December Happenings

December is flying by and I haven't had time to post anything lately.  I spent last week in my hometown with my family celebrating Christmas early.  My brother and his partner flew in from Louisiana and my sister drove over 6 hours with her sweet baby boy so that we could all be together for about 5 days.  It was fabulous!  I love my family!  

While we were there, my friend Megan who is a great photographer, snapped a few pictures of us. It was SO cold outside and baby boy wasn't feeling well so we had to make it quick.  Thankfully, we did get a least one really good shot. 

This is my brother, Adam, and his partner, Michael.  I love them both very much and wish I could see them more often.

Here's my sister (and her adorable baby bump), Raiden, and myself.  I had so much fun loving on this little guy.

 Isn't that the cutest grin you've ever seen?

After my week full of family, I got to go pick up my love from his parents' house.  He flew back from New York for two weeks to spend Christmas at home.  I love having him here but it's bittersweet because I know it's almost time for him to go back already.  So far, we've went out to dinner too many times, visited his favorite brewery, went shopping, and have generally just been lazy.  It has been great :)  We plan to go snowboarding next week so we are both looking forward to that! 

And finally, after I unwillingly pulled myself out of bed today, I saw that my zebra table been featured on another blog called Better After.  Check it out!  Lindsey scours the web for "transformations of thrift store treasures or overlooked items into beautiful and functional design and decor," and features them on her blog.  Thanks Lindsey!!

How to Sew Double Cord Welting

Hi everyone!  I hope you are having a good week.  I promised I would write out the instructions for making double cord welting when I re-upholstered my cane chair back in October.  So here you go...2 months later! 

The first step is to cut 3 inch (or so) strips of your fabric on the bias. Cutting on the diagonal helps with giving the fabric some stretch so it bends around the corners easier.  Or so I've read. 

By the way, this was my first sewing project in years.  Literally, YEARS.  I haven't really sewn anything besides fixing a seam now and then, since about freshman year of highschool.  That's been 10 years.  Wow.

In order to not waste a ton of fabric, you can sew shorter strips together to get the length that you need.  Just pin across and sew a quick seam. 

After you get all your short strips sewn together and have a long enough piece for whichever part of your chair you are doing first, put your cording inside and roll the fabric over the top and pin. I bought my cording at JoAnn's fabric for something like 30 cents per yard. 

 

 

 Next, attach your zipper foot to your sewing machine (or in my case, your friend's borrowed sewing machine) so that you can get really close to the cording with your seam.  Sew down the length of the cording.

 

The next step is to insert another length of cording next to the first seam and roll it all over to enclose it in the fabric.  I put the normal foot back on the sewing machine and sewed right down the middle of both pieces of cording. 

 

 

This step is a bit tricky because of the bulk of material.  And especially so if you haven't sewn anything in YEARS.  I broke a needle at one point, the thread kept coming out of the needle, and I kept knotting up the bobbin thread.  I had to enlist the help of my friend, Alejandra for this step because of my lack of patience.  But you can do it, I'm sure ;)  The key is to use an upholstery needle...I think.

 



So after you get all of your sewing done, its time to attach the cording to your chair.  I used a hot glue gun and glued it on a small section at a time.  I had two lengths of cording, one for along the back of the chair and one for the front along the bottom of the seat.

 

 

 

 And after all is said and done, you have covered all of your staples with welting and completed your chair!

 

I've been featured!

Ok, so I have to take a moment to brag a bit.  Remember my zebra print table that I created from a garage sale find?  I linked it up to the Thrifty Decor Chick blog about a month ago and Sarah chose my project out of over 400 to feature on her blog!  She has so many great ideas and inspiring posts so you should definitely head over there and check it out!

http://thriftydecorchick.blogspot.com/2012/12/december-before-and-after.html

On another note, I got my Christmas tree up a few days ago so I thought I'd share some photos.  I bought the tree and ornaments on clearance after Christmas last year.  It's definitely not the most beautifully decorated tree I've ever seen, but it's my tree ;)  The kitties have already climbed to the top and knocked off the angel once, and they pull off the ribbon daily.  It may be totally destroyed by the time Christmas rolls around, but oh well! 

 

See what I mean about it being destroyed by Christmas?! Stapler likes to climb it.

And hide out underneath it.

 

Merry Christmas! :)