Don’t forget to check yesterday’s  post for Valentine Soap Give Away!

Somewhere in the last number of years and the last thousand people in our home, somewhere along there, my leather sofa received a big ugly gash, kinda like a knifing.  And nobody’s fessing up.  At first it didn’t look too bad, but as [...]]]>

Don’t forget to check yesterday’s  post for Valentine Soap Give Away!

Somewhere in the last number of years and the last thousand people in our home, somewhere along there, my leather sofa received a big ugly gash, kinda like a knifing.  And nobody’s fessing up.  At first it didn’t look too bad, but as time went on, little fingers became intrigued, fascinated, draaaawn to that gash.  It has grown.

I’ve been contemplating buying all new living room furniture all because of this unsightly gash in my sofa.  The problem though, is that new stuff means becoming married to the thing: caring deeply about it, obsessing over it, becoming jealous of anyone’s use of it.  That’s how it is with new stuff.  I hate that.  That and I still like my old sofa.

I made about nine calls to upholstery and leather repair shops; some never returned my call; some said they’d have to replace the entire panel of leather; some just owned up and said that though they advertised leather repair, they really didn’t.

So, I went to Saint Google and asked for guidance.  I watched snippets on Youtube of tutorials on  repairing a leather sofa.  Those tricksters on  youtube videos demonstrate by applying a patch to a scrap of leather so that they could turn it over to show you the finished patch, BUT that also meant they could access the back and sweetly, gently, firmly press the patch into perfect place for drying.  Sneaks.

In the end I bought some leather glue at the local hobby store for $3.99, cut a little piece of leather from a piece lying around, glued the patch, shoved it in the hole, tweezered it into place and pushed on the sofa back hoping that would bond the two together for life.  I figured anything worth doing is worth doing poorly, that and I had absolutely nothing to lose, the sofa was already an eyesore.

With the help of a million and three web sites, I landed on ordering two products: Deep Leather Fill for the gouge, and Soft Leather Fill for the finishing layer, each $7.95 for 2 oz.   from these folks.  I ordered on Monday and the stuff was here on Wednesday!  It was sent priority  AND they refunded almost half the shipping because they could.

Find the knife wound. This, THIS, is the completed project. I am so proud.

See that sort of circle lightly around the cut? That is from my first attempt to "fix" the cut. Back when Taite had a feeding tube, I thought, anything that sticks to skin like that tape that held her feeding tube in place ought to be able to hold a sofa's torn leather together. Not so well, it happens.

So, what I did first was to put a little leather glue onto a leather patch and shove it in the hole. Then I took some tweezers and cajoled it into place and then let it dry. Thoroughly. I kind of reminded me of a big old scab. And I kept telling my self, "nothing to lose." (You can see the Taite feeding tube tape mark again here)

This stuff is golden. And you can fix an awful lot of holes with 2 ounces of this stuff. The Deep Fill goes on and then I smoothed it over with a putty knife and let it dry. Thoroughly. And then applied yet another layer before applying the Soft Fill for the final top coat. Let dry thoroughly.

The nice thing about this product is that when it dries it has a soft leathery feel to it.

Eventually I had it all smooth and ready for some color.

Now, let me step outside of my photos for just a second to tell you what you must not do.  You don’t need to because I did it for you.  Do not go into your shoe polishing kit and get some brown shoe polish and smear it on the patch.  Trust me, it won’t work.  And then you might want to take a little black India ink and kinda smear it in too hoping to get the perfect brown.  Don’t.  It will look like you took shoe polish and mixed it up with black India ink.  Cheapskate.

No, rather you must buy spray paint specifically for leather.  Okay, it’s for shoes, but it works.  Just $7.99 plus about $6 shipping.  And because it’s “liquid, perishable, flammable, dangerous,” it will take forever and a day for the good old government postal system to deliver the stuff to you.  When you have lost all hope, it will arrive.

The tought thing though is to match your particular brown to an online color chart. I ended up getting "Russet" on Taite's advise. She was spot on.

That’s it.  I am now open for business.  You may fly me out and I will come with my little leather supplies and it will save you in the end the cost of a new sofa, (see finished sofa photo above).

