Christmas Theme Table Runner from Up-cycling Textile Sample Books

It is the time of the year I love making something for my home. A table runner for dining table was just what my home needs to make the few sessions of feast extra special and beautiful.

An up-cycled table runner from those home decor textile sample books I had would be perfect without spending $$$ on some good materials. I got them from a friend's workshop. You can either ask or buy from home decor showrooms for their discontinued profiles; go through your scrap fabrics; old clothes, cushion covers and curtains ; bargain corner of a textile shop.

I started by picking Christmas colors with red as major color. Pre arranged them on the floor for a beautiful combination before cutting them to the right sizes for stitching. Here I designed a simpler combination for one side and a more decorative on the other, making it a two sided table runner. An easy guide for a good combination is mixing organic motifs, geometric patterns; plain, small motifs and larger patterns. Besides colors and patterns, I have with me different textures materials too. It takes a good control over stitching materials in different weights and textures.

The idea length of a table runner would be two feet longer than table length, allowing each end with one foot drops to the side. The width would be based on the available space after setting up the two plates of opposite sides. The width of the table runner must be wide enough to place a dish on it. 

Glass beads from the Malaysian indigenious people

Most of the luxurious home decor materials are made with natural fibers which required dry cleaning. Table runner on dining table gets stained easily and required frequent wash. I am not planning to pay for dry cleaning. Therefore, careful selection is important. Red usually runs. Avoid mixing red with very light colour especially plain fabric when little stain made obvious. Best to match with material has stain resistant like the stripes material I used above. I pre washed all the materials to test its colour fastness and also for them to shrink according to their percentages before joining them together.

The design being decided by the available materials and the finished work is a spontaneous and often a surprise. Love the warmness of the red!

Christmas Throw Pillows

Christmas is around the corner, I am in good mood to make something for this season. This has become a yearly routine for me :)

10 weeks prior to Christmas I started my throw pillows making. Initially I just planned to make few throw pillows for the sofa in the living room. Then, a friend approached me to make some for his Christmas booth sale. So, I ended up making so many of them.

After 3 weeks plus of labor between my available time I made 21 beautiful throw cushions. Some are kept for personal used and some going to the shop.

Christmas palette in shades of red, gold, champagne and ivory

Big square, small square and oblong throw pillow, which do you prefer?

Many of the exquisite fabric used in making these throw pillows are from fabric sampler boards. I am fortunate to have collected these sampler boards when a friend cleared some discontinued and last seasons sampler boards in his workshop. The design of these throw pillows were worked and designed according to the sizes of the available fabrics. Because of this restriction, more interesting design being produced.

Like these patched throw pillows...

and this design when the available fabric are only sufficient for one side of a throw pillow

Ivory, cream, champagne, and pale good make a good classic combo.

Looking forward for Christmas to arrive. Hope you have done something for your homes, shops, and churches to welcome the season.

# This is an overdue post from last year.

Upcycled Shoe Bag

This was a delayed project that I had wanted to work on when I first joined a fitness center last year. I had used a plastic bag, where one gets when buying groceries from supermarket, as my shoe-bag. Though convenient as it may be, it is an indecorous shoe bag for me.... Yes, I admit, I am a perfectionist.

I wanted something special; so I decide to make one. So I went through my stashed up old clothes and cushion covers that I had saved for upcycling projects. To be honest, I will never have the time to use them all. But being a person who is passionate about textile, I find it wasteful to throw away materials which could be reused, upcycled.

I like ethnic style; so I gathered materials based on that theme. You may select the theme of your preference if this post inspires you to make one too.

 Upcycle materials used for this project: 

An old bolster taken from an Indonesia teak bench - The shape which is ideal for the project. I had salvaged a few bolsters which had faded into unpleasant shades. 

A stained old skirt trimmed with Hmong textile

Stained and faded Akha cushion cover 

A piece of cloth hung above the door in my previous home during Chinese Lunar New Year

After hours of labor, the first shoe-bag was completed. One old bolster fully utilized in making one shoe bag.  I simply pleated the extra length of the bolster without trimming it. That added sturdiness to the material to firm the body.

 Added an ethnic trinket from Thailand to the zipper.

A little highlight was added to the bag handle. 

The finished work can be turned into a reversible shoe bag as the hem was sewm with cotton
bias binding.

After the first bag done, I made a second shoe-bag which was for my sister.

Added a leather strips onto the handle. My first try in leather embossing was unsatisfactory.

