My Hallway Bench is Much Improved

Mind you, it's still not very cute.

But to be fair, it was never created to be cute. It was created to be somewhere to sit whilst putting on one's shoes, and to host plenty of storage for annoying cold weather accessories during the annoying cold weather.

And it works great at both those jobs!

It didn't even need a cushion added to make it comfortable, because it was fine. It was just your bog-standard bench, you know? Anyway, you only sit there for a couple of minutes at a time, and then off you go to sit somewhere more interesting.

HOWEVER, Matt made the bench seat from 2x4s, arranged as slats with just the smallest bit of spacing between them. The spacing is just wide enough for every spec of crud in the known universe to wedge itself between them, and just narrow enough that I could never for the life of me figure out how to clean it all out.

Therefore, in true Southern Gothic style, I figured that if one can't fix something, one should instead simply cover it up and just pretend like the rot doesn't exist.

Enter this equally disgusting piece of high-density foam that I have been hoarding for several years!

I don't really know why it's this gross--it's literally just a surplus piece from a giant piece of foam that I bought once upon a time to remake the cushions on our old dorm sofa. 

Okay, wait. I actually might have a bit of an idea...

Whatever. You know what I always say: just cover it up!

And now my hall bench still isn't the cutest, but it IS tidy and guests can sit on it without worrying about getting a staph infection.

Also, I have too many aloes and inch plants. Do you want some?

DIY Cushion Cover from a Blanket

I originally published this tutorial on Crafting a Green World.

My family is SO hard on our stuff. We are the illustrated definition of not deserving nice things, because at any given time we are either muddy, actively painting, hosting five foster kittens from the local animal shelter, hosting thirteen teenagers from our Girl Scout troop, or just, you know, not paying attention to what we're doing. I'm the one who put a scorch mark in our (to be fair, at least 40-year-old) carpet by... well, I carried a pot of freshly popped popcorn directly from the stovetop and put it on the floor. Apparently that's very different from carrying a pan of piping hot Pizza Rolls directly from the oven and putting it on the floor. Who knew? 

So you might notice that here on CAGW I post a lot of tutorials for washable covers for furniture. I've got couch covers, chair covers, tablecloths and cozies of all kinds to attempt to save my stuff from the negligence of me and everyone around me. 

And the latest on the list? Cushion covers for my benches! It's easy to see why the hallway bench needs a cushion cover, because that's where everybody takes off their muddy boots and clay-covered sneakers and grimy yard Crocs. 

No matter what cushion you've got that needs a washable, reusable cover, I'm not going to judge you. Instead, I'm going to show you how to make that cover from any handy blanket that you've got in your stash. 

 Here's what you'll need!

• old blanket, quilt, bedspread, or similar piece of fabric. These thicker fabrics mimic upholstery weight fabric, so do a similar job holding up under wear and keeping spills from soaking through to the cushion below. They also tend to most often mimic the look of upholstery weight fabric, although there is no shame in covering a cushion in a vintage novelty He-Man bedspread, either! I had to work hard to convince myself to use this wool blanket that I thrifted (for $2.50!!!!!!!) instead of a vintage Sesame Street bed cover, and the only reason I decided against the Sesame Street cover is that the wool blanket is sturdier.
• patternmaking and cutting and sewing supplies. You'll need large-format paper to draw the cushion cover pattern, and all the usual suspects for measuring, cutting, and sewing.
• elastic. 
• bias tape (optional). With this wool blanket, I don't need it, but fabric that's prone to raveling will require it.

Step 1: Make a cushion cover pattern and use it to cut your fabric.

To make your cushion cover pattern, measure your cushion's length, width, and height. 

 To the length and width measurement, add .5", depending on the thickness of your fabric. My wool blanket is moderately thick, but if I was using one of those vintage 1980s bedspreads with lots of batting, I'd probably add more like 1". 

 Add a flap to each side of the cover pattern. Each flap should be the height of the cushion plus .5". 

 Lay out the pattern on your fabric and cut it out.

  

Step 2: Sew the cushion cover and add elastic.

With right sides together, sew the adjacent short sides of each of the flaps to each other, using a .25" seam allowance. Finger press the seams open. 

Measure approximately 6" of elastic for each corner of the cushion cover. Mark the center of each piece of elastic, then pin the center to the corner seam. 

Set your sewing machine to its widest zigzag and longest stitch length. Stretch the elastic, then zigzag it to the raw edge of the cushion cover, keeping it centered on the corner seam. This is exactly the way that you sew a fitted sheet! 

