Vintage Dutch Girl: Tutorial

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Thursday, August 22, 2013

Travel Trailer Makeover, Part 8: Master Bedroom and Privacy Curtains...

We have, er HAD, two ceiling to floor plain dark beige curtains instead of doors to separate and give privacy to the queen bed area from the main part of the trailer:

Just like the shower curtain project, they are attached at the top with glide tracks and glide tape sewn to the top edge of the fabric.

Glide tape is flexible plastic strips with little clips every 6 inches or so:

So, I pulled out the fabric and got to work. The curtains were simple to design, just rectangles with hemmed edges. I just copied the original beige curtain measurements. Actually, I added in more yardage width wise so it hung nicer and not so stretched flat.

For attaching the glide tape: Using a zipper foot on your sewing machine, set your (hefty upholstery size) needle to a side position:

and sew along the top and bottom of the plastic glide tape strip directly onto the top inside of your fabric:

Aaaaaaand.....Done!

I just snapped the holders into place along the glide strips. See how the extra yardage made those pretty ruffles? (Please don't tell my hubby I said "pretty" and "ruffles" to describe Lumi our trailer in any way shape or form.)

In order for the curtains to hang nicely I pulled a 'use what you have' trick and put fishing weighs in the corners of the curtains and safety pinned them into place:

The previous velcro tie backs were fixed to the wall with a special screw so I just replaced the blah fabric with chocolate brown, the same fabric that I used to recover the valances. (See valance project HERE.)

Add to that a new mattress (yeah, um, the trailer came with a 4 inch thick "mattress" to sleep on. Nope. Nada. Not happening. We spend A LOT of time camping.) and new bedding and the master bedroom area is looking very nice! Ahhh, it felt good to see nice fun colors and have the trailer looking more like us!

And if "by us" that means a wild and crazy mix that happens to blend, then YES, it looks more like us :)

Reminder of what this space looked like: Bedroom and side curtains BEFORE:

And now: Bedroom and side curtains after!

Next will be the last post in this series: the Bunk Beds! Oooh my FAVE part of this project!

Amanda - Vintage Dutch Girl

Check out all the posts from this Travel Trailer Makeover Series!

Part 1: A sassified Shower Curtain

Wednesday, June 5, 2013

Travel Trailer Makeover, Part 7: Chevron Slipcovered Couch

Hoo boy. Oh yes, that couch. This was the biggest challenge in my Travel Trailer Makeover project.

Which is why it took me, oh, about 8 months (*ahem* 11 months) to get back to my blogging series. It was THAT traumatic. (NOT because I got lazy and distracted with other things...)

Here is the reminder Before pic, complete with diamond upholstery on the couch cushion back, front kick flap, curtain cornice thingy, dinette cushions as well as the lovely wallpaper border:

And yes, ALL off that diamond pattern fabric is sayonara (Good riddance) :)

This couch project took a lot of fabric up because I needed to match up both the chevron zig zag pattern AND the color. OY. AND I miscut and had a piece upside down (the wrong color pattern). I had to change it, I knew it would bug me forEVAH.

I made the bottom kick pleat flap thingy first. It's quite simple, just serged on the top, hemmed on the bottom and screwed into place on top of the couch base board :

I had to piece two LONG fabric widths together to match up the entire zig zag and to make the kick pleat which YES I wanted to do. It just made the whole thing look way more "finished".

Held open (ignore my not quite perfect lining up on the inside):

Lying flat:

Making/designing the couch slip cover took a LOT of measuring, remeasuring and then measuring again for good measure.

I sketched out a rough pattern based on the couch fabric pieces and measured like crazy.

This is what the couch slipcover ended up looking like pre-sewing assembly:

Each piece was labeled with where on the couch is went and which was was UP. Also displayed in this pic a pile of toys. Because recovering a travel trailer couch takes time and I got super lazy with housework. Just keeping it real :)

After plotting the entire thing out, it was stitch time. I systematically pieced the entire thing together using a tight stitch on my serger. I wanted it super strong!

Next up, take the slip cover out to the trailer and fit it over the original fabric on the couch:

It was at this point that I realized you cannot staple into METAL. Yes, I though the back of the couch was wood and that I would be able to simple staple gun the fabric to the wood couch frame. Nope. Nada. It's metal.

