Easy upholstering of ottoman

The ottoman measures about 65x45x45cm.

 Today I'd like to show you an easy way to freshen up a boring and plain piece of furniture. Unfortunately I seem to have misplaced the "before" photo, but I can just let you know that the cover of it was a beige muslin cloth type of fabric.

I started by removing the old piece of fabric which was actually removable for washing. After doing that I had this foam kind of situation going on. I decided that it was too thin to leave as is because we use the ottoman as an extra seat sometimes and no one really wants to sit on it. Instead I decided to add two thin layers of batting which really added that extra butt-comfort :) 

I think the batting was a leftover piece from a quilt project so it's organic cotton. I cut it so it fitted around the lid and attached it with a staplegun.

As I went around with the staplegun I made sure the batting fitted snugly pulling it as I went along. I started attaching a few staples on the longer side, then on the opposite side, pulling the fabric tightly. Then a few staples on one of the shorter sides and finally the last side. 

After the batting it was time for the fabric. I had sewn around the edges with a zigzag stitch to stop it from fraying and then prewashed it. I attached the fabric the same way I did the batting, starting on one of the longer sides with a few staples and so on.

When I saw that everything looked good I went around the lid with the steplegun adding more staples. In the end I had a staple every 1-2 cm (1/2-1"). This seemed to hold the fabric in place. 

This ottoman has now been used for at least a year or two and holds up very well. The fabric has not sagged and it's not as uncomfortable to sit on anymore as it was before. 

I'm very pleased with the finished look and the way I placed the pattern of the fabric. 

What do you think and have you any furniture that would need some sprucing up like this?

 Comment down below and let me know.

Until next time: Keep crafting!

Tilda "fruit garden" quilt - my first big quilt

If you are a follower of this blog you might remember a looong time ago I was desperately looking for three scrappieces of a Tilda fabric.

Thanks to some very nice fellow crafters I managed to get those last pieces I needed to finish this quilt. It's been finished for a couple of months, but it took me a while to photograph it. 

This is my first finished big quilt. It measures about 105x145cm. You might remember the first finished quilt I made for baby Alicia, but it was much smaller. 

 For this quilt I used Tilda fabrics designed by Tone Finnanger. The collection is called "fruit garden". The back is a fushiacolored cotton fabric.

I made up the pattern myself. I started by cutting 9x24cm pieces. Three of the patterns were to be joined horisontally and three vertically. 

Every of these three fabric pieces made a square. I attached them together and got a pretty neat pattern. Originally I wanted to have strips of fabric in between the squares to hide any imperfections, but it turned out I had been quite good with keeping exact measurements and the squares joined up perfectly. Almost the whole quilt is machinestitched except the fushiaborder which is handstitched with about 1cm long stitches. It took a while, but I wanted to make it properly like a quilt is supposed to be made.

Do these colors match your decor perfectly? Then good news! 

This quilt is up for sale. It has been machinewashed once in 40 degrees C and comes from a smoke- and petfree home. I am currently working on a webshop where it will be available, but if you're interested, you can book it straight away. Just e-mail me at: kamadesign@gmail.com. 

 

Fisherman's bag - 1:st place winner!

The bag measures about 45x25x20cm.
 
As a crafter we have so many ideas and projects we want to start on. The problem is finishing them and not just jumping into another one when we are faced with boring parts of the projects. Because let's face it - as fun as crafting is there are always parts that are boring or hard. 

I like learning new things and have learned most of my crafts by watching tutorials or trial and error. Most often I'm too impatient to go to classes. That doesn't mean I'm sloppy. Quite opposite. I research a lot to do things the "right" way (which honestly seems like a contradiction when it comes to creativity). Evidently this puts a hold on my project, like with this bag.

I started making this for my stepdad a couple of years ago. I'm sure it's been over 5 years. I had all parts done, just needed to sew the pieces together. The instructions didn't make any sense and I couldn't figure it out. So I thought that I could come up with a solution by leaving the bag for a while. 

5+ years later...

I'm looking through and sorting my stuff and realize that the bag hasn't magically assembled itself (shocking, right?). So with my new attitude of "finish it or toss it" I decide to give it one last try before I give up. I go back to the quiltstore where I got the fabrics and she explains to me how to finish it. It involves ripping out some seams (which quite frankly I hate doing because it feels like taking five steps back). I follow her instructions and ta-daa. 

