Saturday 1 November 2014

Water colour splat cushions...

...DIY


I probably don't need to tell you that changing up your soft furnishings is one of the easiest and cheapest way to update the decor of any room in your home...New curtains, throws and cushions is a great way to change up your colour scheme without too much effort, and those finishing touches can really make a room come together!

But instead of searching for that perfect cushion in home ware stores, it is even cheaper to make your own cushion covers and simply recover the cushions you already have.
You can of course find some lovely fabrics and sew up some new ones to fit in with your decor, but by the time I came to putting these finishing details in my new look living room, money was too short, even for this...so I came up with another solution:

My old white linen tablecloths was obsolete since I got my new kitchen table (See my kitchen makeover here)...so I decided to re-purpose the material and make some new cushion covers out of them!

But I wanted to create some kind of pattern on the plain fabric, as I had been told off by little miss moo for "painting everything white" (...and my 5 year old did have a point: white walls and whitewashed floors: A little subtle colour injection was definitely needed). Previously I have made cushions with monochrome geometric patterns, which was nice, but this time I wanted a "splash of colour"....which gave me an idea...


Using Dylon fabric paints (that I already had), I decided to create a splattered pattern on the linen, much like in the Nostalgiecat logo...


I mixed up some colours I liked the look of,then watered down the fabric paints...


Then I simply splatted on the paint with some paint brushes...


I experimented with different methods of splashing on the paint....and had great fun doing it!


When I was satisfied that I had some interesting patterns on the fabrics, I left the paint to dry...this took a bit longer than when I usually use fabric paint because the paints were watered down and the splodges were quite wet.


I then ironed the painted fabric to set the paint. According to the instructions of the fabric paints I used, it is important to have a cloth(I used an old tea-towel) between the iron and the painted fabric.

I then sewed the pillowcases together ( I am a self-confessed sewing-phobe, and if you are too, you could always purchase some plain ready-made cushion covers, and splat these....but as this was all about using what I already had to save money, I grit my teeth and wrestled with the sewing machine whilst filling the air with explicits....good thing little miss moo was at school!! LOL)
....anyway...they turned out rather nice:


Don't you think?


The result is a rather abstract and subtle colour injection....



...in my otherwise new white interior living room!


And to think I didn't pay a penny for them, fills me with a good sense of achievement...and nobody will ever have the same ones....not even you, should you want to try this for yourself!!

Wednesday 29 October 2014

textured Graphic artwork...


...DIY


Today I am sharing the large textured, graphic artwork I made for my new look livingroom!

Using a large piece of ply wood and some wool, I made this big statement piece for the wall behind my sofa: Not only does it add an injection of colour, but also some texture to my otherwise white interiors....

Here's how:


On a large piece of plywood I drew out an asymmetrical grid of rectangles...


Then using my jigsaw, I cut out the shapes in the middle, leaving a frame of ply-wood:
(See my post here for tips on how to best cut plywood)


Then using my leftover balls of wool, in an array of complimentary colours, I simply wound the wool around the ply wood frame:


...Creating patterns of colours as I went...
Tip! Do mix up the density and direction of the wool as you go, and work on multiple squares at the time to interweave the colours and patterns.

This is such an easy DIY, but can be time consuming... Have fun, and get creative with your choice of colours and patterns!!

Try to keep it neat on both sides of the plywood, and tie off any loose ends of wool in an inconspicuous place.


It may help to have a little assistance whilst winding the wool around the frame...luckily I had Little Miss moo that eagerly helped me pass the balls of wool to and fro through the frame...Thanks beautiful!!


I love the way this has added a bot more colour and texture to my new look living room, but I realize now, looking at these images, that I will need to look into re-doing my gallery wall when I get back from Norway....
...more on that later , I guess!!


What do you think?

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