DIY Sectional Couch Pottery Barn Makeover

It's amazing how you can change a couch with a DIY Painter's canvas slipcover!!  Not only is it a slipcover but I also ripped it down to the wood and replaced all the cushions and it was so worth it!!  I love Pottery Barn and especially their couches.  However a new couch was not in my immediate future!  Instead I spent $450 in total to basically have a new couch exactly how I wanted it.  

We ordered this couch online but have never really been happy with it... it was hard as a rock to sit on and the back pillows were so hard and huge that it felt like you were sitting straight up and down.  The cushions were all attached and began to come apart... at first I tried to sew them back onto the frame ... until I was over that and... 

 I woke up one day and decided to tear the whole thing apart even the cushions and basically just use the frame.  I searched on Pinterest and youtube for anyone that had replaced all of their cushions to get some idea of how to go about it but I could literally find nothing!!!  That didn't stop me though... seriously how hard could it be to make your own cushions ... add down cushions to that ... because if I'm tearing this thing apart I'm going big or going home... so somehow I need to figure out how to make a down topper for my cushions as well.  

I truly had no idea how to recover my couch but after doing some research felt like I was going in a good direction.   If you are considering redoing your couch.... DO IT!  It was so worth it.  It's going to be scary at first and cause a few extra wrinkles but its totally doable!!

First I deconstructed the couch down to the frame.  Then I covered the back in batting that I just stapled right to the wooden frame.  No real measuring was done, I just stapled it on and trimmed off the excess. 

Next I bought the thickest piece of foam I could at Joann Fabrics and had them cut it down in the store but had to do a few more cuts at home with a saw.  

Smooth sailing so far until the down topper ... I knew I wanted one but was unsure how to go about it.  I watched a couple youtube videos but again could not find anything exactly like I wanted.  I don't know how it happened but I suddenly remembered I had an extra down comforter that was a twin size... well what the heck why not use that?!  If you read nothing else in this post ... read this... DO Not Cut Down Comforter in Half Without Sewing it Closed on both sections.  Not that I tried that or felt like I inhaled an entire duck by the time I was done or had feathers covering the entire dining room floor... but just saying incase YOU were thinking about trying that. ;)

             
                                                
After cutting apart the comforter I sewed up the two sections with bias tape around the edges.  I wanted to make sure the sides would be sealed and the feathers would not continuously escape.

 


Then I attached an elastic band that would keep it in place around the foam.  I'm sure there is a much prettier way to do this but I was all about results!! I had to have the down topper!

Now I was ready to start the actual slip cover... I bought several painters canvases ... bleached them and washed and dried them twice.  When you first feel them they are super scratchy but I promise you after bleaching washing and drying they are so soft and smell great!!!

This blog post was super helpful with making the slipcover!  I started by laying my fabric over the back of the couch almost to the floor... mine didn't need to reach the ground because I knew I was going to put a skirt on.  And from there it was just pinning and sewing section by section.

After I had the slipcover finished I bought euro down pillows (seriously I'm obsessed with the down!!)  from Joann Fabric on a 50 % off sale and made zippered pillow covers from the painters canvas and zippered covers for the cushions.  There are tons of tutorials on Pinterest for easy zippered pillow covers.

Heres after the first section was done!

                                     

Taking off the back cushions made the couch so much deeper!  Now we just sink into it.  It's just perfect to cuddle up on!  We used to never sit on this couch and now all five of us sit on it all the time!

Questions and comments are always welcome!  Thanks for stopping by!

DIY Lego Canvases

So the weather is so fantastic (insert sarcasm .. it's actually either dark from coldest snowiest winter ever or now morphing into darkest rainiest spring ever) where we live now… I have definitely been working on a lot of projects.  This lego canvas project was inspired by lego pictures in a playroom posted by I Am Momma-Hear Me Roar . We decided to get out Honey-Dew's favorite legos and take some pictures… this was all my little man... he picked their poses and I think they ended up super cute!

We used a random poster board laying on the table as the backdrop… I'm lazy obviously… I like to use whatever is in my direct line of sight :)  However you could use a white sheet or white t-shirt or white underwear… if that's what happens to be laying on your table ;) 

We definitely messed around with a couple different groupings of legos and different poses… but these seemed to be his fav!

While we were making these Lou thought it would be cute to add cartoon bubble captions… so I used www.picmonkey.com to edit the pictures and add in the bubbles.  Honey Dew picked most of the captions and definitely thought he was hilarious! :)  Below is the picture after it was edited in picmonkey…. I saved it to my computer and uploaded it to snapfish… where I ordered an 8x10 of all three pictures and they were ready for pickup an hour later :)

For the next step you need 3 8x10 canvases.  I used black paint I had on hand to paint all of the edges.

