Re-upholstery

 Reupholstering!

After!

My home is filled with to-do projects. They are waiting on my shelves, waiting in my closet, waiting to be cut out of fabric, waiting to be baked, waiting to be downloaded, waiting for better weather, waiting for worse weather, waiting for more energy, waiting for more time, waiting for the house to be clean...waiting...waiting. You know what I mean. Today, I decided to tackle something I've never done and have done no research on: reupholstering. Here is the top of my Singer 301 sewing stool before:

Before

Ick! Crumbly vinyl, crumbly filling. It had to go.

Pull out old cushion

The guts of the old stool--so fragile it crumbled into dust at the slightest provacation!

Pull out old staples

 There were tons of old staples holding the vinyl in place. I had to pry, pry, pry away.

Cut batting to fit stool (many layers!)

I decided to use cotton quilt batting for new padding. Many, many layers. I just used my rotary cutter and kept trimming until I got the right size.

Measure from side under to other side including batting

I wasn't quite sure how to figure out how much fabric to use--and I think Anna Maria Horner's Drawing Room home dec fabrics may be retiring soon, so I didn't want to waste any. I wrapped a tape measure around the stool with the batting to figure out how much fabric to cut.

Anna Maria Horner's Drawing Room Fabric in Trellis

I wanted to center the rose on the stool so I divided the length and width by half to get the right placement of the flower.

Staple fabric side to side, corner to corner

Staple! Alternating sides, alternating corners. I tried mitering the corners--kind of how you make a bed when you fold in the flat sheet. It worked...sort of [first time, so I get a pass]!

Voila! New sewing stool!

Voila! New stool! I love, love, love the bright colors against my turquoise walls. Now if I could just find some time to work on my Secret Sewing Project!

XO TEREZ

Today is Brought to You by the Color Yellow

Hardly a mellow yellow

Today is brought to you by the color yellow~

This picture really doesn't do this setting justice--yesterday I was walking home from lunch and I stopped in front of a trifecta of buttery golden yellow. A yellow jeep was parked in front of this yellow tree growing in front of this yellow house.

I ran back to get my camera [lesson: always keep camera on person] but by the time I returned the yellow jeep had zipped away. The tree and the house are still pretty spectacular.

Speaking of yellow, the tree outside of where I sew is finally turning yellow, too.

Walk to work Wednesday

 

Fiddle-dee-dee

The fiddling pirate

 Today I met with my dear friend and design guru Cal K. [Stay tuned, I think I will be interviewing her for a guest Q&A with Chez Terez soon] at Borders for cafe and catch up.

When she unwrapped her coat and scarf I gasped with delight. Swinging from a sturdy chain was a fiddling pirate! He's jointed. His bow moves across his fiddle when you shake him. He's about 4 inches tall and perfect!

He's a bit of a mystery man. He showed up in a plastic ziptop bag in the bottom of another bag and we think he may have belonged to her auntie but we're not sure so even if you misplaced him and you think  he is yours please don't tell Cal--she really wants to keep him. And he looks great with her.

XO Terez

Rear window

The view from my work table

Today I was up with the birds. What is with them lately? 

In the summer they are so boisterous in their singing that I can hear them over the air conditioner's chug chug chug. But that's the summer. It's cold now. I have pumpkin bread in the oven and I am drinking cocoa. Shouldn't they be flying south about now?

Today they were outdoing one another in full force.

I was so excited to work on the projects that I have been too busy to touch that I popped out of bed when I heard them warming up at 5 a.m. All day while I working in the back room (pairs of earrings created and photographed: 23. Good News Bears sewn and cut out: 18. Secret baby projects started: 3.) they were at it.

Look close at the photo below--this little guy hung out and watched me for about 20 minutes. He didn't mind having his picture snapped:

My little buddy

Living in the treetops has its advantages. The birds are my neighbors and the greenery is gorgeous and doesn't need any ladscaping. The sunsets have been spectacular from this room lately.

Speaking of sunsets, check out this palette that I am working with from Anna Maria Horner's Folksy Flannels collection. There are some nephews or nieces in my future so I need to get cracking. Stay tuned to see what I make with this buttery soft fabric, I'm almost done with Secret Project 1.

Anna Maria Horner's Folksy Flannels

Also be sure to check out the Etsy shop--I'm in the middle of loading some of the many new pairs of earrings, hurrah!

XO TEREZ

Color wheels II

Wheel o' beads: crystal, Swarovski pearls, blown glass, cloisonne, gemstone, pressed glass

Strawberry quartz, cloisonne disks, foiled-lined glass

Sneak peek! Stay tuned.

P.S. Don't you love love love these vintage Fire King milk glass deviled egg plates? They make perfect bead palettes!

Color wheels

Fancy Felt cools

Fancy Felt warms

I am a color addict.

I ordered these Fancy Felt color samples from Giant Dwarf's etsy shop a few weeks ago. Mamacat happened to be here when they arrived.

"Hmmmmmm," she said.

I could tell lightening was striking her brain. "You know, those would look really good framed."

I just happened to have two that would fit the bill on standby. I slipped them in, and voila! That empty spot in my hall is filled and is now one of my favorite places to look for inspiration.

Color swatches available here.

Walk to work Wednesday

Dangerous curves ahead

Good news bear pin cushion

....I have a secret. I am not a very good seamstress. Yet.