Here’s a great project for any time of the year, for adults or kids. My mother-in-law has been making gorgeous soap for a while now and came across the idea of felting soap. Basically you are creating a washcloth around your bar of soap that will shrink around the bar until it is all used [...]]]>

Here’s a great project for any time of the year, for adults or kids. My mother-in-law has been making gorgeous soap for a while now and came across the idea of felting soap. Basically you are creating a washcloth around your bar of soap that will shrink around the bar until it is all used up. I showed everyone how to do it at Christmas and Meghan captured it all in beautiful photos, as is her way. You can get creative with fun colors and designs and I love that this craft is useful (not to mention kind of addictive once you do a few.)

Here’s what you need:

A bar of good quality soap – doesn’t matter what shape

Roving wool (this is where we found gorgeous colors for cheap)

A nylon sock

A washboard-like surface (we used bamboo place mats, but any finely ridged surface works)

Hot water

Felting Needles (You don’t have to do this part, but I think it’s the most fun.)

First select some colors of roving wool (you can use multiple ones) and wrap tightly around your bar of soap. Cover all the bar.

It won't look perfect, but try to go for an even, thick layer that doesn't leave any corners exposed.

Carefully place the wrapped soap into your nylon sock.

Get the whole thing soaking wet with hot water and scrub every side of the bar on your mat. Check the progress of the felting by pulling off the sock, and if the felt is not holding together yet, keep going.

To add a design like the little Christmas tree above, simply shape a rough shape out of wool and place on the still wet bar of soap. Prick and poke into shape until it is completely adhered to the bar. You can layer your design, like I did with the little white dots on the tree.

Let your creations dry out for a good day or so, the fibers will shrink and look even better once they are dry. To use, simply wet the bar in the tub and scrub away! Perfect for kid's dirty feet in the summer!

My mom-in-law and I just did a little batch of Valentine soaps with hearts in red white and pink. Get inspired (or just cheat and buy some, we won’t tell) by these super cute designs on etsy. I love this bird one.

If you are at all like me, I come across fabric I just love all the time.  I hold it and think long a hard about  just what it is that I would [...]]]>

My little mouse has been running around on a book so I thought I might get a real mouse pad for it.

If you are at all like me, I come across fabric I just love all the time.  I hold it and think long a hard about  just what it is that I would do with it .  And thinking of nothing because I already have plenty of pillows and really don’t enjoy sewing all that much, put it back.  This is a little project just in case you should run across a smallish piece of cloth that is calling your name and you simply must have it.  It need be no bigger than a mouse pad, in fact mouse pad size is perfect.  With that bit of cloth and some Heat ‘n Bond you can make a perfectly adorable little pad for your mouse.

One ugly little mouse pad and some Heat'n Bond is all you really need.

Make sure to cut out a square slightly larger than the pad.

Iron the Heat'n Bond to the fabric then peel off the backing and iron to the mouse pad.

Voila! A cute little mouse pad.

And best of all you don’t have to sew one little bit.

Some of the photos have links to the site for instructions.

I thought you all might like these French bread bags and if you have the teensiest bit of sewing knowledge they will be a cinch to make.  It is another way to make and and another use for the bread bag shown in the previous post.  They are perfect hostess gifts to take to all [...]]]>

I thought you all might like these French bread bags and if you have the teensiest bit of sewing knowledge they will be a cinch to make.  It is another way to make and and another use for the bread bag shown in the previous post.  They are perfect hostess gifts to take to all your Christmas parties.  I use mine to serve French bread on the table since we tear ours, but they would be just as lovely for a bottle of wine.  Either way the process is the same but the measurements may be a bit different.  The letters I used were from dfont, an amazing site if you have never checked it and have a total love of fonts like I do.

I like to use a natural linen. It has a French look, but obviously you can use whatever cloth you would like. Cut out two rectangles 23x21 for the bread bag. This will also acommodate a baguette loaf. For wine the measurements would be smaller. I like to French seam mine to have a cleaner look. To do this simply put right sides facing the right way and sew a 1/4 in around the bad. Then turn so the right sides are facing in and sew about a 1/2 in seam around the bag again. Then hem the top.

   

My favorite part is painting on the monogram. Using letters from dfont, I cut out and trace the letter on the bag.

