Tutorial: Fern 'n Bird Stenciled Denim Chair

Originally introduced waaaaay back in 2011, today I'm releasing this pretty Fern 'n Bird Stenciled Denim Chair project as a free tutorial on the blog, yay! In this tutorial, denim from an old pair of jeans is used to re-cover a chair cushion. The denim is simply embellished with freezer-paper stenciling and the outcome is elegantly casual, methinks. Shall we begin?

Fern 'n Bird Stenciled Denim Chair Tutorial

You will need:

• an old pair of jeans
• a pair of scissors
• freezer paper
• an Exacto knife
• a cutting surface
• fabric paint in white and black
• a blunt paint brush
• pencil and eraser
• screw driver
• industrial stapler
• sandpaper
• newspaper
• iron and ironing board
• a chair in need of re-upholstering
• Fern 'n Bird Template ◀︎ click on the link to access the template!

Prepare The Chair

Step 1: Remove the cushion by unscrewing the screws from underneath the seat.

Step 2: Clean the chair with a damp cloth to remove any dirt and grime. If your chair needs painting, proceed as follows, and if not, skip on to Step 4.
Step 3: Working in a ventilated area or outside, sand down the entire chair with fine grit sandpaper to create a rough surface suitable for painting. Again, wipe down the chair with a clean, damp cloth to remove any dust created during sanding. Apply a coat of furniture primer. After the primer dries according to manufacturer's instructions, apply a few coats of latex paint, allowing the paint to dry between coats.

Refer to Young House Love: How to Paint Furniture for more detailed furniture painting instructions.

Prepare The Stencil

Step 4: Adjust the Fern 'n Bird template, sizing it to your needs using a photocopier, or leaving it as is. Trace the design onto freezer-paper. Working on a cutting surface, cut out all the grey areas using an Exacto knife. Keep all the little white bits. These are part of your stencil.

Step 5: Before you cut into your jeans, be sure that the chosen pant leg will fit the width of your chair cushion. Cut the pant leg off leaving plenty of room to reach around all sides of the cushion and a few inches round the back.

Step 6: Place your freezer-paper stencil where you wish it to be on your denim. Be sure that you give it plenty of room on all sides. You want it to be fully visible and not hanging off the edge of your seat, poor bird. Now with your iron set to "no steam", iron the stencil to the denim, plastic side down. Don't forget all the little pieces like the wing, feet, beak, head and eye. Iron everything in place. Try to avoid wrinkles in the freezer-paper like I have. Eesh.

Paint The Design

Step 7: Place a sheet of newspaper under your denim to protect your work surface. Have an extra sheet of newspaper handy for removing excess paint from your brush. Mix a tiny bit of black into some white fabric paint to give a light grey paint. Or start with grey paint if you prefer. If you're mixing paint, make enough to cover your template. You only want to mix it once. Moisten your paintbrush with water. Remove as much of the water as possible. Now load a little bit of paint onto your brush. Brush most of the paint off onto the newspaper. You want your brush almost dry but not quite. Begin applying paint into your stencil, pressing down firmly and moving your brush in small circles as you go. This technique is call "dry brushing". Repeat the process of loading paint onto your brush, unloading most of it onto the newspaper and then painting the stencil, until your stencil is covered and the paint is applied very thinly and evenly over the entire design.

Step 8: Once you're done painting, you can immediately but carefully remove the freezer-paper from the denim. It peels off easily without leaving any residue on the fabric. Finally, heat-set your painted design with the iron. Also if you are so inclined, you can re-use the stencil to make a second matching chair. Just remember to place a thin sheet of paper between the used stencil and your iron (to keep your iron clean) before using the stencil a second time.

Re-cover Your Cushion

Step 9: When I removed the green covering from my chair, the original blue covering was still in ship-shape. I decided to leave it in place and install the denim directly on top. You may not have that option, in which case you'd have to purchase a new foam cushion available in standard sizes at your local fabric shop.