I am afraid of curves! Zippers=nail biting. Buttonholes: I can barely type the word.

This must be remedied.

Ever since I learned to sew, I've only worked on projects with straight seams: totes, napkins, table runners, pillow tops, quilt blocks. I tried making a curvy, ruffly apron, but my fabric kept getting away from me and I didn't like it thank-you-very-much.

My sewing teacher, Miriam, told me I needed to stop over-correcting, that it was like steering a car: a little goes a long way. Guess what? Living and working in Boston, I don't drive!

So I packed away the dreaded apron; it's still balled up in my sewing bag. I am sad I ruined so much Anna Maria Horner fabric trying to make it.

But, I am determined to change. I want this year to be a handmade Christmas. And I really, really, really pretty please want to make my flock of nephews (four!) and niece (one!) something soft and cuddly this year that could also be an ornament. I remembered some cute little bears Mamacat used to sew for her nieces and newphews around the holiday. I called her up:

"Mamacat. When you come to visit me, could you bring me that little bear pattern?"

She couldn't find it. But she did bring an old prototype and we made up our own pattern:

Reverse of good news bear

These are attempts seven, eight and nine. My own three little bears. Not perfect yet, but that's why I love them. And I am getting much better at the curves. Stay tuned!

XO Terez

Three little good news bears

Look what I found

As I continue with my obsession with All Things Vintage in the sewing department, I had to share my most recent acquisition:

The trifecta: vintage Singer 301, antique wooden sewing
basket and chaise lounge in my sewing corner

You are probably wondering, what in the heck is that magnificent piece of furniture?

You might recognize her a little bit more easily if you see her in her buttoned up form:

Sewing box closed up

But I like her better with her red underpinnings showing!



She's a vintage sewing box with beautiful curvy legs and a sturdy handle. I ordered her on Tuesday when my $33 of birthday money (one dollar for every year!) was burning a hole in my pocket. I found her on the superb etsy site LookwhatIfound.    I ordered her Tuesday and by Friday night she was waiting at my door, beautifully packaged with clear directions on how to put her back together (legs don't travel so well!). As I was following the careful handwritten directions, putting each screw back into place, I kept hearing little bits rolling around in the drawers.

I figured it was more screws or hardware.

I was wrong.

I opened the drawers and started unwrapping the bits of tissue and tape and found to my extreme delight--bits of vintage beads and baubles in each drawer. Each bit of tissue unfolded to a squeal of delight--vintage glass, lucite, shell, crystal, jars, vials~it was as if the dear seller knew I would love and appreciate these items as a jewelry designer:

Vintage beads and baubles

A wonderful example of a seller going above and beyond. A good lesson to learn as I prepare for my holiday bazaar. Please visit her store!

XO Terez

There she is in all her glory

Sometimes if you wish for something hard enough it Just Might Happen.

Case in point: my miraculous garage "sailing" feat: the purchase of a 1952 Singer 301 all metal, mint condition, cabinet sewing machine a few weekends ago during a Cape weekend.

My friend and I got up early on Saturday morning in search of bargains; circled classifieds and in hand mapping our route for the day. Her husband told us to not bring back too much junk, and I said, "the only thing I'm looking for is a vintage metal Singer Sewing Machine that still works." Ask, and ye shall receive.

At our second stop of the morning (out of ten!) my garage sale Partner In Crime (PIC) found me in a bedroom at an estate sale, poking through a box of vintage sewing notions. Just as I was forming the thought in my brain, "hmmm, if there are vintage sewing notions, there might be a machine around here somewhere," PIC found me and with a whisper tipped me off to a sewing machine I might want to look at in the other room.

I tried to restrain myself from running, but it was difficult. I saw the closed cabinet and knew right away what it was. My mother used to have an old Kenmore machine from the 70s in a cabinet so I knew just what to do. I flipped open the lid, pulled up the metal machine on its hinge, flipped the lip back down, found the knee pedal and the power source. It took a little bit of figuring out to determine that there was an extra electrical socket that needed to be connected but soon we had it all together and voila! The light clicked on, a test piece of fabric was inserted and the needle and feed dogs chugged chugged chugged with a satisfying rhythm.

I was speechless. Who wishes for a metal Singer Sewing machine and then one hour later finds one for the bargain price of $25?

I refused to leave the machine until I paid for it and carried it out of the home.

Even more special were the items I found stowed in the seat of the included bench. Another box of notions. The original owner's manual. All of the foot attachments. Two one-dollar bills (so it really was only $23!). Receipts for recent service appointments. The original paperwork for the purchase of the machine: a yellowed and fragile handwritten mortgage for $357.25. In 1952.

Mamacat and I serviced the machine on her visit this weekend, carefully oiling the machine and greasing the metal gears. Did I mention there isn't a speck of plastic or rubber in this machine? That it is all metal? It is awesome.

Dear Elanor: wherever you are, I hope you know that your machine will be cherished and put to good use. I hope I get to enjoy it for as many years as you did.

Chez Terez one year later

Hurrah!

After a long recovery and a mini break with Mamacat:

The Singer 301 1952 sewing machine is oiled and ready to go.

The pink typerwriter is cleaned and primed for clickity-clacking.

The studio is clean.

The beads are sorted.

There's a bazaar in the works.

It's showtime.

New creations from Chez Terez debuting soon!

Stay tuned.