Pillows!

I just want to start off by saying that Pinterest is amazing. Browsing the DIY & Crafts section has given me so many great ideas on how to spruce up my apartment, and the ideas are usually accompanied by in depth tutorials (thank goodness). 

For example, check out this amazing tutorial that Elizabeth over a E Tells Tales pinned on how to make bow pillows!

Realizing that my couches were in desperate need of some decoration (or really, that my face was in desperate need of something to rest on when I slept on the couch - which was regularly), I decided to make a couple of these pillows last fall.

Does the fabric look familiar?
(Hint: it's the same as the bar stools I recovered)

I won't bother re-typing the steps here (as Elizabeth really does an amazing job of breaking everything down), but I will note that when I was buying my pillow forms, I actually bought them a size smaller than what the tutorial calls for (accidentally). Fortunately, the entire process is so simple that it was pretty easy to adjust accordingly. 



After basking in my bow-pillow-making glory, I decided to use the same concept to make a couple more pillows for the couch in my bedroom (I'd like to say that I have a couch in my bedroom because I'm so fancy and chic, but really, it just didn't fit in my living room and looked  stupid in my dining room). 

This time around, I ran into an issue with my sewing machine. I'm pretty sure it was on some sort of drug (because you know inanimate objects and their drug problems), because it kept going rat's nest insane with the thread. 

Thusly

I'm pretty sure it's because I threaded it wrong or something, though, because after re-threading it, I didn't have anymore issues. 

I also decided to forego making bows this time around. Instead, I affixed some iron-on fabric adhesive to some fabric (obviously), cut out a few flowers and petals, and ironed them all onto the pillowcases. 

Make note of the fabric used for the flowers - we'll be seeing that again.

I really like how they turned out, aesthetically. Unfortunately, they don't make for the most functional of pillows. After having slept on them a few times (yes, on the even smaller couch that is next to my bed - no, I don't know why I'm a crazy pants), some of the flowers are starting to fall off. I probably should have tack-sewn them in place after ironing them on to the pillows (is that a thing?), but I was pretty lazy an unpracticed at the time. Now, I'm even lazier, so I'll probably just let them be for a while then use some fabric glue to re-affix them later. The flowers aren't coming off completely, mind you, just detaching themselves at the edges. 

So comfy!

In any case, I'm actually surprised I was able to pull it off. After finishing them, I spent the next couple months annoying all of my friends and house guests by over-enthusiastically pointing them out over and over again. I'm pretty obnoxious. 

WHILE I CRAFTED: I watched Star Trek: Voyager

To Boldly Go Where No Cupcake Has Gone Before

I'd just like to preface this by saying that yes, I am kind of a nerd. Good. I'm glad we have
that out of the way.

So last Friday, a few of my friends got together to watch some of our favorite episodes from Star Trek: Voyager. We had planned on it being more of a drinking game (where we'd drink whenever Captain Janeway ordered her standard "coffee, black" or whenever Tuvok tried mind-melding with something, for example), but it turns out that we didn't have nearly enough rules and somehow chose the only episodes where none of their recurring antics took place. Whatever.

Anyway, after planning the event, we realized that it also happened to be our friend Matthew's birthday! So, at the insistence of Academy Award Winner Sandra Bullock*, I made Star Trek cupcakes!

Red for Command, yellow for Engineering, and Green for Science/Medical

I was just really happy with how they turned out and wanted to show everyone.

WHILE I BAKED: I watched Grimm, actually, but am now super upset because they took season 1 off of Hulu+.

*Some actual names have been changed to protect the identity of a friend of mine.


 

A simple re-upholstery of bar stools

Everyone wallows a bit differently. When going through a rough time, some people curl up with a pint of ice cream and a sad movie. Others prefer vacations or shopping sprees. My college roommate would sautee spinach and nap. Me? I like the very specific diversion of assembling furniture. Not building furniture, I don't know how to do that, but assembling it.

That's why when I was feeling low a while ago, I spent a great deal of time at Target perusing their home furnishings section. I ended up coming home with 3 new bookshelves (all of which I probably didn't actually need), and two of their Julia Bar and Counter Stools!