Step 10: To install the denim cover, place the fabric good side down. Place the cushion, cushy side down, in the center of your fabric ensuring that your design is where you want it on the seat. Now, while firmly pulling the denim up, around the edge and to the back of the cushion, install a staple at the middle top edge of the cushion back. Continue in this way with the middle bottom, middle left and middle right of the back of your cushion, firmly pulling on the edge of the denim with each new staple. Keeping the denim taught at all times, place a staple in one corner, then the opposite corner, and then the remaining corners. Now fill in the gaps with staples.

Step 11: To get a smooth finish on the corners, many staples will need to be installed. Trim the excess denim to give the seat a clean look.

Step 12: Finally, place the cushion on the chair and re-install the screws.

Your work here is done, baby!

Now, grab a tall, cool one and take a load off on your pretty new Fern 'n Bird embellished chair!

♥︎M

P. S. Guess what? I finally joined Pinterest (just a few tiny weeks ago) so I'm pinning this project to my "Denim Forever!" Pinterest board. Check it!

A Finish: Soft Cuffs for Craft Hope Kids

First off, I just want to say thanks so much for your amazing response to the giveaway. Holy mack. I'm beside myself with glee! And I had no idea of the widespread love of cerulean. Question. What is cerulean? Yes, I know it's a colour. But from which end of the spectrum? Is it a red? A green? A yellow? I literally have no idea. Research will be required for this one. I have a ceru-ious gap in my crafty knowledge. Tee hee.

Anyway, as you can see, the boy and I are finished the dozen bracelet/cuffs pledged for Craft Hope's Project 12! Remember these? We started them here with the boy's designs...

We did an update and tutorial here (in case you want to give them a go)...

And FINALLY, we put our finishing touches on them today, and sent 'em off! Joys!

Oh and in case you're wondering about Craft Hope's Project 12, all the details can be found at Craft Hope. This is a lovely opportunity to get kids involved in helping other kids. Check it out.

Now have yourself a super-day. I'll be back Friday to announce the lucky giveaway winner!

Bibs, Baby!

These bibs are a symbol of my quiet yet obvious wisdom and wide-ranging experience.

Really Michele? How's that?

You see, these bibs are a gift for the first-ever, soon-to-be-born babe to call me GREAT Aunt Michele.

Congratulations, you're old.

I prefer to think of myself as young-at-heart and eminently sage.

Okay. Why's that?

Well, despite having lived a life riddled with mistakes, failures, and hard-learned lessons, I have somehow managed to find love, do work I enjoy, and my children are growing and healthy. On top of that, here I stand, poised to face whatever challenges come my way.

Good for you Michele.

Well, they don't call me GREAT for nothing.

They don't call you GREAT at all!!! The baby's not even born yet!

Details details...

Note: I used the lovely Sew She Sews Bib Tutorial (altered slightly to make bigger bibs) to sew the above baby bibs. I freezer-paper stenciled the boy's designs (also used for these cuffs) onto the fronts, and I made the bibs double-sided so they can be worn either way. Both back and front are shown in the pics. These came together without a hitch and make super-quick hand-made baby gifts when time's a tickin'.

You have yourself a fabulous day now. I'll see you again soon!

Tutorial: Soft Cuffs for Craft Hope Kids

Yay!

We're on our way with the bracelets for Craft Hope's Project 12. Actually, now that I look at them they are probably more like cuffs, wouldn't you say? I admit that I've done most of the work so far. But my little one loves to admire his designs on the cuffs. And he wants me to make him two of his own: one for each wrist. He likes the feel of them on because, as it turns out, they are pretty darn comfortable. It's so nice to have such positive feedback from the boy. Believe me, this is not always the case.

I designed these to be as simple as possible to make. Here's a little tutorial in case you're inclined to join in the effort.

Tutorial: Soft Cuffs

As shown in the first post, the boy had drawn some little designs which I'd traced onto freezer paper and then cut out to make stencils.