After the paint dried… or semi-dried because I'm impatient and couldn't wait to see the final project…. I glued the pictures onto the canvas and ta-dah … super fast, easy and cheap art project to do with your fav little man :).  

Thanks for stopping by my blog!  Have an awesome day!!

DIY Reupholstered Chair

Reupholstering and repainting are cheap and quick ways to change something in a hurry.  This chair was in a serious situation before it's makeover.  We inherited this jewel along with a desk and dresser that I am also in the process of making over.

I started with a coral paint (that was under my bathroom sink… just waiting to be used) to go in Lou's room.  I love coral and the room definitely needs some pops of color.  We also just recently added some aqua curtains so we decided to go with that same theme with the chair cushion.  The fabric is actually flannel which Lou loved for the coziness factor.  And the best part was that I only needed half a yard which obviously makes for a cheap project…. and everyone knows free or practically free is my favorite way!

As you can see the before fabric was a nasty black pleather that had definitely seen better days!  I stapled my new fabric directly over the existing fabric with my electric staple gun and it worked like a charm.   I love the way this chair turned out especially for this space!!  Lou's room is full of close to free :) DIY projects… and I will definitely update the blog with those soon!  Thanks for stopping by… have a fantastic day!

Easiest DIY Curtains

Well I'm back on the blogging bandwagon after a short hiatus to give you the easiest diy curtains on the face of this planet.  After a whirlwind move cross country … wait for it… A-gain…. I'm finally settled into our new Midwest house and popping out room re-do's left and right.  That was not a typo friends… Midwest was what I typed… somehow we've gone from sunny southern California to the coldest craziest winter Indiana has seen ever… now don't quote me on that because I definitely haven't researched that but my kids have literally been to school about 7 days in the whole of January so I say with quite a bit of certainty that this has to be the worst winter in well… forever! It's been so ridiculous that I cannot even leave my house most of the days hence why I have done so many home projects in the last month… (get excited!  I'm getting ready to bombard you with all of that fabulousness in the weeks to come). 

Anyways … one of my fave projects of the last week was redoing my son's room as always on the major cheap… His previous bedroom, my son and I both loved so we saved and reused many of the items we had in that room.  The room is unfortunately not completely done so I won't give a full room reveal until it is… but I'm totally ready to dish on his new adorable navy, white and orange chevron curtains.

I found this fabric online at hobby lobby and purchased 6 yards to accommodate my curtains hanging from the ceiling.  I also bought 5 or 6 packs of orange double (double being the keyword!!!) folded bias  tape.

  

Step 1:

Cut your two panels according to your measurements… (mine were 96 inches to allow for a couple inches of hem along the top).  Now grab one panel and one pack of bias tape and place your fabric in between your double folded bias tape so that there is an equal amount of tape on the front and back of the fabric.  It would be a good idea to pin your bias tape in place however like I've said before  I like to live on the wild side so I went with out pins and just ran my finger down the tape as I sewed to keep it in place with the fabric in between.  Sew the bias tape down both sides and along the bottom.

Step 2:

Pretend like you see orange bias tape running along the side of my fabric :) I hemmed my top before I put my bias tape and after I was finished I realized you would obviously get a much cleaner edge if you did the bias tape first and then folded down your hem… so pretend like my curtains are going to be as pretty as yours are… and fold down your top edge an inch or two and then fold it over again… iron this in place.

Step 3:

Sew a straight stitch in place along your folded hem and wa-lah!  You are done with your panel!!  Do this again to your other fabric panel and boom you have two curtains.  I then used curtain clip rings along the top and hung them on my curtain rod.  

Thanks so much for stopping by and I will be posting next my polka dot adventures in my daughters room!   Have an awesome day!!!

Tinkerbell Fairy Wings Tutorial Part 2

So here we are again back for more Tinkerbell... If you missed Part one of the Tinkerbell Costume Tutorial ... you can find it here .  In Part one we already made Tinkerbell's dress so now we are ready to tackle her wings.... and I'm not going to lie it took me a skinny second (insert sarcasm... more like a very large and extended second) to figure out exactly how I wanted to make these.  Number one issue of importance to me was that I wanted wings that would be attached to the dress and would not require any type of elastic straps on Lou's arms.  So I definitely achieved that but in hindsight... I would line the entire back of the bodice with some seriously heavy duty ultra firm stabilizer to lock those bad boys down and in place... but at this point my costume's done and I promise you I'm not going back :)

Supplies you will need:

1-2 yards of heavy duty fusible or non-fusible stabilizer (depending on how big you want your wings)