 Repeat for each corner of the cushion cover.

  

Step 3 (optional): Add bias tape.

If the raw edges of the cushion cover will tend to fray, encase them in double-fold bias tape. 

I like to have a spare of these types of home items, and to save space and time, I like to go ahead and put the spare on, as well. So although you can't see it (mwa-ha-ha!), underneath this wool blanket cushion cover is a second cushion cover, this time sewn from an unfinished vintage quilt top. It's a lot cuter but a lot less sturdy, which is why it's only the backup cover. 

However, whenever I'm emergency cleaning the house for imminent company, that nicer cover hiding underneath the plain, serviceable cover makes it super easy to whip off the plain cover, toss it in the dirty laundry, and have a cuter cover ready for company. It gets to show off for just as long as it takes to wash my workhorse cushion cover, then that cover goes back on top. So if you ever come visit me and you find yourself sitting on top of a sweet vintage quilt-covered bench cushion while you take off your filthy barn boots, then you know that you're VERY special!

P.S. Want to know more about my adventures in life, and my looming mid-life crisis? Check out my Craft Knife Facebook page!

DIY Drapes from Upcycled Sheets and Lining Fabric

This tutorial was originally posted on Crafting a Green World.

Drapes are a surprisingly eco-friendly home furnishing! 

You might think of drapes as those heavy velvet beasts that hide the windows in your grandma's parlor, gathering dust and waiting for Scarlet O'Hara to come along and upcycle them into a dress. 

Drapes, however, do more than just look pretty (if you just want something to look pretty, you want curtains!). Drapes are lined, usually with a specifically light-blocking fabric, but any tightly-woven fabric will do in a pinch. Lined fabric keeps out the light bleed that can negatively affect your sleep, whether that's dawn's early light or your neighbor's *^&%#%&#!!#% end-of-the-driveway beacon that they have no business keeping on all freaking night and not even because it shines directly in your bedroom window. I mean, how about because of light pollution!?! Energy expenditures! Seriously, do they not care about their electric bill AT ALL?!? 

 Anyway, where was I.... oh, right! The lined fabric of drapes makes it great for light-proofing a room, and it also makes it great for insulation. No matter how eco-friendly your windows, they're still less insulated than, say, your walls. The extra layer of insulation that drapes provide is always going to keep indoor temperatures more consistent and allow your climate control to run more efficiently. 

Drapes are surprisingly easy to sew, even for a novice. All you need to know is how to sew a straight line! Here's everything that you need to make your own drapes:

Flat Sheets

There are a billion curtain width calculators online. However, they assume you're either going to buy new curtains or make your own from scratch. 

To use flat sheets for curtains, here's an easy rule of thumb: each flat sheet should be AT LEAST as wide as your window. Since you'll have two for each window, this is an easy way to make sure your curtains are at least double the width of your window. Check out my post on sheet sizes translated to fabric yardage to see the width of standard flat sheets. Remember, though, that sheets aren't always standard. If they're new, they'll probably shrink when you pre-wash them. Thrifted sheets have probably already shrunk. And if they're vintage, who knows? The only way to get an accurate measurement is to pre-wash your sheet and then physically measure it by hand. Drapes look even better when they're more than double the width of the window, so don't be afraid to go up an entire sheet size to get the look that you want. Just remember that you'll have to buy lining fabric to match. 

 Lining Fabric 

 Lining fabric is useful in several ways. It keeps a room darker when the drapes are closed, it adds another layer of insulation, and it prevents direct sunlight from fading the drapes. The bad news is that all readily-available, specifically-marketed-as-such lining or blackout material is essentially plastic. And because all fabric has some sort of weave, you're not going to get a true blackout effect with just fabric alone. 

Fortunately, if you don't need a room to be 100% dark with the curtains closed, you have a ton of out-of-the-box lining options. For instance, I really like the option of simply using another flat sheet as a curtain lining. If you buy two of the exact same flat sheets, one for the drapes and one for the lining, their sizing will match perfectly. Buy them in the same color to blend, or buy them in different colors to look cute! 

 A blanket is another lining option that gives good light blockage and good insulation. It's a little harder to make a blanket blend in and look like anything other than a blanket on your window. However, if it's hidden as the lining on the backside of an otherwise conventional-seeming curtain, it's easier to get away with. 