An elastic band sewn to the hem....

....which can hold a pair or two pairs of socks.

Alas I can say goodbye to using plastic shoe bags. I can now proudly use my handmade shoe bag when I go to the gym. It is also a useful shoe bag when I travel.

Wedding Ring Pillow

I believe it is every woman's dream to have a beautiful wedding though that is not the most important part in a marriage. In fact, I am one of those who dreamed and fantasized.....but I didn't get the chance to walk the aisle on my wedding; get to say "I do" nor have a beautiful wedding ring pillow. But I would love to see others having a beautiful memorable wedding day.

Hence, when I received an wedding invitation from a young couple recently and having known their rustic wedding theme, I offered to make a wedding ring pillow with the similar theme as my wedding gift for them.

I looked into my stock of sewing scraps and found some fabric and accessories. The unbleached linen is the perfect choice. Matching it with cotton lace trimmings and laced butterfly; Sola flowers and metal initials.

I have a box of Sola flowers which I bought long time ago but I have no clue what it is until I saw this video clip. According to my discovery on the net, Sola flowers are made from soft bark of tapioca plant. These flower added natural charm to the pillow.

Having in mind the couple might like to keep this in their bedroom, I inserted some lavender potpourri into the pillow. 

The finished product as you can see is very pretty and authentic. I wish I had a wedding ring pillow at my wedding, but I'm as happy to have made one for a friend.

Vintage Butterfly Image Transfer Purse

When I first encountered with image transfer from other bloggers, I thought that was real cool technique to do personalize prints on fabric and other surfaces. With the many methods available working on image transfer, I had my first try in image transfer project with the Mod Podge method. The project was butterfly prints on a purse which I designed in the same theme with a journal I hand bound for a dear friend- Lynn as her belated birthday gifts.

Lynn fascinates anything designed with butterfly themes. With that in mind, I had my butterfly inspiration to hand bind a journal and sew a matching purse. I found some butterfly images from Graphic Faries who share great stocks of vintage images.

Little Jaipur - The label my sister and I created many years ago when we were running our little seasonal business

I used Mod Podge method to do the transfer from a laser print to fabric. Mod Podge is a water base, non toxic, all in one glue, sealer and finish. Though most people would recommend an ink jet printed image, the laser printed image did just well. The various kind of Mod Podge available would get a beginner confuse of choosing the right one to do a project. Here is chart to get some guide in making selection. Generally Mod Podge photo transfer medium is recommended for an image transfer project, but I make used of what is available with me - Mod Podge Matte, which did a wonderful job.

Mod Podge is not easily available in any store in Malaysia. You can find it in Craft Heaven in One Utama shopping Centre but it does not come cheap. Besides that, some local bloggers does sell this fantastic product. 

For the purse accessories used in this project, You may make online purchase from MayMayShop . By keying Yann's Journal, you get 10% discount for a minimum purchase of RM100 and above.

Click here for my tutorial on image transfer with Mod Podge.

Ethnic Luxe Piano Runner

Years ago I bought a reconditioned piano for my elder daughter who had just started taking lessons. It came with a complimentary piano runner with nice fringes around it. Being a fussy pot when it comes for home decor, somehow rather I felt that it was too common and wanted to replace it with my own design piano runner. With a handful of sewing and crafting projects on my list, it took me quite awhile to finally work on it when flash of inspiration came to mind after making the Susani and Velvet Patched Cushion Cover.

My idea was to create a piano runner with the style of ethnic luxe. For the materials, I used some remnant damask fabric given by a friend; the rich texture luxury Belgium velvet from samplee books; a hint of ethnic from the woven textile of Tai people in Northern Vietnam. The design had accommodated with the small pieces of the remnant fabric and velvet swathes. I am happy with the finished work :)

It is very intimating to sew with velvet material. Especially when it is a heavy weight upholstery velvet. I had no idea about this ornery fabric till I sew the Susani and Velvet Patched Cushion Cover. To make the sewing job harder, the velvet samplers had card weight stickers stuck around the edges. I struggled to remove them and then laid a light weight paper on the sticky part before sewing and later removed the paper again. With home use sewing machine, the motor voltage seems not powerful enough to pull through the material.  I had to pull as I sew. The result is inconsistent stitching length as sometimes the sewing was smooth and at times it hardly moved. After the project, I send my over-stressed sewing machine with imbalance tension for service.  I should have googled to find some tips in handling velvet fabric.  Check this site for the sewing tips with velvet.