1 yard of solid white costume satin

1 yard of shimmery sheer fabric

two old metal hangers

thread 

So you know from previous tutorials ... I definitely like to live on the wild side and experiment with sewing projects ... I never know in the beginning if the idea in my head will really work in reality ... but I like to think positive thoughts go a long way towards achieving success :) So we that in mind focus on how fabulous you are... and grab a marker ... or highlighter as you can see (or can't see ;) ) I grabbed... it was the only thing I could find the kids hoard any and all writing utensils.  Next grab your stabilizer and free hand a wing... if that feels intimidating just leave me a comment and I can send you my wing.  You can draw any wing you want... I made two different pieces per wing... the top (which is about twice the size of the bottom) and then the bottom.  Make sure to draw a tab several inches long on your wing (in the picture above its the portion of the pattern that my scissors are laying on) ... later on this will secure the wings to the dress.  Now go ahead and cut your pieces... you want 4 top pieces and 4 bottom pieces to make this sucker super stiff.  Sew two top pieces tog and two bottom pieces together for each wing leaving the tab portion open (do not sew the tab closed we need it open to be able to slide a metal hanger inside later in the tutorial)

As you can see I know have my wings cut out... now lay your wing pieces down on your fabric and trace around your stabilizer with a 1/2 - 1 inch margin for your seam.  You should have 4 pieces of the solid white fabric for the top of the wing and 4 for the bottom of the wing.  Do the same for the shimmery fabric.  Just in case you are lacking in basic math skills as I am I will do the hard adding for you ;) ... you should now have 8 total pieces of fabric for the top and 8 total for the bottom 

In this next step we are going to sew the wings together ... so you need to make a stack of fabric like this for all four wing pieces... 

1) stabilizer pieces on bottom

2) Solid white fabric facing right side up

3) Shimmery fabric facing right side up

4) Shimmery fabric facing right side down

5) Solid white fabric facing right side down

Pin your fabric onto the stabilizer with the fabric hanging over the edge 1/2 to 1 inch on all sides.  You want to line your needle up so that you are sewing closely around the edge of the stabilizer but do not sew on the stabilizer.  Sew all the way around leaving the several inches of the tab free so that we can turn the fabric inside out once we are done.

Now that you are done sewing all four wing pieces... turn your fabric inside out and push your stabilizer portion inside as well... it will be a snug fit.  

Next take two metal hangers, unfold the hook portion and mold the hanger until it is the the right size to slide inside the top portion of your wing but still keeps the tab free.

After your hanger is secured...line up a bottom wing with a top wings tab so that the bottom tab is on top of the top tab... sew a straight stitch over both tabs to secure the two wing pieces together.  Next cut two squares of stabilizer that are 1-2 in longer in length then the the tab of the top wing, and then 4-6 inches in width.  Cover both of these squares with shimmery fabric you could also use your green fabric to cover these instead which I wish I would have done... (two pieces right sides facing ... sew along the edge leaving a few inches open on one side... turn right side out and slide your stabilizer square inside... then sew the open side closed.

 

Grab one of your shimmery squares and cut two long slits equal to the tab on your wing... leave the other square un cut.

Push your wings tab through each slit.  Now sew a straight stitch down the right of the slit (right next to the wing) to secure the bottom wing tab going to the right underneath the square... flip the wing over and sew directly to the left of the slit and wing to secure the top wing tab to the left underneath the square.  Do that exact thing to the other wing as well.

Put your uncut square inside the back bodice (in hindsight this is why I would have lined the whole bodice when making the dress with stabilizer to eliminate this step)

On the outside of the costume in the middle of the dress back, line up the wings with the stabilizer square in the inside of the dress so we have lots of support for the wings and wont risk tearing the dress.  Pin these pieces together.

Because this is a lot of stabilizer and fabric to sew through to keep my sewing machine from getting jammed ... I had to manually hand turn my needle while pushing the fabric through.  Sew a straight stitch straight down the middle and then two more straight stitches down each side of the stabilizer squares.  PARTY TIME!  Tinkerbell wings complete!!

Only one step left... Tinkerbell's shoes!  Check back later for part three!  Thanks so much for stopping by!  Let me know if you have any questions or need any help :)

Part One Tinkerbell Costume Tutorial

In October we are planning on a Disneyland visit for all of the Halloween festivities and what better way to prepare then to make a Tinkerbell costume for our little Lou.  Ironically I'm going to be the larger version of Tinkerbell... so we can be matching... now I'll give you I may not be quite as cute as Lou but I'm still going to "bring it" Tinkerbell style.  So this is just part one ... I'm still brainstorming on her wings and shoes... so you'll have to check back for all that fabulousness.  :)  Just a quick note... for the dress bodice I used  the Viola Violette Field Threads Pattern .  However... in the tutorial I will explain how to do a quick bodice without a pattern also if you don't want to buy a pattern. If you have never used  this pattern before... it's amazing... I can make about a thousand different dresses from this pattern... by the way Violette Field threads does not in any way reward me for these thoughts :) as far as I know I'm sure they don't even know how much I adore this pattern or that I even exist... so you can take that to mean this pattern is truly life changing ;)