Curtain Rings

Clip-on rings are the solution with the least sewing required. These are also really handy if you're just evaluating potential looks, because you can clip your wannabe drapes up and then easily take them down again without much fuss. Alas, clip-on rings are super annoying when I want to wash my drapes, because I have to remeasure their placement on the drapes each time. It's only now occurring to me that what I should do is stitch a little x in matching thread where I want each clip to go! Okay, hold on... I'll be back in about an hour. 

 Yeah, that worked great. Do that. Okay, here's how to make your beautiful new drapes!

Step 1: Wash and Dry the Fabrics.

  

 Even if your fabric is new, pre-wash it using the same method you plan to use when you wash your finished drapes. Drying your fabric can be tricky, because that's when fabric gets wrinkled. For wrinkle-free fabric, find a place where you can hang it to dry. Outside on the clothesline is ideal, of course, but I'd rather hang my fabric over the shower rod for an entire day to dry it without wrinkles than throw it in the dryer for an hour then spend three hours ironing.

Step 2: Measure and Cut Any Curtain Fabric.

 If you're using only flat sheets or blankets and therefore don't have to cut anything to size, then you're all set for the next step, you Lucky Duck! 

 Although I used two king-sized sheets for the curtain fabric, I used store-bought fabric for the lining. Above, then, is a photo of my family room after I shoved all the furniture aside and vacuumed the floor. Pretend you don't see the wrinkles, because I'll go live in the chicken coop before I iron all that. Speak this mantra with me: gravity will pull the wrinkles out after the drapes are hung.

Step 3: Sew the Lining Fabric to the Curtain Fabric.

 

Don't forget: we don't see those wrinkles! If you've got enough floor space, backing any large piece of fabric is fairly straightforward. First, tape down the edges of the bottom fabric, pulling it taut as you go. Next, lay the top fabric over it, pulling it taut and lining up the edges with the bottom fabric. Trim to size, then pin together. Finally, remove the tape. 

 I don't usually pin when I'm just sewing a simple, straight seam, but it's more necessary when the two pieces I'm sewing together are so large. It's too easy to get tangled up, otherwise! Here's my secret pro tip for sewing the lining fabric to the curtain fabric: if there are no raw edges (or if the raw edges won't ravel), only sew them together at the top.

Step 4: Clip on the Curtain Rings.

 Drapes are heavy, so they need support every few inches. Clip-on curtain rings are an easy solution, quick to remove and replace and simple to adjust. Eyeball the placement until they look evenly spaced, then clip them onto the drapes and mount the drapes on their curtain rod. 

These DIY drapes are a huge improvement over the vertical blinds that used to live there. During the day, the room is much brighter with drapes that can be completely pushed aside. When I'm asleep, the drapes do a much better job blocking the neighbor's light pollution and the annoyingly early sunrises. Next up, my kid wants her bedroom curtains upgraded to these light-blocking drapes, too. Her window also faces the neighbor's house!

How to Make a Fabric Wall Hanging

 This tutorial was originally published on Crafting a Green World in 2016.

If you're a fabric hoarder collector like me, then you completely understand that fabric is art. 

 That being said, of course there are times when you want to showcase that beautiful fabric of yours not on a body, or even on a quilt, but instead displayed on the wall like the art that it is. 

 Making a fabric wall hanging is a little more complicated than just nailing a length of fabric to your wall (that wouldn't work because the fabric would pull and warp), but it's actually not much more complicated. The trick is to attach the fabric to something that you CAN nail to the wall. 

 Here's how to make that fabric wall hanging happen! 

 You will need: 

  fabric. I'm using a panel that's 20"x54". It's a print of The Hobbit's book cover that I bought from Spoonflower, and it's my current Most Favorite Thing. Ideally, your fabric panel will have a margin of at least 2" at the top and bottom that you don't love. If not, then sew a narrow strip of fabric at the top and bottom. 

  wood. You'll need two thin boards, around 1"-2" wide and each a little longer than the fabric panel. I've still got a bunch of boards in the garage from when I tore out the closet in the kids' bedroom last year, so I cut one of those up for this project. 

 glue. You can use a variety of glue for this project, but hot glue is the least fussy. 

  1. Cut your panel to size. You need an extra 1"-2" at the top and bottom of this panel where you're going to attach it to the wood, but the sides of the panel can be cut flush to your pattern or hemmed to be so. Take care to cut the top and bottom of your panel completely parallel; otherwise, your panel will hang wonky!  

You can also starch the fabric at this step--here's how to make homemade fabric starch. 

  2. Prepare the wood. Because I'm cutting down an old board for this project, I also needed to sand it and stain it. You can paint your boards in a custom color, as well, or leave them natural. 