1. I used regular liquid acrylic paint (not fabric paint) and freezer-paper stenciled the boy's designs onto some scraps of solid cotton.

2. I free-handed a short line of stitching around each design.

3 I sewed on a scrap of patterned fabric to each solid scrap beside the designs.

4. I cut out the cuff pieces. Enough for 12 cuffs.

Below is my pattern. I made 2 sizes, cutting 6 of each size.

6. To make each cuff soft yet durable, each is made of three layers: the top stitched and stenciled layer, the middle layer cut out of an old flannel sheet, the bottom layer of soft flannel in plaid.

7. Place the middle layer and bottom layer bad sides together.

8. Machine-sew these two together. I made two lines of stitching along the length to hold them together.

9. Take a small elastic hair-tie and use a twist-tie to hold it together in a figure 8 (with a big loop and a small loop). This will be your closure.

10. Make a cuff sandwich with good sides together (good side of flannel plaid up, and good side of stitched-stenciled piece down). Place the hair-tie at one end with the big loop on the inside and the twist-tie at the edge as shown.

11. Stitch around the perimeter with a 1/4 inch (6 mm) seam allowance leaving the end opposite the hair-tie open. Remove the twist-tie.

12. Trim the edges and turn it inside out. Use a skewer to push out the corners.

13. Close up the opening with a line of hand-stitching.

14. Sew on a pretty button.

Oh goodie, you have a cuff. And it is oh so soft! Here's what the back looks like.

Only 11 more to make, well 13 if you include 2 for the boy. No problemo, eh? I'll have pictures of the whole she-bang once they're all complete.

Edited to Add: Check out the finished cuffs HERE!

Have a lovely weekend now, I'll see you again on Monday!

P.S. Thank you Blogger for resolving your earlier issues. Everything seems to be intact and just as I left it. Let's keep it that way, shall we?

Crafting a Little Hope

The boy and I have started a new project.

We'll be making fabric bracelets to contribute to Craft Hope's Project 12. In partnership with Orphan Outreach, Craft Hope is collecting handmade bracelets to give to Russian children who've been abandoned, abused and are living in poverty.

Why I love this project?

• It's such a lovely cause with a warm heart.
• It will involve my child. The boy and I will work on this project as a team. My hope is that he will help in every aspect of design and creation. As a bonus, I will take the opportunity to turn this into a social science, history and geography lesson all-rolled-in-one for him (and for me too!)
• Each bracelet will be a unique treasure made with lots o' love. Each will be different and hopefully impress within each child-recipient a feeling of their own specialness.
• This is the perfect stash-busting project. The smallness of each bracelet allows us to utilize some of the tiny yet gorgeous crafty bits and pieces that we may not otherwise use.
• We will be able to make a nice bunch of bracelets. Our goal is to fashion a dozen fabric bracelets over the next few weeks.

In the end, we will create several small, sweet, one-of-a-kind bracelets, that will light up the hearts of some children who could really use a boost.

What have we accomplished so far?

Well, we're still in the design phase. The boy drew out some tiny pictures which I've transferred onto freezer-paper.

I'm in the midst of cutting out his designs with my Exacto knife. Aren't the teensy stencils cute?

And that's what we've done so far. I'll post more pictures as we progress.

If you'd like to join in, all the details are available at Craft Hope.

Now please enjoy your day, and I'll see you again soon!

Spacey Stitchy GIVEAWAY!

THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED. Thank you to all who entered!

Hello! Happy Monday!

Is today a glorious day for a giveaway? I think so. I have stuff that is in acute need of a new home. Curious? Well... along with Sherrill Kahn's book "Stitched Collage" (which I reviewed for you in my Friday post), the lucky winner will also win this little me-made wallet inspired by some of the stitching ideas presented in Ms. Kahn's book.