A bag is created. 

FINALLY

You crafters know what I'm talking about. 

This love-hate relationship with you finished item :)

I freehandstitched some "seaweed" onto the green panels.

The inside of the outer pocket has patterned polkadot fabric - same as the inside of the bag.

I added a fishbone charm to the zipperpull for some extra pizzazz aswell as a metal "thingy" (can't remember what it's called) so you can add a strap to the bag.

 And of course - the inside must be as wellmade as the outside :)

I entered a sewing contest on a swedish site with this bag and won 1:st place! If you want to check out the other entries you can see them HERE.

 

So what project or part of a project do you struggle with? 
Comment below and let me know. 

Fabric used: Northern shores by Holly Taylor for Moda.

My first finished quilt ever. Happy 1:st birthday baby Alicia!

 Ta daaaa!

(Just took 7+ years, but that's not bad in crafteryears is it?)

I thought it wouldn't take quite that long and the top part actually came together quite fast (sewing colorful squares together is so much fun). But then quilting the whole thing together - the sewingmachine eating the fabric and the bulk of it all...Nightmare! And apparently the soft minky fabric I used for the back is a known nightmare to work with and not recommended for newbies. Of course that I learned after I was almost done with the quilt :D 

You live, you learn, right? 

Last year I made a big cleanout in my craftingcorner. I gave away lots of new things I'd never used and decided to give my unfinished projects a one year deadline. If they slip down my prioritylist and are still in the same stage one year later - off they go. 

Just deciding on this state of mind kicked me into gear and I started taking on the task of this quilt that had been laying around for years. I already had the whole front sewn together and the backing and wadding already bought. The only thing that was left to do was to quilt it all together and finish off with a border. Shouldn't be that hard, right?

Well...it wasn't that easy especially as I still had my old mechanical sewingmachine from the 70-ies in trendy orange and brown, haha.

I had to take out stitches every now and then - probably around 40% of the time, but it was worth it in the end. No point in spending that much time on a piece and then making a bad job finishing it.

 The way I quilted it was to make a straight stitch along the onecolored panels. Then I followed the edge of every other square alternating like a brickwork. It was enough to hold everything in place. The final part was to handstitch the green dotted fabric to the edges. 

The night before I decided to customize the quilt so I drew and handembroidered a monogram to the right lower corner. 

This quilt was a gift for baby Alicia's Christening last year. I can't believe she is already one year old today!

Happy, happy birthday to the cutest little baby I know!

Tilda lovebirds with house

 

I've been looking through some old craft photos and found this cute pair that I don't think I've showed you yet. I made it many years ago when I bought my first Tilda book called "Tildas landsted" (by Tone Finnanger).

 I made them for a sewing swap where I got the Magnolia Tilda doll you can see HERE. 

Each bird have a charm sewn to the front - a locket and a key - and the house has a charm that says "love". According to the pattern you are supposed to add beaks made from skewer sticks, but I was worried they might break in the mail so I skipped them. I think the birds are just as cute with their fabric beaks. 

To be able to hang everything up I added beaded string to all parts. One of the birds have white beads, the other one red and the house is a mix of both colors. I also sewed on a piece of wire to the bottom of the birds so you could put them on a perch somewhere in your house.

It's fun to see how much my sewing skills have improved since I made these. Sometimes it's hard to apreciate your skill when it feels like it's not going forward. So if you have doubts about your skill: take a look at some of your older pieces and you might be surprised at how far you've come.

Until next time.

Desperately looking for two Tilda fabrics to finish my quilt

It's been sooo long since I made any posts. I must admit I didn't think anyone popped in here so I thought: no one will care if I write or not, but now I see that you are still lurking out there :)

During the previous year or more I haven't been making many cards except for some Christmascards and the weddingcards. I've made a few tutorials, but mostly I've been...well, not crafting much. A lot has to do with the HUGE amount of junk I have had around my craftingspace (I know you know what I mean and don't pretend otherwise). The truth is that I haven't had any space to craft because it's been filled with stuff I don't know what to do with. Sooo...it has led me to the inevitable purging process of my craftspace which was easier than I thought being a hoarder and an overall "good-to-have" person. But with the purging of stuff you've never used for the last 8 years comes freedom and I'm so happy I started. It's been two or three months so far and I'm starting to see the light. I've dug up my sewingmachine (yes, DUG up is the appropriate word here) and actually used it a few times. GASP! Still have some fabrics to go through, old boxes that have been sitting under the table for years etc etc. It took 9 years to collect it so it will take a few months to get rid of it.

