DIY Upholstery Project

         (Ethnic Dining Chairs)

With two boys around, chair and sofa cushions becomes an experimental object mainly to test the sharpness of a pencil and also a partial blackboard and not to forget the occasional milk and food spill, getting the cushions upholstered at a furnishing shop every now and then is an expensive option. Hence began my upholstery project couple of years ago which is continuing to date. In an effort to make the room look brighter initially, I had chosen a silverish white fabric with brown floral motifs on it to match my pallete which was basically brown. Of late I've been thinking about adding some color to the furnishings.

                                                                    

 

Fabrics were never of much interest to me. So with whatever little knowledge I had, a recent trip to couple of cloth stores left me in awe about the different types of fabrics available starting from various types of silks to brocades to everything under the sky, the innumerable shades of different colors so much so that I ended up buying lots of pieces of different kinds of fabrics.

                                                            

Back home initially I thought, I would sew it by hand, as I neither knew how to sew nor did I have a sewing machine. Inspite of several attempts by my Mom-in-law (who is extremely good at sewing) to teach me how to sew, I somehow felt it was simply not "My Cup of Tea". I felt it was extremely difficult for me to learn it as it confused me to the core and hence always stuck with mending small stuff by hand. And now the thought of making the chair covers made me feel drained wondering how will I ever finish this.

Recently, I came across a portable table top mini sewing machine which claimed to be helpful for beginners like me and cost wise also was very reasonable. I somehow convinced myself and went ahead and bought it.

Couldn't wait to open the pack out and try it myself. And finally all excited when I opened the pack, I find the sewing machine with the knobs and buttons labelled in a foreign language. I reach out for the Instruction Manual and to my shock I find the Instruction Manual too in the same language

Tried to recollect how amma had demonstrated on her machine and after a lot of trial and errors, finally figured as to how it works. Finally I tried sewing together the pieces of silk and brocade for my project. My stitches were not perfect at all initially but there has been an improvement from where I started. Need lots and lots of practice before I get it all perfect but am so so happy that l finally managed to understand d basics of sewing and made my long pending project so so easy.....my mini machine is one of my prized possessions now!!

                                                                    

Hope to see u all with another DIY project very soon! Until then Happy Decorating!!

Ethnic Wooden Blocks Display

 

The wooden blocks used for the block printing always caught my eye for their sheer intricately carved patterns, leaving me wondering how the artisans carved such intricate details small pcs of wood. A visit to any of the craft shops meant scanning for such beautiful pcs. My joy knew no bounds when the craft safari started including block printing kits for kids. I was using them more than my kids. 

The first Block Printing Kit that I bought from Ann @ The Craft Safari, Dubai included a tree and a parrot motif that I used to print on the motifs on the outer part of my Miniature Ganesh Mandir. Since then I have seen beautiful pieces in the TCS collection .The moment the new collection of blocks were put up on The Craft Safari page, I knew that they were the pcs that I was looking for.

On one of my shopping sprees, I had bought a wooden photo frame from a craft store. 

Getting back I knew I needed to do something colourful.  Started off painting the thick outer paper panel  with bright colours in acrylic. Initially I was trying a hand at doodling which eventually turned up being a combination of doodling, mehendi and Madhubani motifs. 

I have used permanent markers here. Once dried, I put the glass back on and put it away for later use.  That later use came up to be after 6 months now since my purchase. 

In the meantime I was on a lookout for something appropriate for my now ready frame, which reminded me of my very own India every time I looked at it 

What could be more Indianish that our very own elephant and peacock. The tree completed the look. Couldn't wait to get it home. 

Gave the carvings a fresh coat of white paint to make it stand out. I initially tried sticking them in the three slots without the glass, but then realised that since the hand painted panel was made of paper, it would get dusty in the long run. Hence to  protect it from the dust and grime, I decided to put the glass back on the panel and then stuck the wooden blocks on top of the glass to give it a 3D look.

Tadaaaaa..... My Indianised Wooden Block Wall Hanging!!!

Hope you all enjoyed it! Happy crafting!

Do drop in a line or two. Would love to hear from all of you :)!!