Yes, unfortunately there is only one prize... But, chin up! Even if you don't win, you can still make yourself a tiny wallet like this one. Why, sure. The very simple, well-written 19th Street wallet tutorial is brought to you graciously by Insatiable Need. I used the tutorial as written but made the wallet one-of-a-kind-unique by embellishing the top piece my way.

I started by freezer-paper stenciling my swirl design onto the top piece as below. If you've never tried that, check out this freezer-paper stenciling tutorial. Or google it. It's easy, it's fun, and it's everywhere. Note that the full-size space wallet swirl design is available for you right here as a PDF.

And then I went "at it" with some french knots and running stitches.

I sewed the whole thing together as per the 19th Street wallet instructions and a new little cardholder wallet was born. Here's the inside. I used only scraps to make this nebulous little guy: the perfect stash-busting project seeing as it's small and easy and quick.

I typed my name and the date on the inner piece so the winner will not forget who made it for her. Peek-a-boo, I made you!

And here's what the finished wallet looks like! Spacey, no?

So the prize package consists of: Sherrill Kahn's "Stitched Collage" and my little space wallet!

Now, if you're a living, breathing Earthling, you can enter this giveaway. Aliens need not apply. Just leave one comment on this post telling me what your name would be if you were an extra-terrestrial, and be sure I can reach you by email. I'll randomly pick a winner on Thursday, April 7th at 6 pm EST, and announce said winner in my Friday post.

Oh, and in case you were curious, my extra-terrestrial name would be Meelchi from the planet Dameem. By the way.

Live long, prosper, and best of luck to you!

Notes:

• Sherrill Kahn's book "Stitched Collage" is published by Martingale and Company.
• Linking to: Today's Creative Blog, Blue Cricket Design

THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED. Thank you to all who entered!

There Are 157 Words in This Post

The post title is silly. I didn't know what else to call my post so that's what I went with. It may or may not be accurate. Pretty sure it's the latter.

So, I'm practicing my free-motion quilting and freezer paper stenciling. I made these Ent potholders for my little girl. Okay, not-so-little girl.

Definition of ENT:

You know, the old tree-like creatures that came alive in The Lord of The Rings. Yes, yes. I know that regular trees are alive. What I mean to say is "mobile" rather than alive. Those guys.

My stitches are quite uneven. I'm so tense while I'm free-motioning. I feel like old Betty (my sewing machine) is going to suddenly take flight she's moving so quick for her age. I gotta relax. Tips? Suggestions? Ideas? Maybe I need lotion or something?

By contrast the stenciling is quite relaxing. The possibilities are endless and it's such a simple technique. I'm looking forward to some intricate designs.

Have an lovely evening and Happy Canadian Thanksgiving!

Mug Rug for my Main Man and Printable for my Peeps

Guess what I bought? Well, I will tell you. I bought a darning foot for Betty, my old White sewing machine. And with this magical little darning foot, guess what I can do? Mm hmm, I can free-motion quilt baby!

So to exercise those sad and atrophied free-motion muscles, I made this little mug rug for Lo. I figure he could use one for his desk at work. A mug rug is a large coaster for your mug or glass that has room for a snack on the side, and can be of any shape, colour or design you desire. Mug rugs are all the rage right now as far as I can tell, and there are some beautiful ones here if you have the urge to make one.

I created a freezer-paper stencil to embellish this manly mug rug. A thistle. My Lo likes thistles because, as I understand it, they are a manly kind of a flower. They are prickly and tough and you shouldn't mess with 'em. I chose one of Lo's old T-shirts to grace the front of the mug rug and stenciled my thistle onto it. I thought that if I used his old T-shirt, he may be able to tolerate his new mug rug. You never know... He may even grow to like it one day! Anything's possible.

Once the stencil was dry, I free-motion quilted little waves around the thistle with my new-fangled darning foot. Do you know that I paid a mere $10 for that genius little tool? Totally, totally worth it!

