EASY PEASY OUTDOOR FURNITURE COVERS

This post was supposed to be written and published months ago but I have been quite busy and have not been able to get it ready to share with you any earlier. Most of the photos were also taken using my old Canon as my new baby, a Nikon dslr, wasn't born to our family yet. So, here is my excuse for the poor quality pictures in the post.

Months ago, I was desperately looking for a solution for my outdoor furniture. We have this beautiful wooden table and seat set that caters for 8 people (four 2-seaters). We also love spending time outdoors and it is just a perfect start to a nice breezy spring day or a sunny summer morning for us to have some breakfast at the backyard. However, we were hardly able to use the set up until I made some cover for the seats a few months ago!

(Before) 

(After)

The reason we couldn't use them was because there is not much on top of the table and the seats to protect them from all those bird droppings that make you 'lucky' (Has it worked? Is this a nice-enough way of saying 'bird shit'?). I have tried using a huge piece of fabric (linen) to cover them all up when unused, tried using newspaper to sit on, used smaller pieces of fabric for each seat while using it and so on but none was a convenient, practical and pain-free enough solution for us. It was either too much work, took a lot of time and effort, caused a huge pile of washing or simply did not work.

I started thinking of making covers for the seats but was not quite sure how to go about it at first. I asked for an opinion from my husband, my sister, from the very helpful ladies at The Sewing Library but nothing came through that I was totally happy to go with. Therefore, I had to come up with something that would work for me.

I was lucky that a few days after I had decided to make some covers and came up with a design on paper, a local fabric store had a sale on. That was definitely very handy. I picked up a large upholstery fabric that is easy to wash and dry, does not run colour, does not crease too easily and had a good thickness level for durability. Can you imagine how happy I was when I came back home with a lot of that fabric?

I first measured my seats both vertically and horizontally. When deciding on the length, I started from the back of the chair, measuring up to the top of the chair, then down to the seat along the backrest, measured the width of the seat, and  then measured from the seat to about 15cm above the floor level. The width of the fabric was 1.5m and was just perfect for my project as I needed my seat covers to be almost 1m wide and wanted it to be 1.5m long. All I needed to do was to cut a meter of the fabric for each seat. The original fabric's width became the length of my seat-covers. Nice and simple. I cut four of those 1m pieces and then hemmed the sides of the fabric. To hem, I simple folded it once, then folded again and ran a zigzag stitch.

After that, I folded one side in about 45cm over lengthwise, making the rectangle fabric piece almost a square, as seen in the picture below. This was to make a pocket to help it stay on the seat. It is to slide over the back-rest.

I sewed only a bit more than halfway through to give it some flexibility rather than sewing it all the way down (Approximatey 25cm of it from top is sewn) and voila! The seat cover was ready.

Enjoy some outdoor time in the cold, hot or warm weather that you have wherever you are on the globe!

DIY THREAD ORGANISER

Do you remember Jama's post on how to organise fabrics? It was quite useful to many and it has been shared on facebook by some readers several times and it is on Pinterest too. There various ways to keep our fabrics nice and tidy and Jama was kind enough to share the way she does it here. Now that our fabrics are in order, I thought it is the time we move on to the endless amount of threads that most of us people who are into designing, sewing and crafts at an amateur or a professional level have.

Here is a great looking and easy to achieve handmade storage idea for you from a non-English blog, which I have recently discovered. I was given permission to share this idea and the photos for you from the generous original writer. You can visit her blog by clicking here and browse through all those beautiful crafty ideas and projects. In most cases, just the photos are good enough to tell you all about it even if you are unable to read the writings.

All you need for this organiser idea is a frame, a soft canvas base, and some pins. Isn't that a great idea?

Note: You could substitute the pins with some nails if you are concerned that they may not hold your threads well. 

A HOMEMADE WEIGHT TUTORIAL

As you most likely know by now, I have a handmade business called MADE BY Y that I operate mostly from home. I sometimes hold a stall at markets too. I generally have my spot indoors but it is not an option at times and last month, I had one of those outdoor markets. I do not own a marquee but a family member was kind enough to lend his to me for that day. The only issue was that his tent was not designed for concrete floors and I needed to make sure that it stayed firm and stable on a hard surface. That meant that I needed some weights for each leg of the marquee. I was tight on budget and time and had to come up with some homemade options.

