Love is in the Air

I've been slow to decorate for Valentine's Day this year.  I think it took me so long to take down Christmas, that I wanted to revel in just winter for a while.  You can see my winter mantel here.  I left up the ornaments in my front window, because they looked good with my winter decor.

But after seeing the pink explosion across blogland, I'm ready for Valentine's Day.  Pam at diy Design Fanatic shared her wax paper heart ornaments the other day, and I remembered how fun these were to make.  Do you remember making stained glass sun catchers with wax paper as a kid?  I do.  So I set about replacing my winter window with a Valentine's one.  First I needed crayons and a crayon sharpener.

I made crayon shavings,

and after shaving a good amount(the wax paper doesn't have to be completely covered,)

I folded the wax paper over, sandwiched it between some newspaper, and ironed it.  The iron should be on your hot setting without steam. 

A quick pass will melt everything together.

I cut out hearts from my sheets of melted wax, and punched holes in the tops of the hearts.

I actually have a heart punch, but I'd have needed to punch it upside down to use it, so I just used a rectangle punch.

I strung them up on some yarn and hung them in the window.  I love how they look with the light streaming through.

I also made a Valentine's placemat pillow.  For a tutorial, click here.

Thanks for popping in and crafting with me.

Mullet Style Wingback Chair

You may be scratching your head over my post title, but you all have to remember the horror of the business up front, party in the back hairstyle epitomized by Billy Ray Cyrus.

The mullet isn't just for men stuck in a time warp anymore.  Look how fun this dining chair is with the whimsical fabric on the back.  The pretty fabric is a nice surprise from the backside and it stays clean while the utilitarian fabric is the workhorse.

via 12 devonshire

This project started with a $15 craigslisted wingback chair.

It sat like this for close to 2 years.  I'd bring home swatches, but nothing felt quite right.  Actually I did love one fabric, but it was $$$, so the search continued.  Last month, I was helping a friend clear out her attic, and ended up coming home with a boat load of random fabric.  One of which was this.

It was love at first sight.  Unfortunately there wasn't enough yardage to cover the chair.  Enter the mullet.  I could have used the fabric for the seat of the chair, but I'd rather have it be a fun surprise.  Plus I have the chair away from the wall in the middle of the room by a walkway and it's nice to see it from the other side.  I needed a complementary fabric and this heavy upholstery velvet in a business grey was perfect.  I snagged it off the red tag flat fold section at JoAnn's for less than $4.

I started to deconstruct the chair, but then thought I'd just make a slipcover instead of reupholstering.  I do have 2 boys, and being able to toss it in the wash will help it's longevity.

If this was a real professional tutorial, there'd be lots of measuring, pattern making, and muslins.  I'm more of a jump in, fly by the seat of my pants type.  I lay my fabric out on the chair, pinning directly to the chair, cut my pieces, and basted them together, before taking them to my sewing machine.

For a slipcover to fit properly on a piece of furniture with curves, it's usually necessary to create a zipper or some other type of closure.  The party girl in back let loose with a corset.  Additionally there are some ribbon ties underneath.

Here she is all dressed up mullet style.  Business up front, party in the back.  I still might paint her legs or stain them darker.  With the brass buttons, I'm toying with the idea of a shiny metallic gold paint on her legs.  What do you think?  A little too much party?

I love her new look, and for less than $25 I have a whole new chair and matching pillow.

Thanks for popping in and sewing with me.

*Edited to add* I took Cassie's suggestion to paint the bottom few inches of the legs.  You can see them here.

Spirit, Let's Hear It

Who just finished that title with, "Let's Go, Fight, Win"?  Obviously I've been to too many youth football games and listened to entirely too many cheers.  This post has nothing to do with football or cheering, but lots to do with Spirit.  Specifically Spirit Hoods.  What, you've never heard of Spirit Hoods?  Neither had I.  These are Spirit Hoods.

Ridiculous, I know.  Even more ridiculous when you realize they want $130 for one of these.  Slightly less ridiculous when you see one on Jared Leto.

So here's the deal.  My good friend, Manhattan Diva, had been visiting several months ago.  As soon as she saw me, she said, "I need you to make us some Spirit Hoods."  I had no idea what she was talking about, so she pulled up the website while explaining that everyone was wearing one.  The Kardashian sisters, Vanessa Hudgens, etc. could all be seen walking around the city in one. 

Vanessa Hudgens

Now I looked at MD, and said, "um, sweetie, I'm a middle aged suburban housewife, I don't need or have any interest in looking like a Kardashian."  So she came back with, "But just think how fun it'll be when we're sitting around the campfire, being too loud, and the park ranger's flashlight comes bobbing up the way, and he sees us wearing Spirit Hoods." (insert big toothy smile here)  I replied, "I'll see what I can do."  Not wanting to have to here MD's inevitable, "I ask one thing..." - I made the Spirit Hoods and they were kind of fun to wear while camping last week.

So here's how I got there.  I cut out my pieces.  I made these on the fly, but drew up a quick cut sheet for you in Paint.  Most fake fur comes in 60" widths.  I used 2/3 of a yard for each hood with a little left over for pillows or something.

Make sure that you cut the pieces as I've drawn them so that the nap of the fur lies in the same direction when pieced together.  Cut the lining pieces the same size as the fur pieces except the back of the hood, and the ears which I'll explain later.  Sew the top edge of the mitten to the top edge of the mitten lining front sides together.

Open it up so that the back sides are together and pin to the front(fur side) of the side pieces.  Top stitch a 1/4" in the whole way around.  With longer fur(like my rabbit,) it's advisable to stitch with the furry side down so it doesn't get caught in your sewing foot.

It'll look like a sandwich like this of fur, lining, more fur.

Here's how the lined pocket looks from above.

Pin together the 2 sides at the top, and stitch across.  This creates a hair seam at the top of your head.

Take the ear triangles,

and pinch them to form ear shapes, and place a couple of stitches to hold them in shape.

Cut the ear lining slightly thinner than the fur triangles, so that the lining is the size of the pinched ear triangle.  Stitch right sides together along the side edges, leaving the bottom open,

and turn them out.  The top edge will have the fur in the seam like a bad comb over.

Take a pin and tease out the hair.

Pin the ears in place facing forward along the top back of the sides, and pin the back hood piece on lining up the center point with the hair seam.  Stitch this together.

Stitch the hood lining like you did the hood itself with the sides coming together at the top and the back stitched on the same way, except the back should be cut in two pieces with an extra inch of overlap in the center.

Pin the lining to the hood with right sides facing together.  Stitch a generous 3/4" all the way around the hood.  This will ensure that all your previous stitched pieces will be fully encapsulated, and won't show any piecework on the finished product.

Turn the hood out from the hole formed by the overlapping lining back pieces.  When it's turned out, stitch this closed.  I don't know how many of my readers will actually want to use this tutorial, but these only cost $12 each to make using Joann's coupons on the fur.

Thanks for popping in and sewing with me.  I'm linking up to Just a Girl's Show and Share Day.