Now I'd created this gallant thistle stencil to use for Lo's mug rug but I thought: "What about all those other brave yet mug rug-less men out there? They could probably use a manly thistle mug rug too." So I decided to make a printable (my very first) design available to you. Here it is:

The Man Thistle Printable for your own personal use.

Please enjoy, and have yourself a wonderful Monday!

P.S. If ever you find that something I've written here needs clarification, or if you have a question, leave a comment with your email address and I will do my best to clarify.

Tutorial: A Boy's Dinosaur Painting Smock

Is it really only a couple of little weeks away? School days again? The boy has grown so much over the last few months. He needs all new clothing. He needs a new lunchbox. He needs a fall jacket. He needs indoor shoes. He needs outdoor shoes. So many things for ONE little person!

There is one thing I can check off his list... A painting-arts-and-craftsy-cover-everything smock... I can make one from a thrifted shirt!!! I can do that!

Are you with me?

Yeah, let's do it!

Okay, so take the shirt. It's a ladies small.

Let's put it on the boy to determine the correct sleeve length ending at the wrist. And then place a straight pin there.

Now let's cut the sleeve where we had placed that pin. And cut the other sleeve the same length.

We need to cut off that huge nasty collar immediately! Above where it meets the neckline. Great!

Shirt - Collar = Comfy.

Now let us flip that shirt inside out and place pins along the inner sleeve edge and down the side, all along the seam.

And machine-stitch a NEW seam about 1 inch from the existing seam along where the pins were placed. We are taking the shirt in, to fit the boy. It will still be big but that's the plan!

Now let's cut off the excess! I like this part.

Binding is definitely needed to finish off that collar edge. Let's take some colourful fabric and tear off a 1-1/2 inch strip a little longer than the collar.

And pin the binding to the shirt collar, right sides together, folding and pinning the very ends of the binding up.

We can now machine-stitch the binding to the shirt with a 1/4 inch seam allowance.

Now let's take out all those prickly pins and fold the binding around and over the collar edge and pin it in place nicely and neatly.

Here we could machine-stitch the binding on, but we've obviously decided to hand-stitch it in place. It does look good this way...

Nice work.

Now, this tiny little cotton knit camisole hasn't fit anyone in ages. Let's cut off the bottom 4 inches.

And take that bottom piece and cut it into 2 equal pieces.

Let's pin each cotton-knit piece along the edge of each sleeve right sides together, stretching the cotton-knit around the sleeve as it is pinned. This will make a stretchy fitted cuff.

Should we machine-stitch the cuff onto the shirt with a 1/4 inch seam allowance, again stretching it as it is sewn? Yes, let's do that!

Let's flip the shirt inside out!

And taking each cuff in turn and folding it over...

We can pin the cuff to the inside of the sleeve just past the stitching line...

And machine-stitch the cuff in place 1/4 inch from the other seam so that when the shirt is flipped over, the cuff looks like this! Good. Nice.

Now the fun begins. Embellishing the smock with dinosaurs 'cause the boy cannot get enough of those guys at the moment!

So after some research and sketching and tweaking, we have these little dinosaurs drawn onto plain white paper.

Let's cut them out to make a stencil. Now using a glue stick, we must apply glue only to the very edge of the stencil and place it gluey-side down onto the shirt.

Now using liquid acrylic paint and a small brush, we dab the paint into the stencil. Leaving the stencil in place, we allow the paint to dry. When dry, a second coat is applied and then the stencil is removed. We reuse the same stencil many times, and place the design strategically around the shirt!

Let's make a large dino stencil for the centre back of the shirt.

And apply it in the same way as the other stencil.

We can do the same thing with the boy's initial, placing it on the front of the shirt.

And add some little dots for fun!

And with that, the dinosaur painting smock is done! Yippee!

Let's see what we've got... here's the back.

And the front!

Perhaps a new label would do the trick?

Have an enjoyable day!

P.S. I am a linker.