I could have gone for a solution similar to the one in the pictures below,

or something l like this

but I have decided to go for a different weight option.

I happened to have some 5lt plastic containers at home. We bought some self adhesive contact paper to cover the writings on the containers, 4 hooks (we used whatever scrap horizontal metals that we had around to stop the hook from getting out), and a packet of (20kg) concrete premix from a hardware store and it all cost us just over $10.  

The first thing we did was to cover up the containers with the contact paper that we had bought. We didn't have to do that but it looked much nicer when we did it.

After that, we started getting our containers ready. Tip: You can put some rocks on the bottom of the containers if you don't have enough cement and that is just what we did to one of ours when we noticed that it was not going to be enough.

We placed the hook as seen in the picture above and put the hook through a small tree branch and hung it.

Mr. Hubby made cement using water and the concrete mix. 

Then, we poured the cement into containers and put them aside over night to dry and in the morning, it was all ready to use! All I had to do on the day was to use some strong ropes to weigh down the marquee.

Feel free to let us know if you have other ideas/options that you use or can think of in the comments section.

A HANDMADE SIFTER FOR THE GARDEN

We thankfully worked with Sontec Plumbing. They were great. Recommended: 0409 695 927

As I have mentioned here, there are things happening in our backyard this year and we are excited about it all as a family. There will be other posts on other aspects of what is going on there and what we have done or learnt throughout this process. Today, here is one of Mr. Hubby's ideas and our handmade tool that worked wonderfully for us.

As you know from my previous post on our garden that we have some stones and rocks on the sides of our backyard along with the fence and we wanted/needed to take them off from there and use them elsewhere. There were four reasons for that: 1) We need to dig up some parts of the garden and the stones are very hard to work with when doing so. 2) Where we are planning to dig up the soil, stones are unneeded and are not welcome. 3) We need all those rocks and stones elsewhere. 4)We have enquired about some walk in bins to take all that dirt away from quite a few places and the quotes for a 6-8 cubic meters walk in bin started from approximately $300 and went up to around $600 which too made us think of other possible options.

Mr. Hubby is a person with bright ideas and can think outside the box. He is skillful too which is a great advantage on our behalf. He started thinking of possible solutions (can you tell he is an engineer?) and voila! This is what we did on the same day after he suggested it:

We bought a metal mesh for about $20 from a local hardware store. We came home and got working. We picked some pieces of wood that would work well for our little project from our little 'unwanted-for-the-moment' wood pile, took our drill set and some nails out out, and started to make our rectangle metal sifter. We kept one side's two wood ends a bit longer to make it easier to lift it up when heavy.

We placed the sifter on top of the wheelbarrow that we have borrowed from a family member (which we should really give back sometime soon).

The rest was pretty straight forward. We loaded the sifter with dirt using a shovel, sifted it through our handmade sifter, most of the soil and some small sized beneficial rocks went through and went into the wheelbarrow, we separated the big chunks of branches, twigs and grass roots and the rest stayed on the sifter which we then poured into buckets to make it easier to transport.

During this work which went for over a week on and off, Mr. Junior was very helpful finding all sorts of bugs and worms and informing us of his new findings. As a person who would not go to his Grandparents' house unless they make sure that their pet dogs are locked away or on leash, he did really well with bugs and all those slimy little creatures!

As for Miss Junior, she helped us out with the rocks the most by making sure that we did not miss any unwanted bits in the rocks section. She was an excellent supervisor and a worker. She inspected the rocks that we collected in a container in detail and whenever she didn't like it, she took them out of the container and put them on the ground so that we would know we needed to do it again, this time, more carefully.

Once again, it was hard work but was well accomplished and we surely had a smile on our face when it was all completed.

We even found some surprises in the garden where they were least expected! 

HOMEMADE WATER FILTER

The video above shows how to make a water filter at home. In my opinion, it doesn't seem to be much complicated and it would be good to know how to make your own water filter in case of an emergency.

