Tiki Sofa Cushions

So what exactly to do with my recent fabulous eBay win? Barkcloth Tiki Curtains. 

I knew all along that these curtains would end up on the sofa, I just needed to make sure they were actually too small for the window or I would have put them straight up there.

I love my red leather sofa but that's quite a lot of *red* in a small room so I like to ring the changes with throws and fabric. However there is nothing worse than a sofa throw that silently works its way into a pile on the floor - a crumpled mess that needs straightening and tucking in every five minutes. Aaarrrgh.

It drives the family mad too. 

I was determined to make my Tiki dancers into cushion covers that stayed put, trouble being there wasn't much fabric in each curtain and there was quite a bit of damage to along the edges. These might not last the summer, but what the heck..

The pattern of disintegration is interesting, it appears that only the red dye is unstable and holes appear where there is red in the design - mostly along the selvedge edges, so I surmise that it's probably sun damage with the curtains open and the sun catching the edges ... or colour selective moths.

Sunshine + this red dye = rotting? 

Any chemists out there able to throw some light on this? I'd be very interested. I reckon the fabric is probably 60yrs old at the most.

For the cushions I had a couple of choices: 

a: I could take the fabric to an upholsterer and ask for it to be used on the top surface only of a piped and zipped cushion cover in a complemetary fabric. 

b: I could try to do this myself. 

c: I could make a loose cover secured with elastic - like those in catalogues that fall out of colour supplement magazines.  

I chose the easier, cheaper option and chopped the old header tape off.

Squared each curtain up by adding a 7inch strip of canvas from the stash along one edge, then clipped the corners into curves in order to make hemming a pocket for the fat elastic easier.

I threaded elastic, slipped the cover over the sofa cushion and tied it off tight. 

Just fits!

There used to be a lovely small upholsterers just up the road from where I live, the guys there have covered a few things for me in the past - but sadly the shop has closed. Another small independent craft business goes under in the face of chicken shacks and phone shops on the High Street. 

Sad, he would have done a far more professional job.

Yo! New Logo

All change - time for a new Make It Up header before I launch into posting my Autumn makes so far. I got this fantastic stamp on eBay - the detail hasn't transferred too well in my ham fisted attempts at printing, but I'm very happy with the end result as seen on the blog.

I photoshopped the *well known wallpaper manufacturer* name out of the image.

In other news ... 

I recently took a trip to Brussels to visit the Atomium - built for the World's Fair in 1958, it is an amazing structure in the shape of an iron atom. Each 'pod' houses an exhibition space and all are joined by escalators. There is a restaurant at the very top - if you have the stomach for eating at such a vertiginous location.

Although I'm not keen on heights, the view from the top was amazing.

The interior decor was atomic! (natch)

Red Deco Alcove - With Poinsettia

I finally got around to decorating the alcove in my bedroom this week. The room isn’t big and I like the airiness of neutral colours on the walls, but look what I found on eBay last year - these are the listing photos from the auction.

 the actual dresser is much darker in situ, here with mirror removed ...

... and it needs showing off. In order to do this I decided to create a little Deco nook of colour on one wall, a sort of sumptuous boudoir corner in contrast to the modernist décor in the rest of the room. Do take a look at my stained glass bedroom door which I blogged about here in an earlier post.

I am a sleeves rolled up and go for it type of dame and I love hanging wallpaper. My efforts don’t take close inspection, I’m far too eager to get the stuff on the walls to hold a plumb line or a spirit level to it - I think this comes from having done Theatre Design work where the overall ‘look’ can outweigh perfectionism (I have been known to gaffer tape curtain hems…).

This paper ‘Moulin Rouge’ from B&Q (cheap and cheerful) behaved itself and went up brilliantly - no stretching or snagging, the corner was completed in under two hours with coffee breaks.

Now my little Deco chest of drawers looks really at home and I use it to display my paper ephemera and postcards (so many vintage retailers and club nights are producing wonderful postcards these days). I had a piece of glass cut to size from a local glaziers to cover the rather scuffed drawer top then found some backing for my collage from my paper stash. I have a ‘stash’ for most things…

Very soon the collaged pictures, limed oak and bakelite handles will be obscured by hair products and various cosmeticy bits and bobs - but she looks real classy for now.

And to top if off, how about the kitschiest cheesecake chalk-ware lamp ever, which I found on eBay. 

This one arrived intact unlike the Geisha lamp I bought which arrived smashed, a restore project I will gladly blog when I work out exactly how best to mend it! Any chalk-ware restoration tips anyone?