 

I like to use the metallic paints to paint on the monogram. I still love a bit of glitter. Just be sure to put a paper between the layers so as not to get paint on the other side.

Voila! Beautiful!

Here is a bit different monogram.

All ready for a party

I dismantled the paper bread bag from the store [...]]]>

Our family is a big fan of fresh baked bread…  straight from the store.  Serving it in a linen bag is a lot cuter than paper.  And a white linen bread bag is just the thing to add to a gift basket for someone this Christmas.

I dismantled the paper bread bag from the store to use as my pattern, basically a big rectangle.

I sew a narrow seam up the long side of the rectangle.

Then I iron the seam to the inside and sew another narrow seam on what looks like the finished side.

This gives me a completely finished seam without a ragged edge that I turn to the inside.

I copy the folds of the paper bread bag, then iron it.

Making the top look like this.

I fold the bottom end twice for a finished edge and sew across the hem.

I freehand with a pencil"Bread" and then I embroidered it.

In short time I have a stack of crisply ironed white linen bread bags.

Because darkness can’t come soon enough at this house on Halloween day, I got together a little craft for the kids and think your kids might enjoy it too.  For the project you just need graph paper and colored pencils. [...]]]>

Their pictures became quite creative. Here we have a little witch under a full moon.

Because darkness can’t come soon enough at this house on Halloween day, I got together a little craft for the kids and think your kids might enjoy it too.  For the project you just need graph paper and colored pencils.  All that is required is that they make pictures using only squares.  It ends up being like cross stitching on paper.  And for as simple a project as it is, my kids have been at it for a couple of hours already.  One of them said, Hey, I forgot tonight we get to trick-or-treat!”  Success.

Should your kids need a bit of inspiration here you go.

Canon made a pirate.

Here are Athan's little dogs.

Home is Wherever I’m With You- Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros:

Click here to view the embedded video.

It gave me an idea for yet one more use of an old atlas.

I had [...]]]>

I loved this the first time I heard it on Jason & Aileen’s wedding site (over a year ago!)  I still like it.

Home is Wherever I’m With You- Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros:

Click here to view the embedded video.

It gave me an idea for yet one more use of an old atlas.

I had the entire world page still intact in the atlas that I cut to bits for crafts so I carefully removed it from the book.

I eyeball spaced the letters across the atlas.

My sister gave me these for teaching my children their letters. I kept them when we were done for craft purposes. I have used them for all sorts of lettering.

I am planning to carefully paint the letters black to make them bold. Then I might frame it for a special place.

I opted for glossy [...]]]>

Look familiar!?  Three thousand miles apart and Erin and I  pick the same chair, same fabric.  The teensy weensiest little difference is that Erin did the job during Valiant’s  nap while nine months pregnant with Atlas.  I, on the other hand, took four months and enslaved neighborhood boys to help me.

I opted for glossy black

It took a lot of coats of paint to get the glossy look I was going for.  In the end I think it was four coats.

Mine had foam instead of batting but it was crumbling away. I bought new foam to put on top but left the old because it had the right shape.

Originally, my chair had upholstered arm rests but Meghan suggested just painting the arm for a sleeker look.  My thought was, the less I have to reupholster the the better for me.

Waiting for a new staple gun that will penetrate this hard wood.

Okay, Erin has waaaaaay more upper body strength than I do even when she’s  nine months pregnant!!   I had to have help from my dear husband to get the staples in without them going all wobbly.  so here it sits semi-stapled waiting for the big guns.

I was quite relieved to discover that Andrew could not get our staple gun to staple into the wood either.  I was not the weak link!  We needed more power.

We ended up buying a new staple gun.  But I figure it will pay for itself by the time I reupholster two of the chairs shown here, all eight dining room chairs, and a bench.  Well, actually, truth be told, I am tired of my dining set and am secretly thinking of selling it.  I’ll wait ’til we get this chair done to spring the sale idea on Andrew.  He just might be ready by then.

I do not care what Erin may try to tell you, reupholstering is not, NOT, for the faint hearted.

I absolutely recommend looking for an upholsterer and paying him/her the money they deserve to get this sort of thing done.  I have the those tiny brass nails left to hammer in, about ten thousand of them.  No, really, I will…