  3. Attach a hanger. Choose the board that will be on top, then attach the hanging hardware to it. There are several ways to do this. You could nail on a picture hanger or wire, attach an old belt, or do as I've done and drill a hole at each end of the board. 

After the fabric is mounted to the board, thread a length of clothesline or paracord through each hole, back to front, and knot it in the front. 

At the back, hot glue the cord from the place where it emerges from the hole straight up to the top of the board--this will keep it from flipping the board sideways when you hang it. 

  4. Attach the fabric to the wood. This part is a little fiddly, because you want your panel to hang straight and even. Going in small sections, glue the top two inches of the top of the panel to the back of top board. Be careful not to stretch the fabric as you work, and take care to keep it level. 

 Repeat for the bottom of the fabric and the bottom board. 

 Your fabric wall hanging is going to look great wherever you put it, but when you're tired of it, just cut it away from the boards and make it into something else!

DIY Mason Jar Hanging Light Fixture

This tutorial was originally published on Crafting a Green World in 2017.

 I am a hipster cliche. Because Mason jar lights? They found me. They called to me. They spoke in my ear, and I heard, "Julie! You need some lighting to go above your new handmade headboard! You could put that light... in a Mason jar!" 

 And I said, "Why, yes. Yes, I could!" 

 To be fair, it's not like I don't already have a ton of Mason jars just lying around. I mean, we drink out of them. I do actually can things, on occasion. So actually, sticking a light bulb in a Mason jar is just about the cheapest and most efficient lighting solution. I didn't have to buy a shade or drill out a tea cup bottom or whatever else the cool people are doing (I won't even Google it, lest I then want to do it, too).

 And it looks awesome!

How to Make Hanging Mason Jar Lights

Here's what we needed to make our hanging Mason jar light: 

  hanging lamp cord kit. The kind that you need will have a lip that screws off and allows you to put a lampshade on it. Most kits that are intended to be decorative and not, like, a shop light will have this, because most people don't want to hang naked bulbs from their ceiling. 

  LED Edison bulb. I know you love the look of the Edison bulb. I do, too! But conventional Edison bulbs are huge energy hogs, even hotter and more inefficient than old conventional bulbs. They're so hot that I don't even know if it would be totally safe to put one in a Mason jar and then light it up. Use an LED Edison bulb and go frown at all of those hipster restaurants that don't--they're heating up our planet! 

  Mason jar. I used a new wide-mouthed pint-and-a-half Mason jar from my canning stash, and an old lid and ring from my non-canning stash. 

  shelf brackets. These are what you screw into your wall to hold a flat shelf from underneath. We found a couple of matching ones in our garage, but if we hadn't, I'd have checked our local ReStore or Freecycle. 

  tools. Obviously. The only weird tools that you'll need are things that can make a hole in a Mason jar lid. For that, my husband used a screwdriver, a hammer, and pliers, although I really wanted him to use my tin snips or even my Dremel. 

1. Make a hole in the Mason jar lid and insert the pendant light fitting. See, doesn't it look messy when you don't use tin snips or a Dremel? Of course, you're not going to actually be able to see any of those untidy bits when you've put the mounting lip in the hole-- 

 --but still! It would have been tidier if it had been done with tin snips or a Dremel.

  2. Screw everything together. Now you should be able to add the ring for the Mason jar, the socket for the light, and then screw the light into the socket and the Mason jar onto the ring. 

3. Mount the wall bracket. This can go wherever you want your light to hang from, mounted just the way that you would if you were actually going to put a shelf on it. 

 4. Hang the light. Our particular shelf bracket had a groove in the bottom that worked nicely to hide the cord, but really we just wrapped the cord around the end, adjusted it so that the Mason jar pendant light hung where we wanted it to, and then fastened the cord in place using the magic of zip ties. 

 It's not a super polished look, but we aren't a super polished people, and it meets my dual purposes of giving off enough light to read by and looking pretty great. 

 Oh, and it makes me happy.

Make a Pegboard Cookie Cutter Holder

 This tutorial was originally published on Crafting a Green World.

Trying to store a bunch of cookie cutters is the pits. For several years, I'd been using a drawer underneath our kitchen table to hold our cookie cutters, because that's where they all seemed to fit on the day that I first unpacked them. Of course, we've acquired more cookie cutters since then, dragons and castles and Girl Scout trefoils, and not only did they no longer really fit, but the kids were unconcernedly smashing them in their overarching goal of simply getting that drawer closed again whenever they dared to open it. 

