0_0

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renita

Re: House Beautiful Contest - January 1st to February 28th
« Reply #20 on: December 30, 2018, 21:46:11 PM »
Great work @Francesca and @Manuela!  Very inspiring.  Some great plans shaping up here, loving the sound of the floor cushion and quilt and can't wait to see the silk painting @elisep - I'd like to have a go at that sometime too.

I don't have any immediate home decorating plans, just a few ideas that are still percolating.  It takes me a while to kick into action.  Possibilities:

* Old recliner chair that could do with an update, but I haven't got the fabric yet, so unlikely to make it in the time frame.
* A couple of fold-up director-style chairs with very dead canvas.  I've already repainted the frames and even have the fabric, so this is a possibility, though the sewing is limited and it DOES involve a staple gun, so may be disqualified.
* A meditation cushion - but don't yet have fabric and want it to be quilted, possibly hand-pieced, so that's potentially going to take the rest of my lifetime, probably won't make the deadline!

I agree Manuela - these contests are great for inspiration and motivation.

Manuela

Re: House Beautiful Contest - January 1st to February 28th
« Reply #21 on: December 31, 2018, 00:16:30 AM »
Happy that you go back to making that giant floor cushion @Francesca . You got great advice in the thread you linked. Frabric and foam don’t really want to go together, hence making a slip cover in a thin material (on my seat cushion here it is very thin non-woven interfacing) helps a lot. And yes, do make a pattern as suggested and mark corners/seam allowances/zipper positions.
The seat cushions I made for our sofa here in Thailand last year are 90x90x25cm, do you want me to take pictures on how a dealt with the zipper?

Manuela

Re: House Beautiful Contest - January 1st to February 28th
« Reply #22 on: December 31, 2018, 00:22:25 AM »
@renita, how much stapeling vs sewing is there going to be on those chairs? Could you post a picture of the existing state, so that I can get a clearer picture?

Manuela

Re: House Beautiful Contest - January 1st to February 28th
« Reply #23 on: December 31, 2018, 11:49:36 AM »
@Francesca, good thinking - you need to pull the zipper around both corners (by at least 10cm, a bit more would be even better), otherwise you’ll have one heck of a challenge putting the cover onto the foam cushion. Therse things are ridiculously rigid...

renita

Re: House Beautiful Contest - January 1st to February 28th
« Reply #24 on: January 03, 2019, 07:39:02 AM »
@Manuela, I'll see if I can work out how to take a photo - I've already pulled my chairs aparts, but my parents have some similar ones that I might be able to use to show you.  No biggie if it doesn't qualify for judging - this is more about getting the inspiration to get on with jobs that I've been putting off.

Speaking of that, I'm going for it on the meditation cushion - the life-time project.  I went through my stash and found a heap of quilting fabrics from 10 or more years ago!  I'm sure that part of the issue with the cushion would be my inability to choose when faced with all the treasures in the local quilting shop, so I'm just going to use what I have on hand - decision made, stash busted (or slightly dented...).

I'll head over to the Dark Side to post progress reports I think, so I don't clutter up this thread.

Manuela

Re: House Beautiful Contest - January 1st to February 28th
« Reply #25 on: January 03, 2019, 10:11:13 AM »
@renita feel free to clutter up this thread  :)
A picture of the chairs pulled apart would be perfectly fine.

Acorn

Re: House Beautiful Contest - January 1st to February 28th
« Reply #26 on: January 03, 2019, 12:56:21 PM »
I have cut out the triangles for my child's quilt.

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They are in themes, one for each strip.  From bottom left, sky/weather (clouds, stars, frost, raindrops, rainbows), sea (puffins, seashells, otters, fish, mermaids),  sky/flying things (butterflies, birds, umbrellas), background (dark blue), land animals and tools (sheep/pigs, gardening, insects, ladybirds, woodland animals),  flowers (sunflowers, buttercups, daisies, raspberries).

This is the pattern:

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The strips are going to go in this order from the bottom upwards:  sea, flowers, land, sky/flying things, sky/weather.
I might look as though I'm talking to you, but inside my head I'm sewing.

Lachica

Re: House Beautiful Contest - January 1st to February 28th
« Reply #27 on: January 03, 2019, 15:03:58 PM »
Looking forward to seeing this, if I were to make a quilt I think I'd have to theme it. This appeals to my tidy brain.
Mary
2020 stash: not gonna count, not gonna feel guilty.

Bodgeitandscarper

Re: House Beautiful Contest - January 1st to February 28th
« Reply #28 on: January 10, 2019, 14:10:20 PM »
I have an entry (or possibly two) coming along - I was just musing on the economics of paying lots for an embroidery machine to make machine embroidered hanging pockets to store the machine's hoops in...  :S

Efemera

Re: House Beautiful Contest - January 1st to February 28th
« Reply #29 on: January 11, 2019, 20:36:16 PM »
Would a tea cosy count...the one I’m using is a disgrace :S