Did I mention...

That in the middle of all of this good fun, the three Upholstery Musketeers (Natalie, Caroline and me!) went off to Burnt Street Upholstery on Tuesday morning for an outing of sheer unbridled fabric porn?  


Caroline was looking for the perfect combination of pattern, stripe and plain for her Slipper chair's front, back & piping, and I was looking for some plain cornflower blue to match the Amy Butler Temple Doors, to use as piping... and also some aqua to go with the Joel Dewberry for the sprung footstool. That's why I walked away with 30 metres of powder blue cotton damask, at only $10/metre.  

And why, I hear you ask, do you want 30 metres of curtain material, when you're supposed to be buying fabric for a fracking chair???  Many years ago, when Mr Golightly and I first moved into this house, my lovely Ma and I went to a [much missed] shop called Hart St Fabric House, and bought metres of beautiful camel coloured cotton damask, in a very subtle print, which she made into curtains to hang in the guest bedroom.  They look fabulous, classic, subtle, expensive (but they werent'!).  So, I could barely believe my eyes when I spotted the very same pattern, but in a blue!  


Gentle Readers, the back of our house faces north, which is, of course, ideal in the Southern Hemisphere.  We get lots of lovely warm sun in the winter, and good shade in the summer because of the angle of the trees in the back yard.  But at night, when the sun is gone (oh dear, did I just say that?), it gets cold.  All that glass, you see.  So, we have curtains.  Lined curtains at that, which I made, this time.  


I confess that I bought the original living room curtain material in Spotlight, after spending more quality fabric porn time with Miss Cathy at KA International.  I had found my dream fabric there for the living room curtains, but it was $178/metre.  Ouch.  Given that we need about 24 metres, it was going to be mega-expensive.  So I bought this other stuff instead, cheap, from that store whose name starts with S and ends in ...light, and I have always regretted it.  It's the colour of cocoa, with a tiny little woven blue square in it.  Even with the lining, all you see is the lines of the blue weaving, so it looks like a horizontal stripe.  Icky.  Also, I didn't buy enough, and the curtains are not wide enough.  Curtains need to be at least three times the width of the window to look any good.  Having two drops just doesn't cut it.   

Note:  not my house!


Anyway, I squealed like a girl when I saw this powder blue Damask, and the nice lady gave it to me for $10/metre.  There's enough to make the curtains, nicely full, and have some over for cushions or whatever.  Which is just as well, because I think I'm going to have to sell off some of the more expensive soft furnishings in the house to cover it.

Anyway, it's 10.37pm now, I've been up since 4.15am (the coughing thing again, don't ask), and I'm pooped.  Off to bed, hopefully to sleep through until 5.30am, when I get up and do it all again.  I've got pics, tomorrow, of the progress on the chair, too, so stay tuned.  Same bat time, same bat channel.  (How old does that make me????)


Ciao!

Heavenly Hunter

Hooray Gentle Readers, we're off to the Heavenly Hunter Valley for Easter.  It's always lovely to go & spend quality time with the Dog, the Chef, the Maker of Big Fat Fluffy Beds and the Mountains, and I'm taking the Chair (finally) - and also the footstool so she can see my skills in action...


I'm also taking the sewing machine, so I can make dressing gowns for the Chef and the Maker of Big Fat Fluffy Beds, and also a cushion for the chair, and whatever else pops up.


I got some fabric in the mail today:

This has quite a bit more yellow than I was expecting, but it's still very nice.

And this also arrived:

Which I love, and which I think will become the slipper chair cover, and this:

Which I think will be the tub chair, depending, of course, on the teacher's advice.

My lovely neighbour Lyn popped in to ask questions about how to renovate her op-shop frock for a Royal wedding party (what?  who?).  She was very impressed with the chair and suggested I try hawking it round the children's wear shops on the peninsular, especially to those shops where parents with more money than sense shop - which I think is a great idea (the chair, not the parents)... I might see if I can upholster another one in the spare time I have at Upholstery School... 

And that, Gentle Readers, is it for me, as I have to shower, dress, wash up, pack, chivvy Mr Golightly into action (although he has already mowed the back lawn, showered, dressed, packed and is now eating.  It's only 11.53am - he must be on holidays!)

Ciao (and have a fabulous Eostre, all of you!).

Eye spy

At Upholstery School there are very strict rules about wearing safety glasses whilst stapling or nailing - those mothers really punch out the sharp flying things, and while you can always grow skin over a cut or a hole, you can't grow another eyeball.


Needless to say, the safety glasses sit in our toolboxes, and get all scratched and greasy.  So... today I made three pouches for the three amigos (me, Caroline and Natalie):


Insides:

Outsides:

And the glasses fit in very nicely, thank you:

and so do the safety glasses:

And yes, we all look like Fearless Fly.  But we're safe!

Anyway, I'm going to put these into the shop... they work just as well as other cases, they're lined with quality fabrics, made squishy and protective with quilt batting, and they look a lot nicer than the brown vinyl one you've got now, come on, admit it!

And in the fabric purchasing department, I bought a metre and a half of this:

And yes, that is my hand, so you see the scale of the print - my favourite chair, which we inherited from Mr Golightly's lovely parents waaaaaaaaaaaaay back when we were newly married and very poor, is covered in a gorgeous wool from KA Fabrics - way back when we were very spoilt and had three or four KA stores to choose from - which is blue, cream and brown, and although it may sound pretty foul, it's gorgeous:

And, of course because KA no longer graces our shores, there's no more to be had - that and the fact that it was nearly 10 years since we had the chair redone!  So, I wanted something that would go with the chair, and could be used to recover the lounges if & when I ever get round to it ... I think they kind of go together... and I will use this to cover my skirted footstool, which we have to do at Upholstery school.

I had a lovely time at Bargain Upholstery Fabrics at Seaforth - they don't have a website, but what they do have is six (yep, six) shops full of amazing fabrics.  Despite the huge choice, it didn't take me long to find the cream, and it was only $16/metre.  That's a massive bargain, when you consider that quilting cottons can cost as much as $25 per metre - is it any wonder that we get our quilting stuff direct from the US???.  I got 1.5 metres, which should be enough to do my laura ashley cream wool footstool as well, which is looking a bit grubby and old.  

And that, Gentle Readers, is the news of the day for me.  I now have to dress respectably (out of the yoga pants, into something guaranteed not to frighten the children) and away, away to the supermarket.  Can't wait!

Ciao!