Hello there my fellow makers.
Thought I'd share this little weekend project with you all. I've always loved a souvenir teatowel and rather thought that they're wasted on the mundane task of drying pots (or in the case of my other half: mopping spills from the floor. Using his feet. With his boots on - grrrr!). They have a lovely graphic quality to them don't you think and are generally made from good heavyweight cotton or linen: perfect for a light reupholstering project such as this.
Anyway read on dear readers and have a go yourselves!
Ingredients:
Manky footstool bought for pennies at a junk shop
Cotton or linen teatowels in jolly colours
Foam - approx 1.5" thick
Wadding and cotton fabric (an old sheet will suffice) or an old thin duvet
Sandpaper
Sugar soap and cloth
Undercoat/primer
Paintbrush
Eggshell paint or similar
Staplegun (an essential part of any crafting kit)
PVA glue (see above)
Sewing machine & thread
Scissors
Stage 1- before: an exceedingly manky £3 footstool, which, with a little time and love, could be a thing of great beauty (yes really!)
Stage 2 - preparation: removing the old cover (compete with doghairs and unmentionable stains), giving the piece a good old sand, a brisk wire brushing and a sugar soap clean
Stage 3 - reconstruction: the legs and underside are then given a lick of undercoat and then painted in Farrow & Ball 'Strong White' eggshell. Foam is then glued to the top.
Stage 4 - padding: a piece of wadding (when I say 'wadding' I actually mean a duvet we
no-longer-use-but-I-couldn't-bear-to-throw-it-out-after-all-it-is-just-wadding-anyway!) was cut slightly larger than the top of the stool and stapled all around the underside. I started stapling in the centre of each side, smoothing as I went.
Stage 5 - trimming the padding: I continued stapling all around, opposite side to oposite side, whilst smoothing the edges; ensuring there are no unsightly bulges (a bit like spanx for footstools!)
Stage 6 - ready for the fun part: reupholstering
Stage 7 - jolly souvenir teatowels: chosen for their graphic quality and toning colourways
Stage 8 - constructing the covering: I cut strips of each teatowel approx 10 cm wide and slightly longer than the top. I then machine stitched them together and pressed the seams open on the wrong side
Stage 9 - attaching the covering: the fabric was then stapled to the underside and trimmed in the same way as I did with the wadding
Ta Dah!: The Finished Piece
Feet up in front of a roaring fire and enjoying a well-earned small libation...!
An amazing transformation!Any recommendations for buying such as glue/wadding? :)
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteWell the wadding can be bought by the Metre. I go to Bonds in farsley Leeds, Its an Aladdins cave full of pretty much everything you'll ever need for craft and sewing. And it's dirt cheap. They seem to clear out old factories and some of the stuff like belt buvkles, ribbon and button cards go back to the 70s! Or you could of course go through Ebay. The postage should be cheap enough as its very lightweight.
Failing that if youre feeling really frugal you could cut up an old polyester duvet. They tend to go flat after a while anyway which makes them very useable. The beauty of this is that the duvet has its own covering, providing a lining for the main cover.
Regarding PVA glue. Just buy as big a tub of it as possible. I get mine from from hardware stores. Its just the stuff builders use for sealing newly plasterd walls. We use it a awful lot in our house particularly for papier mache projects with Clever Norris.
I would also recommend buying a staplegun. I got mine from Wilkinsons. It doesn't have to be big or fancy. It's a marvellous must-have piece of equipment
Thanks for your interest - I hope my advice is useful for you!
Clever Doris x