FROM MAMA TO BUBBA (1): A Handmade Dress

The pictures below are my proof that once you set your mind to something, you are very likely to achieve it! It was a day when I had so much time in hand that I didn't know what to do with and I am not a person who is extremely good at handling 'nothing-to-do' times. I had the urge to challenge myself with something and I took the plunge to destroy a never-worn shirt of my niece who has generously donated it to me for me to 'make something with'. 

I took out one of my daughter's much loved dresses and decided to make something similar to that. I had almost no idea how to make a dress but I had the courage to give it a go anyway. At the time, my daughter was possibly either not born yet, or a newborn as I remember the burgundy dress was never worn before.

Using the dress that I had bought for Miss Junior possibly even before she was born and some scrap paper that I found around the house, I came up with an amateur pattern. Basically, I laid the dress on top of a large piece of paper and with the help of a pen, I drew around it after deciding what parts of the shirt I wanted to use for the dress. I allowed approximately 1/2cm-1cm for seam (and correction if needed). In other words, I cut my fabric about a centimeter away from where the actual dress's lines were. While cutting the dress, I made sure that I worked with the buttons and the buttonholes that the original shirt had rather than working against them. I used them as an advantage to me as I didn't really know how to make my own. I used the same strategy with the hems on the skirt of the dress and the sides whenever possible.

I used some light blue binding tape that I happened to have a small amount of at home around the arm holes and just folded the neck line and sewed. I placed a soft velvety ribbon on top of the folded area on the neck for a better look and comfort.  I think it worked pretty well considering the only sewing I did was the binding on the armholes and the folded area around the neck.

With this particular project, the success was through some good planning and the amount of love I put in it knowing (or rather hoping) that one day, my little princess would wear it!

I tried this dress on the latest addition of our family just a few days ago and was thrilled to see that it sat beautifully on her. Definitely looking forward to making some good use of it sometime soon!

GUEST BLOG ENTRY: Felt Owl Tutorial

Today's entry comes from Sedef Imer, who is about to have her second child any minute. After sending her many thanks for her great work and very valuable contribution, and wishing her the best of luck with the birth of her daughter and motherhood in general, I am leaving you with her post. Enjoy!

***

I am an ex-investment banker-management consultant-chartered accountant (basically high flying career girl lol) originally from London but had a complete lifestyle change when my husband and I moved to Adelaide in 2009 and then had our first baby. I am now a proud stay-at-home-mum and also pregnant again and due to have a little girl in October. I have discovered and fallen in love with crafts and sewing recently, a total lifestyle transformation.

I got into felt work about 6 months ago after a friend showed me the activity books she had made for her kids 20 years ago. I just had to make one for my boy, as you simply cannot purchase those at the shops! I am completely self taught, thank god for google and you tube tutorials... Currently half way through making a felt activity book for my toddler (who is now 19 months old). About 2 months ago I bought my first sewing machine and started learning how to use it, so I am diversifying from felt. So far, I have tried my hand at relatively easy stuff, mainly making decorations for the new baby's nursery - bunting, cushion cover, rag doll etc. Next, I have a simple quilt planned for my little girl.

This tutorial covers how to make an ornamental felt hanging to decorate your baby's nursery or a child's room. It also demonstrates basic principles of felt sewing which can easily be replicated for other animals or other types of decorations.

Step 1 - Find an image that you wish to turn into a decoration. If doing this for commercial purposes always check with the owner of the image if they give you permission to use it! This is a felt owl image I found on google, nice simple lines. It doesn't have to be the picture of a felt object, any simple vector or clipart would also work. You can also draw your own (sadly I am not talented enough in this department, so I resort to technology) ;)

Step 2 - Gather and prepare your materials and tools:
- Felt for the body, belly, and wings (whatever colours you want), white felt for eyes, orange felt for feet and beak (and black felt if you can't find a black button the right size for the eyes)
- Scissors
- Craft glue or hot glue gun
- Pins or stapler

- Embroidery thread in matching colours and sewing needle (embroidery needle if you have one, it has a larger eye than a regular sewing needle)
- Filling material (hobby fill or pillow filler, even cotton wool will do)
- Black button for the eye(s) and 3 buttons to decorate the back

Step 3 - Using whatever software you prefer enlarge the picture to the size you want your finished product to be. Mine is about 10cm tall. I use Adobe Illustrator for patterns. The page size i use is A4 so I know the exact size the owl will be when printed & templated. You can also use photoshop, even powerpoint. Or get it enlarged with a photocopier :) I put two owls on a page as i will need several of these for the patterns, so to save on paper.

