Fancy Nancy on a Budget

I found this tutorial online to make a tutu (no sewing involved). http://www.makeit-loveit.com/2009/01/want-to-make-your-own.htmlI bought 3 yards of tulle for $1.50/yd and used some elastic I had at home. For less than $5, I have a darling tutu!

Thought I'd pass it on, in case someone wanted to make one for a gift! I'm thinking "party favors"!

Emily T.

Craft: Love Sac

There is a company called Love Sac that makes really big bean bag chairs.  Our creation was based on their bags but we spent less then $10 on it, so we think of it more as a "Trash Bag."  How the "Trash Bag" came to be...

Our "Trash Bag"

 We had an extra couch in the house for a couple of days and I started thinking, "what could I do with this?"  Just before it was taken away by someone on craigslist an idea started forming. This brought about a hunt for couch cushions.  We found them on craigslist, as people carried them to the dumpsters (hence "Trash Bag"), and even got donations from friends that heard what we were making.  We decided that if we cut the foam cushions into 1 inch squares it would be flexible enough, but also hold a bit of it's shape. We cut, and cut, and cut.  We found faster ways to cut by using a knife and sawing large lines and then breaking the pieces off. The quality of the foam made a huge difference on how well this worked, the newer the better.  The newer foam was a little more firm, less rubbery, and usually had a lighter color to it.

1 inch foam squares

 We soon found we needed something large to fit all these foam pieces into.  The answer was a queen duvet cover.  However, it was the wrong shape, so we needed to create our own bag.

Queen Duvet

  Once that was getting pretty full we made an 'inner sac' out of old twin sheets that we got on freecycle.  We simply decided what size and shape we wanted.  After that we sewed two sheets together and made some squares on the end with a third sheet.  We also used a zipper (the only things we bought were zippers) on one of the little sides so that we could still stuff the foam pieces into the sack.

Inner Sac

The outer cover used to be a micro-suede couch cover that a friend was going to trash.  Brian unpicked it and cut it into strips.  Since it came from a couch, there were a few different widths but there were two large sections that fit the shape well.  We also added a zipper to this bag.  However, this time we did it along one of the long seams so that it would run the length of the bag and could slide over the inner bag.  Having the two bags makes it so that we can remove and wash the outer cover without having little foam pieces all over the floor.

Outer Cover with Some Monkeys

Though we did have to dump the foam squares out at least one time.  The kids still beg for us to pull the foam pieces out to play in.  

Playing in the foam

But they also have fun jumping, climbing, flipping, and rolling across our bag.

Using it as a slide

Mindy's post got me thinking and I remembered something I have made to sit on.  We would love to read your ideas too!

By Julia S.

Crafts: Re-upholstered Chairs

We got these chairs from my parents when they updated their home two years ago. They were thinking of throwing them out but I quickly interjected and made plans to re-upholster them. 

 These chairs have beautifully carved backs and legs (wish I could say the same thing for myself.) The only thing in need of a makeover was the cushions. We found this great textured fabric from The Upholstery shop (on Elden St) and began the transformation. We saved the original foam, but you can easily change it out for your own chairs. We used a staple gun to attach the fabric to the chair.  The trick is to start in the middle of one side, making sure your design is centered, then going to the opposite side and staple in the center of that side to create tension.  You will want to keep pulling each side tightly so there is no slack in the fabric.  We alternated stapling opposite sides then moved on to the other two sides continuing the same pattern until the whole piece of fabric was stapled.   After the fabric was attached, we cut the excess off and covered the trimmings with gimp.  You can find a varied selection of gimp at any Joanns Fabric store.   

I must admit Ricky did most of the work, and I'm sure he did much better than I would have being the perfectionist that he is. I think they turned out well and look much better in our living room than they would have in a dumpster! 

We did another chair make-over with a chair that sister Laurie T. gave us.  The chair was in really good condition so there was no maintenance necessary.  We wanted to experiment a little bit more with this chair so we decided to paint the wood then get a fabric that matched to cover the padding with.  First, we took off all of the old padding and fabric.  Next we sanded all of the wood then painted it with a white primer.  After several coats of paint we got out our staple gun and added the padding and fabric.  We used a sealer for the wood and finished the fabric edges with more gimp.  

We really enjoy "up-cycling" furniture and figure it is a good way to beautify our home and be green while saving some green as well.  I know we have many creative individuals in our ward who have more great ideas.  Have you ever up-cycled furniture?  Completed a craft on a budget?  Feel free to provide your ideas and share the creative wealth!  

By Mindy G.