 Also, we had to dig through the whole thing just to find, say, the big snowflake, or to see if we had a star that would make a good size for a cookie wand topper. 

 Fortunately, our kitchen also has a large, accessible, and out of the way space above the kitchen cabinets. My husband and I turned the whole area into an easy open storage system just for cookie cutters, and I couldn't be happier with it. 

 Here's what you need to make your own! 

  pegboard. Pegboard, otherwise known as perforated hardboard, is a decently eco-friendly choice of material. It's generally made of sawmill waste or other residual wood fibers, is adhered with resin, and doesn't tend to contain formaldehyde. That being said, it's a good rule of thumb to always know the provenance of your materials, so that you can double-check that you approve of the manufacturer of the specific pegboard that you're looking at. 

  pegboard pegs. You can buy all kinds of cute varieties of peg; just make sure that you're buying the correct size for your pegboard. 

  wood glue (optional). I had this at hand,  but my dowel pins fit so snugly that I didn't need them. In fact, I had to use a rubber mallet to tap the dowel pins into the pegboard, they fit so well. 

  paint. Spray paint is not great for the environment, but I'm selective in my use of non-eco-friendly materials, and painting all of those little dowel pins and all of that square footage with all of those little holes? Yeah, I used spray paint. To make the project more eco-friendly, choose a brush-on zero VOC paint, perhaps with a paint sprayer. 

  wall hanging supplies. We tapped in nails at the corners of each pegboard, but you use the method that you prefer. 

 1. Cut the pegboard to size. Adjust your sizing a little so that you cut between the rows and columns of perforations. We had to piece together three sections of pegboard to cover the entire space that I wanted, so we had the additional annoying job of trying to cut the pieces so that the holes would line up perfectly across them. If you can accurately bisect the rows and columns, it works, but ours were a little uneven, so I just hung them to be even, and I didn't care if their tops didn't perfectly line up. 

  2. Add the pegs. Take your time so that you can figure out a pattern for the pegs, then push them in so that the back of each peg is flush with the back of the pegboard. I actually brought some cookie cutters out to the driveway so that I could test how they'd look with various spacing. 

 3. Paint the pegboard. I did my painting out on the driveway while my kid was running a bake stand out by the road and the drive-in next door had just opened for the evening--it was an absolute circus. Pro tip: if you want everyone in the universe to look at you, paint something weird in your driveway and then get people to drive by. Bonus points if you're also taking pictures as you work, because that's apparently also REALLY interesting to look at. 

 4. Mount the finished cookie cutter holder. This was too high for me, so my husband did the mounting while I stood below and assured him that he was NOT lining the perforations up correctly. I'm the only person who can tell, though, so whatever. 

 I LOVE our cookie cutter holder! 

The cookie cutters would look tidier if I'd hung them all myself, but the kids actually really wanted to do it, and who am I to stand in the way of a child wanting to do a chore? It reassured me, as well, that both kids can reach even the tallest cookie cutters with our step stool, so they can still bake independently. And we're all baking more, for the time being, while the ability to see what cookie cutters we have is still a novel thing, and the kids have rediscovered cute shapes that they'd forgotten we had. 

 It may not be great for our ideally anti-consumerist stance, however, as the kids have also figured out what cookie cutters we DON'T have and apparently desperately need. We don't have a dog cookie cutter, for instance, nor a cat one. The horror! It's possibly time to try out that DIY cookie cutter tutorial that I've been eyeing for a while now...

Constellations on My Kitchen Shelves

 Remember how I tried to improve my kitchen shelves by sewing fabric baskets to hide all the crap that we shove on them, but that just made me see how ugly the shelves just... ARE?

Laboring under the delusion that paint and wallpaper are cheap ways to spruce up a space, I decided to spruce up this particular kitchen space by painting and wallpapering it. 

Like, for REAL painting and wallpapering it. As in, not using whatever paint I happened to find in the garage, but deliberately shopping for and purchasing brand-new paint. Not "wallpapering" by decoupaging my favorite comics or Harry Potter paperbacks all over the shelves, but purchasing actual, legitimate, real-live wallpaper.

Will volunteered to assist me with taping off the shelves. Thank goodness for that kid!

I painted the trim around the shelves, permitted Matt to talk me down from the wallpaper of cartoon T-rexes eating tacos, and instead bought this constellation wallpaper, on account of my mid-life crisis has turned out to consist of taking up once again my childhood love of astronomy.