SO. I have yet to do so, but I am planning on hand stitching/tacking the back of the couch slipcover to the original couch fabric with super strong upholstery thread. Not ideal, but better than nothing! It stays pretty well as it is a tight fitting slipcover.

So, there you go, before and after travel trailer couch makeover!

Amanda - Vintage Dutch Girl

Check out all the posts from this Travel Trailer Makeover Series!

Part 1: A sassified Shower Curtain

Monday, June 25, 2012

Travel Trailer Makeover, Part 5: Recovering Window Cornice Thingys!

For this part I will heretofore refer to the top of the window covering cornice thingymajigs as Cornici. I'm certain that it the correct pluralization of the word cornice, yes? Ok, maybe not, but I think it's fun. Cornici. Rhymes with Octopi. Sort of.

I decided to recover the curved Cornici in our new trailer (Lumi :) with Premier Prints Topeka Solid Chocolate brown fabric that I purchased from Fabric.com, my fave online fabric store. well, all the regular windows cornici. I did have one flat cornice over the kitchen window that I used the chevron print to recover.

In the interest of saving my wrists and hands from days of aches and pains after tearing out hundreds of staples I decided to leave the previous fabric and just put the new fabric right on top of it. Ah yes, much more simple. And made the project quick quick quick. Well, as quick as you can get with a three and five year old around.

Another benefit from leaving the old fabric intact? It was super handy to see where the previous Cornici coverer had cut the fabric to help it stay tight and unwrinkled on all the corners and curves:

But hey, we are getting ahead of ourselves a bit. First off, I had to remove the industrial strength velcro strips that hold the side curtains on. Then i tried to get a rough measurement of the amount of fabric I'd need per cornice:

The comes the fun.When you are recovering just about anything you first center the cornici or chair seat board or whatever on your fabric. You then wrap the fabric around from opposite sides, pull tight and staple from the centers out. Here's a wimpy diagram:

The key is to not create any lumps, bumps or folds on the visible side so keep turning your piece (or cornici) over and checking to make sure everything is smooth.

Last up, the corners. I'm not going to lie, they are not always easy. Just keep folding and pulling and stapling until they lie flat or look as good as you want them to. Once again, I was glad to have left the old fabric on so I had a folding template for the corners.

After I was all done, this is what the inside cornici looked like:

I reattached the velcro strips on the inside (for the side curtains) and then had my hubby help me hold the cornici in place to reattach to the trailer walls.

Less diamond pattern, more sassiness!

And the before n after of the kitchen cornice:

This made SUCH a huge difference in the cheerfulness of our trailer! In fact, the next week or so my Mom also decided to recover her faded cornici with some fresh newer fabric. It make such a huge difference! I dare you to try it :)

Amanda - Vintage Dutch Girl

Check out all the posts from this Travel Trailer Makeover Series!

Part 1: A sassified Shower Curtain

Monday, October 10, 2011

How To Make a Craft Booth Sign...

I am knee deep in crafting, labeling, pricing, organizing, packing and planning for the Ruffles & Rust Vintage Market show next Friday and Saturday at the Evergreen Fairgrounds in Monroe, WA. You coming? Print off the coupon on very top right sidebar for $3 off your entrance fee.

One of the hugest projects on my to-do list was to create some sort of sign for my booth. You know, let people know what booth they are shopping in. I really really REALLY didn't want to spend big $$$ on this sign. But yeah, wanted it to look amazing. Of course.

Finally figured out what would work best.

First off, you need a hugenormous frame. My Mom has this large black ornate picture frame that my sis and I have been teasingly(sorta) arguing over for the past 10 years or so. Mom keeps hiding it in new secret spots all over her house, refusing to let us touch it.

However. She let me borrow it :)

Let's make a sign, shall we?

1. Gather your supplies:
- A hugenormous frame and a backer board that fits the frame.
- Level, Measuring tape, large clamps.
- Fabric larger than backer board (I used a drop cloth).
- Archival non-smudging ink pens. Yup, plural.
- Push pins, Straight pins and tape.
- Old school overhead projector.
- Your chosen logo/saying/photo etc printed on a transparency (local print store can easily do that for ya. Mine cost 89 cents. Perfect.).
- Clear Glaze Spray (optional), Adhesive Spray.
- Kiddos entertained with DVD.
- Diet Coke. Duh.