Anyhee, on to my post for today:

I've dug up a quilt I started years ago. I know the fabrics are from the 2011 panduro catalogue so I must have started around there. I sewed the horisontal panels together (5 of them) and left enough fabric in case I wanted to add another one. Or so I thought. The thing is that I kept a few pieces of fabric, but I measured it wrong so they are 1cm to narrow! Oh no!

I think I originally planned to have strips of solid fabic between the horisontal panels (mostly because I get annoyed when the meeting points aren't perfect and thought I wouldn't be able to pull it off) But now when I started sewing I forgot all about that and sewed all panels together and you know what? Most of the corners meet up perfectly. Just a few here and there that are off with 1mm and I can live with that.

The problem though is that the quilt is now a bit too short which leads me to my need for an extra panel in the bottom. But I'm out of fabrics! I've posted on forums and even contacted private bloggers that I've seen use Tilda fabrics. I'm that desperate, lol.

I should get the green panel in the mail soon, but I'm still on the lookout for the pink and turquoise one. If you have it, please contact me and we could do a swap. I have a lot of other Tilda fabrics. The pieces are 10x25cm.
Keeping my fingers crossed!

UPDATE: I got the green fabric in the mail the other day and actually got an e-mail from another woman saying she can send me the other two fabrics. Woohooo! Don't you just love fellow bloggers, crafters, sewers who know the pain of not being able to finish a project due to stupidity?
UPDATE2: Now I have them all. The outlet store that sell Tilda fabrics actually had ONE piece of the green fabric. Isn't that just great? I guess it was meant to be :) So now I have sewed the new pieces and have a ready front of my quilt. Yey!

From the "fruit garden" collection: rosy teal, rosalie pink and rosy green.

Little decorated bag

I'm excited to show you today's project. I played with stamps and fabric, together with embroidery. I used an usual piece of white cotton fabric. It was too white so I dipped it in some tea to age it a bit. The images I have used are from ching chou kuik's collection from sweetpea stamps. They are called Nostalgia and Spring luna from plate #30.

I stamped the images with black fabric ink and then used fabric pens to color here and there. I know it works with promarkers too if you want a neater finish. To add interest to the images I embroidered details with a glittery thread and added some matching beads. Then I just sewed the two pieces right sides facing, a little tunnel for the ribbon on top and voilá -  a little bag for jewelry or as a giftbag. If you want a bigger bag you could use four images, kind of like an Andy Warhol piece.

Sleeping mask

I have finished a couple of project earlier that I haven't showed you yet. This one I made for my sweetheart when he was going to the US. I offered him to use my sleepingmask in purple and black silk/lace, but that was "too girly" :D
Although purple too, these fabrics were chosen by him a while back. I had actually started on this mask months ago, being about halfway through, then it disappeared in my big "to finish" pile. So I worked on it halfway through the night before he left and put it in his handluggage. Too bad he didn't find it until I told him about it when he was in the hotelroom. Attention to details, huh? At least he could use it on the flight back...

I'm very proud of how I managed to fold the bias around the mask. Not bad for 2-3 in the morning :D

Crochet hook cosy

I've been a little quiet lately due to an upcoming exam. I miscalculated and missed one extra chapter AND thought the exam was one week later so I've been studying hard (kind of surprised myself since I always do it last minute. This time I did not want to have the exam-anxiety though)

So I realized I have a few things that I haven't showed you yet that I made a while back.

Today I want to show you my custom made, selfdesigned and self-sewn crochet hook cosy. It's the same type I used for the pencilholders I made for my fiancées niece and nephew. I'm thinking about making a tutorial for it so if there is any interest let me know (or if you would like to buy a custom made one by me)

It holds up to 14 crochethooks ranging from size 8 I think to very small (you can have multiple smaller hooks/pocket) It has a flap on top so the hooks don't fall out and you keep it closed by rolling the cosy and tieing it with a strap that's attached to the edge.