New Year Post!

Happy New Year!

Start as you mean to go on I say, so - more knitting, sewing, sticking, baking. Actions speak louder than mumbled resolutions too so the first thing I did this morning was to bake some delicious breakfast muffins which filled the house with the aroma of cinnamon and nutmeg. 

These are Nigella’s Christmas muffins and I had wanted to bake them for Christmas morning but that never happened..

Next I headed out to my making space - the large tin box in the garden - and gave it a good sweep out to the strains of Cab Calloway. And a second breakfast muffin (they are moreish).

I’m using up some wool from the stash to make a small wrist bag from a vintage pattern. I’m a slow knitter and this will probably be ready by next Christmas, but the act of knitting I find very useful as ‘mulling time’ where ideas drift about in one part of my brain whilst another part worries over sl1 p2 k2 yadda yadda..

I’ve also been inspired by so many other people’s making blogs in the past year and I’m always desperate to try new projects. Victorian style greetings card boxes are my current obsession and I’ll blog the whole process once I’ve completed a box that ‘works’ - I’m finding it quite tricky to get the pattern shape right, it’s trial and error … and I have the patience of a gnat.

So here’s to plenty more Making It Up in 2011 and I hope to get to some more practical workshops this year. I’ll also be posting the occasional series of ‘Look What I Found On eBay / Etsy / Car Boot’, starting with…

Vintage Bakelite 3D View-master (model E)

I had one of these as a girl - a grey plastic version and only a handful of ‘picture wheels’. I can remember the day when I finally got how to view the pictures in 3D and it was amazing! Apollo rockets hung in star scattered blackness, Mickey Mouse loomed over a child in Disneyland, the Parthenon’s pillars stood out bold against an impossibly blue sky.

The best wheel I got with this vintage model is Flowers of Hawaii - I still find the spooky stillness of the images awesome. If you’ve never held a View-master, go out and try one now - beats Avatar hands down (ahem..).

Bag Tags!

I don't think I have ever forgiven my mother for not allowing me to go to dance classes as a kid like my friend Shirley. As a result I now go dancing every week - Jive and Swing/Lindy.

I decided I needed a bag for my dancing shoes (not a pink one and minus the ballerina). I found this dinky little number on Ebay a few months back.



The bag is just the right size for my shoes, a hand towel (it's sweaty work) and a bottle of water. It was a little plain though and I knew just what embellishments it needed - luggage labels!

It only took a quick search on Etsy to find these wonderfully handcrafted vintage tags from Swallow Song Designs. Just what I'd been thinking of.



Do take a look around Corinne's Etsy store, her tags are beautifully finished, reasonably priced and with the added option of customising the back - a cool touch!
This is the added info I chose...

Best Room In The House

I've been waiting and waiting for a clear day in order to decorate the toilet!
It's such a small room that it really only takes half a day to throw up some paper - all the hard work like painting the woodwork and the ceiling was done by my other half. Bless him, he's a God send. I get to the do the fun bits..

I've gone for the boudoir look with birds. I love birds and would probably have a huge shabby chic white wire aviary affair in the garden if I lived in warmer climes..

The wall paper is suitably kitsch - silver and cerise.


We still have an old chain pull cistern - it's not beautifully Victorian or anything so needs a little dressing. I got this birdtastic fabric on etsy a while ago in readiness, whipped it up into a neat little frou frou number. Goes well with the chandelier.




My sister bought me this 'keepsake picture frame' for my birthday. I think I'd have one in every room - they're so versatile. I bought the 1930's cast metal birds on eBay and decided to trap them behind the glass. They're flying over some flowers and a landscape postcard that I bought when I was a student. I was drawn to the postcard at the time as the picture was so evocative - space and freedom - what every 19 yr old yearns for. Oh and a vintage car driven by a cool dude of course..



Now I can sit on the loo looking at the bird box and daydream.

I have had creative surge recently. The contents of my knitting bag ...


... completed this week. Watch this space for piccies of my Raspberry Circular Bolero!

I Made A Corsage

I was determined to make something today.
My day job involves lots of writing / surfing / watching TV. I can feel my craftiness withering. I find it so easy to dive into Etsy or eBay or other people's blogs after a long week and simply let the beautiful things wash over me. I love looking at handmade things, vintage things, crafty things. I usually end up with a headache and a bad of ICMT (I Could Make That).
So - behold the evergreen corsage, made from stash scraps and a brooch I got in a goody bag of jewellery bits off eBay.
It took less than an hour to make. And boy I feel good again now!