2. Stretch fabric and tack to wall. Make sure it's level! I used a windowsill to help it stay level.

(These are the pens I used. Fine point on one end, calligraphy plume on the other.)

3. Tape the transparency to your old school projector. Make sure it's level!

4. Turn projector on, center and level the logo. Measure, remeasure and then measure again...for good measure.

(sip your diet coke. Quickly check on the kiddos)

5. Carefully CAREFULLY start outlining your logo. Go from left to right to prevent smudging.

6. Turn off projector every so often and check for missed spots and lines. (sip more diet coke, insert a new DVD for the kiddos). Carefully fill in your traced lines.

7. Ah yes, so nice! If your frame doesn't have glass (like mine) then you should think about sealing your project. I used Krylon Clear Glaze spray. Test on a written on fabric scrap first! Cover entire project, let dry.

8. Here's another step where you need to measure, remeasure and then measure some more. Center and level the logo on your backer board and firmly clamp. Work with half the project at a time. Have a helper (a handsome husband works great for this role :) hold up the bottom half of the project while you spray the adhesive on the backer board. Slowly and firmly press the sign down from the center out and make certain to eliminate air bubbles. Repeat on other side.

9. Trim excess fabric from the edge of the sign. Leave a 2 inch selvage.

10. Place your newly made, oh so cool logo in frame and use support boards to keep in place. I'm athinkin having my sign crash to the ground mid-show wouldn't make me feel too grand.

11. The best part! Hang it up!!!

Pin It

SOOOOO excited how this turned out! And yes, this picture is HORRIBLE. It doesn't do the sign any justice. Captures about 10% of the awesome factor of this handmade sign. Time for a new camera?! :)

Oh, almost forgot the last step:

12. Finish that Diet Coke!

Amanda - Vintage Dutch Girl

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Tuesday, November 9, 2010

RePurposing Bubbalu's Button-up Shirt For Lil Chick....

I LOVE little boy button-up collared shirts. I have Bubbalu in one almost every Sunday and a few days of the week too. It never fails to make me smile. They make him look like such a cute lil man!

I'm also digging the whole Women's boyfriend shirt thang:

Urban Outfitters

American Eagle

Nordy's

Being that I have a ton of these button-ups of Bubbalu's and this fun women's wear trend....you can pretty much guess what I did, right?

In order for Lil Chick to wear these hand me down shirts of her older brother, they needed some tweaking and embellishing. Some Sassifying, if you will.

First of all, I wanted them to fit her in a bit more feminine style. Most boy shirts are extremely boxy and unshapely. I could have taken in the sides but really didn't feel like measuring and all that jazz. Because I'm slightly lazy.

Enter elastic thread. LOVE THIS STUFF. Use elastic thread in replacement of your bobbin thread and you will have lovely gathered, flexible, fabric scrunching. It's delicious.

Mark off a centered rectangle section on the back of the shirt at the approximate waist area:

Replace your bobbin thread with elastic thread and start sewing.Making sure you bobbin will sew on the UNDERSIDE of the shirt, start on one corner of your marked rectangle and, backtacking first, sew a straight line the entire long side of the rectangle:

When you reach the end of your marked section you'll need to sew a hairpin turn and then sew across making a second line. CLEAR AS MUD?? OK, I'll draw you a picture to show you what I mean:

Start sewing at the red star, end at the green star. VOILA.

You'll end up with a gathered section that looks like this underneath:

That's ALL I DID. Threw it on Lil Chick and snapped some pics.

See how the gathered section adds a girly touch?

Of course I HAD to give her a flower pin:

(Yes, she DOES have two piggy tails, one is just hiding. I'm not trying a new hair fad on her)

This shirt looks great on her with jeans, or leggings and sparkly flats. Love that I can easily repurpose Bubbalu's old shirts into something fun and sassy for my little lady...without spending a cent.

I'm off to sassify some more button-down shirts...

A

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