Step 4 - Print enough of the owls so you have a pattern piece for each 'element' of their body, and trace around the various body parts with a felt pen.

Step 5 - Roughly cut the patterns out (not on the line, but slightly out)

Step 6 - Pin or staple the patterns onto felt. I prefer staples (just an ordinary stapler) as they lay flat on the felt and produce a better more precise finish on the cut piece. But normal sewing pins will do too.

Step 7 - Cut on the black line. Tip: For cutting out smaller pieces like feet and also pieces with curves like the eyes - i find it easier to use a pair of curved nail scissors for those. 

 All pieces are now cut and ready to stitch/assemble.

Step 8 - Get your matching embroidery thread. I used three colours - pink to match the body, strawberry to match the wings, and black for the eyes. All my thread is in an organiser box but the white skein is how they come.

  
Step 9 - Warning - only use 1 strand from the embroidery thread, not all 6! Some people prefer to use 2 strands to make the stitches stand out, you can even use a contrasting colour (lighter/darker) of thread to make them stand out more. I prefer mine to blend in as much as possible so I use one strand of matching colour. If you are making a larger ornament, you may want to use more strands.

Step 10 - We now need to prepare each 'side' of the owl before stitching them together. Starting with the front. I decided to use fabric for the belly so stitched it on to the felt using backstitch (google it if you dont know how to do backstitch, it's very easy). If you are using felt you can just glue the piece on, no stitching required. You can also glue fabric on if it is a darker colour fabric, but the glue may show under a lighter colour fabric.

Step 11 - Glue the eyes, beak and feet on. I also stitched a little fabric rose that i already had to make it extra girly ;) I just use craft glue, any liquid glue or hot glue gun will be fine.

  
Step 12 - Eyes. Sew on the black button. If you are making a winky eye, you can either draw it on with a felt tip pen, or for a more professional look embroider it on. I first drew on the winky eye using a water erasable pen (you can just use a pencil or pen even, as the stitches will cover the pen mark)

 

  

Step 13 - Embroider small backstitches following the pen line to make the winky eye. I used three strands of black thread for this as one strand would have been too thin. I then dabbed a bit of water on top to get rid of the blue from my pen. And voila the front is finished.

Step 14 - The back. Staple or pin the wings where you want them. WARNING - make sure you staple them on to the correct side of the felt, as the pattern is unlikely to be symmetrical!

Step 15 - Blanket stitching the wings onto the body. Before you attempt this cut two small pieces of felt and learn to blanket stitch. This is a good tutorial. http://www.futuregirl.com/craft_blog/2007/09/tutorial-hand-sew-felt.aspx It is dead easy but you dont want to practice on the owl! Start blanket stitching the wings wherever you wish.

Step 16 - as you stitch around the wings, you will eventually get to the body. Just keep stitching it as if the body isn't there, putting the needle down through it and back up where you want it to come. The wings are now stitched on.

Step 17 - Sew 3 decorative buttons on to the back which i think is a nice touch. Both front and back now finished and ready to stitch together!

Step 18 - Blanket stitching the front and back. When you get to the wings, make sure you dont sew through them as the stitches will show on the wings! Just push the wings back a bit with your hand and pretend they are not there.

  
Step 19 - Blanket stitched all the way around except a 3cm opening at the top (for the stuffing). I just left the thread and needle hanging to finish the stitching after filling.

Step 20 - Get your filler material. This is the one i use, they come in $3 bags from spotlight. Excuse my toddler's toy car in the background! :)

  
Step 21 - Stuff it in using a pencil and your finger, push into all the nooks and crevices. I found the ears were easier with my fingers.

  
Step 22 - Put a ribbon through the opening on top before finishing the blanket stitch.

Voila! A cute little owl to decorate your kid's room :)

Note: Soon after Sedef wrote this post for us here and had her second child, her beautiful daughter, she launched her own business page, shop and blog. Great work Sedef!