What you need:

2 Yards of your satin costume green 

5 yards of green tulle 

green thread

and a very wonky hand drawn leaf frond

If you are having problems with a leaf frond (i think that should be the word of the day... frond) let me know and I can upload my very unprofessional frond to be printed.  If you are crazy brave and like to live on the wild side... measure from just above your littles belly button to your desired length on their leg and add about an inch for seam allowance.  I cut out 10 of these pieces so when there are put tog I had 5 leaves total.  Set these aside after you have cut them all out and grab your tulle.  I used 5 yards but you could definitely use less or more depending on how poofy you want Tinkerbell to be.  I think the easiest way to measure your tulle is keep it the way it was on the bolt or how the fabric lady cut it... so it should already be folded in half... from here add 3 inches onto you leaf frond measurement ... that will be your length and your width will just be however wide your tulle already is as it's folded in half... keep moving down your tulle until you have measured and cut all the way down your five yards...

at this point unfold all of your pieces and align them on top of each other like the picture below... 

Then I took that pile and folded the edges together in half like the picture below... pinned the edges and sew a straight seam down the side.  Next sew a long (4.5 if you have a digital sewing mating) straight stitch along the top of the fabric (should be a tube now that you have sewn down the side) to gather the top (to gather just pull one of the strings and push the fabric along it to gather the fabric).  If you want a liner underneath your tulle... my girl is super picky about itchy tulle... So I just cut two rectangles slightly shorter than my tulle with the green costume satin used for the leaves and folded in half ... sewed a straight stitch up the side and gathered the top just like the tulle... set both of these aside for a sec...

Bodice:  

If you have the viola pattern follow that exactly for the top half of the dress (front and back bodice, halter straps, and lengths of fabric for bow in back) 

If not an easy bodice that will slip over her head... take her chest measurement add 2 inches... divide in half ... cut 4 pieces in these dimensions... grab some ribbon for straps and bow in back cut appropriate length for your little peanut ... take first two pieces of fabric place ribbon two to three inches out from center of fabric on top of right side facing fabric... place another piece of fabric right side down and pin together along the top so your ribbon is secure and both pieces are evenly lined up.  Sew a straight stitch just along the top.... turn pieces right side out iron and press and that do a topstitch across the top to secure everything... do the same thing to your other two pieces of fabric obviously omitting the ribbon since this will be a halter top.  At this point if you want a bow in the back cut two more pieces of ribbon long enough to be tied in a bow in the back... place bodice front right side up and place ribbon on both left and right sides facing into center... place back bodice right side down.... line everything up (side seams and ribbon in between)... pin down sides and and sew a straight stitch down both sides... your bodice should now be finished.  

Now for the construction of the bottom half of the dress... sew your leaf fronds together with right sides facing each other... once sewn together turn right side out... now I don't know if you have this problem ... but costume satin and I have a love hate relationship ... love because she's cheap... hate because she's a real Bee-otch to work with... so that you don't throw your beloved sewing machine across the room at this point I found that if I topstitched around the outside of the leaf starting in the center like below... it kept the material from getting all wonky.  Did I say topstitch around all five leaf fronds? I'm getting distracted  :) ... make sure you do the topstitching ... I think it makes the fabric lay so much better. 

Friends ... you are getting so close!!  Bodice and leaf fronds done!  Now just the skirt!  So line up your tulle and liner (if you made one) make sure you have pulled the gathers tight enough so they line up with the width of the bodice.

Here's the tricky part .. if you get stumped put your helmet on ... bang your head against the wall a few times... slam a diet coke ... and reassess the situation... you have no idea how many seams I ripped out while experimenting with this dress :) but just keep in mind anything can be fixed... so on that note... with your tulle and liner together right sides out... slide your bodice right side down and upside down over the top of the skirt so that the top of skirt and the bottom of the bodice line up like below... I first pinned this together and then went back through with my leaves and slid them on top of skirt and below bodice so they are in between and lined up at top of skirt...

Pin the leaves spaced evenly and overlapping some depending on the size of your dress... once everything is pinned together sew along the top edge a straight stitch to secure all pieces.  Flip your bodice up and topstitch on the outside of the bodice along the edge where it meets the skirt... you are D- O- N- E!!!  Work it girl (or dude) ... your awesome and your little peanut is going to be totally adorbs!!

So definitely check back for shoes and wings coming soon!  Thanks for stopping by and feel free to leave questions and comments! :)