I'm superproud of this one as it's totally customdesigned for my hooks. I used a thinner batting which I quilted following the circle-pattern of the fabric. I made a bias-tape using a matching smallprinted fabric. Did you notice how I matched the circular pattern on the flap and front fabric? I think it looks soooo good. Too bad I don't crochet that much, but at least my hooks are resting in style :)

Auction for breastcancer fund/auktion för bröstcancerfonden

EDIT: Woohoo, the bust got 300 SEK on the breastcancer auction.Thanks everyone for bidding.

 I have donated my pink bust for an auction that raises money to support the fight against breatcancer. The auction ends 19:th. You can bid on it here:


Jag har donerat min rosa byst till pyssel.nets insamling till bröstcancerfonden. Auktionen avslutas den 19:e kl 20.00 (alltså imorgon kväll) Du kan lägga bud genom länken här:

Vote for my tutorial - tote bag with clear window

I'm entering a back-to-school-contest on instructables and I'm hoping that you will vote for my reversible tote bag with clear window.

The voting period will be sept 20-22.

If you want to see the whole tutorial you can do it:
HERE

Romantic jewelry or decoration bust

Hi everyone. Today I am superproud over how I managed to use my sweetpea stamps. I mentioned before that I didn't feel much like making cards lately. I've been feeling very "outside-of-the-box" and this is one of my best work yet.

I actually had the sewing and stand done a week or so ago, but the mojo wasn't really there for the final touch. So I let it mature for a couple of days and I'm really glad I did because I feel like I outdid myself.

I took a couple of photos in the beginning, but I seem to have misplaced them so this time the tutorial will be in writing more than pictures. All stamps are by sweetpea stamps.

I started by drawing half a bodyshape on a folded piece of scrappaper. When I was happy with it I unfolded it, put it on a double folded piece of pink cotton fabric and traced around with a seamallowence. After that I inked one of my fav stamps, the serene night  with black fabric ink and stamped on the side of one of the cottonpieces. I did the same with the "follow your dreams" text from plate 4. I masked them both and used only the flower parts from spring witch to stamp around.
The fabric pens I have are of very poor quality I think - very kindergarden-ish - so I thought of other ways to colour the image. My thoughts went straight to my beloved promarkers...Yes, the fabric is coloured with promarkers, even shaded as normal. It bled a little, but not more than the fabric pens I had and I think it looks nice. But I have to give you 2 tips straight away:
1.do not moisten your fabric when you iron - the colours will bleed instantly.
2. Attach the iron-on hotfix crystals before you colour if you do it by ironing them. I think I damaged my iron, Ooops! Be careful not to add crystals too close to the edges as they might brake the needle when you sew front and back together.

When you're happy with the colouring and crystals sew together the 2 body parts right sides facing leaving it open in the bottom. Leave an inch or so seamallowence as you will close that gap by hand and it's easier with more febric to work with. As you can see I added a piece of lace over her head and hip to add some interest before I sewed the pieces tohether. Stuff the body with filling - I tried 3 or 4 times to get the neck right, but it didn't want to stop folding so I left it as is. I'm sure you didn't even notice it but it bugs the heck out of me. I'm trying to live with it though, lol.

The stand was hard to find so I made it myself from a stick and a round wooden button that I drilled a hole through. I glued them together and let dry. After that they were painted with white paint and pink shimmerz. I wanted to give it an aged look so I added clear rock candy crackle paint over it. Tip no 3: not a good idea. For some reason the shimmerz reacted with it leaving a thick mush. It looked like I had mixed sugar in there - not a pretty sight so when it dried I sanded it off (giving it a distressed look in the end, haha)

Then I sewed the opening of the bust, leaving a hole in the middle for the stick. The stick isn't glued or anything it's just pushed in the filling. I found a ribbon in my stash that was perfect for the romantic vintage feel I went for. It's reversed on the backside so it looks as good on both sides. I tied it around the stick and placed under the bust. I added some dry pink chalk to three cream paperflowers I had never used and glued them to the base.

Last thing on my to do list was to balance her out as a lot was going on on the bottom half. So I took 4 different flowers and glued them together. Then they were attached with a tiny pin a la real hatpin style.

I was thinking about adding wings to her as seen on photo above, but decided against it in the end. 

I like it as a decoration, but think it would also be lovely to use as a bracelet or thin necklace holder.

I'm entering this week's challenge at tuesday taggers which is "diamonds are forever"
the town scrapper - we're in stitches.
cute card thursday - tweet or flutter
the secret crafter - anything goes