The bookshelves have actually proven to be very useful (because I have far too many books and movies) and surprisingly actually fit into both my old and new apartments (albeit after days of feng shui in each), but it's the bar stools that I really love. They're perfect height for the island in my kitchen, swivel around, and have comfy cushions. Still, though I hate to admit it, I always thought they were fairly ugly. The brownish-creamish color scheme was just not working for me. It didn't match a thing in my apartment! Granted, nothing in my apartment matched a single other thing in my apartment... but I'm working on that.

In an attempt to make the bar stools a bit more aesthetically pleasing, I finally recovered them a couple months ago!

Weirdly enough, this was yet another simple project that basically boiled down to stapling things together.


RE-UPHOLSTERING BAR STOOLS

What you'll need:

-About a yard of fabric - Actually, I bought about 6 yards of fabric at once, because I had a few different projects going on at the time, so I may be wrong about only needing about a yard of fabric. You've been warned.
-Pliers
-Screwdriver (both Flathead and Phillips)
-Scissors
-Staple gun and staples
-Hammer

How to do it:

(1) Start by using your screwdriver (Phillips, probably) to remove the cushions from the stools.

I forgot to take pictures during the process, so let's
just pretend that this was the old cushion...

When you flip over your cushion, you'll see some net/mesh-like fabric covering the bottom. I just tore this off and threw it away, never to think of it again. Others might have kept it intact to re-attach later or would have attached new netting. I didn't find that necessary.

(2) Next, remove all the staples you see. There will be a ton.

When removing the staples, I found it helpful to use a Flathead screwdriver (with a very thin tip) to dig underneath the staples and then kind of lever them up so that they were no longer against the surface. I then used pliers for the actual extraction process.

Side note: After removing all the staples from the first cushion, my wrist was really hurting me because I had used wrist muscles I had no idea I had, I guess. So for the second cushion, I wore my carpal-tunnel wrist guard (which, well, the fact that I even have a carpal-tunnel wrist guard might have also explained my wrist pain), and found that it was much easier.

The most important part of this step, though, is to watch out for spiders. I apparently had a spider living inside one of my cushions. It crawled on my arm. After I screamed and ran away, I was forced to take a long break from the project as I tried to get enough courage to go back into my living room. I'm not saying that all cushions have spiders living in them, but let's be real, all cushions totally have spiders living in them.

(3) After all of the staples are finally removed, and you are finished recovering from the traumatizing experience of having a probably harmless arachnid in your general vicinity, remove the existing fabric from the cushions.

(4) Using the old fabric as a template for the new fabric, cut out two circles from the new fabric - one for each bar stool - and be sure to give yourself an extra inch or two of fabric on the border, just in case.

Usually, people use a heavier upholstery fabric, but since I bought mine for multiple projects, I just stuck with regular cotton material. I figured that even if it did wear out, it'd be easy enough to replace again (also, non-upholstery fabric is much less expensive... assuming you're not using silk or diamond-laced gold thread or anything).

Also, after seeing this pattern, I could hardly resist.

(5) Staple away.

Once you've cut the new fabric, attaching it is just a matter of pulling it taut and stapling like a mad-man (or if you're like me, a mad-woman)! I have an electric staple gun that I got from Home Depot, and it makes this process way easier. I recommend just stapling away until you are comfortable that the fabric is secure.

Keep in mind that the staples may not end up flush with the surface of the cushion. In fact, I don't think they ever will (unless it's just that I'm doing something wrong with my staple gun specifically). I ended up using my hammer to push the staples into the stool the rest of the way.

(6) Using your screwdriver (or whatever you used in step 1), re-attach the cushions.

And there you go!

I used this project as a sort of introduction to furniture re-upholstery. Next, I'm going to attempt recovering these old dining room chairs I stole out of my parents' attic (with their permission). I'm ultimately working up to recovering an old wing-back chair and ottoman that my mom got in a garage sale.

WHILE I CRAFTED: I watched Star Trek: Voyager.