In retrospect, I wouldn't pay this much for wallpaper again. I underestimated the square footage of what I needed to cover, and so instead of having a nice, big surplus of wallpaper to use on other projects, I had thankfully enough wallpaper to cover the shelves, but only enough extra to cover a couple of tin cans, so I guess look forward to my upcoming tutorial on covering tin cans with wallpaper to use as utensil holders!

Also, as I was painting the trim, I noticed that the super old paneling on the kitchen walls is peeling away, so... that's cool, I guess.

ANYWAY, here are the shelves all nicely painted and wallpapered!

Pretend like you don't see any bubbles in that wallpaper, please. It's important that you do this for me. Instead, feel free to notice the peeling paneling below the shelves. What on earth am I supposed to do about that?!?

Next up, Matt has plans to build a roll-out shelf next to the refrigerator--something like this! His hobby is mixing cocktails, so he can put all of his bulky bottles of alcohol and mixers there instead of in the kitchen nook, and wouldn't it be absolutely wonderful if he could also fit some of the crap that we now toss on top of the refrigerator so I can't reach it? Even better, perhaps he could fit some of the things that I've thrown in those fabric storage baskets, so that there would be fewer baskets in the nook and you could actually see that expensive wallpaper!

I'm also toying with the idea of thrifting some fabric and putting up a curtain to block the view of the messy hallway from the kitchen, and the view of the messy kitchen from the hallway. It would involve putting a couple of holes in the expensive wallpaper that I JUST put up, though, and I'm afraid that it would look tacky, as well. I don't always have a clear visual idea ahead of time about what's going to look tacky or not...

What do you think, guys--are you on Team Curtain or Team View into the Messy Next Room?

Fabric Baskets for the Kitchen Shelves, or, Something New Makes Everything Else Look Old

 You guys, I might have made my kitchen uglier?

You know how sometimes, when you splurge on something shiny and new, it just makes everything around it look like crap? Like you get a new coffee table (forget the fact that we found our current coffee table sitting by the side of the road a decade ago--I am making a POINT!), and suddenly you realize that your couch is crappy. Or a new headboard, and now you can't stand your comforter. 

All I wanted to do was hide the clutter of a zillion small things on each of the shelves of our open kitchen storage--Will's endless tea bags, all of Matt's cocktail-making tchotchkes, my fourteen homemade and mismatched cloth napkins, etc. So I recalled this fabric basket tutorial, gathered up all my random lengths of random interfacing that are messily stored on my messy study shelves (that at least have DOORS to hide them!), found some stash fabric that didn't NOT match, and sewed seven new fabric storage baskets for the kitchen.

And I used up all my interfacing, so yay!

Unlike in the fabric basket tutorial, I did not pin down the top points or cut off the interior folds:

The baskets are 16" squares, with 3.5" corner tucks on all four sides. The ones that I used my stiffest interfacing in fit the shelf depth of 5" perfectly, but the ones without as much structure are a bit saggy--if you make these, use the stiffest interfacing you can sew!

And now all those tiny things are tidily hidden away, so why do I still hate these shelves?

Could it be because Matt has nowhere else to store his cocktail ingredients, so it looks like the kind of bar hidden behind a false wall of shelving in a gas station? 

Could it be because it's obviously a former literal window, turned into a pass-through when the house was expanded in the mid 1980s?

Could it be because the last time it was painted was that one time in the mid 1980s, and ham-handedly, at that?

Could it be the fact that the pass-through gives an AWESOME view of our messy front hallway?

Could it be the clash between the exact same linoleum of my childhood kitchen, that yellowed 1980s white paint, and that also 1980s-era bare wood?

So, there's absolutely no way that I'm going to replace the exact same linoleum that was on trend for my grandparents, nor am I going to make any modifications to make it less window-like, because to be frank, the shady renovations on my super-old little farmhouse are half the fun for me, but I *might* now be up for repainting, and maybe, if I'm feeling extra spicy, I might even wallpaper over that bare wood.

Here are my current wallpaper contenders. I might be really into that pizza slice one, but don't let that throw you--feel free to tell me which ones YOU don't hate, because I can just about guarantee that you have better taste than I do!

How to Make an Upcycled Denim Slipcover for a Couch

I originally published this tutorial on Crafting a Green World.

Our couch is horrible.

It's got good bones, I guess. I mean, isn't that what you're supposed to say about a couch that you bought used 15 years ago and brought into a house with toddlers, knowing that before you bought it the couch lived in the lounge of a freshman dorm for who knows how long previously, and the darn thing is still standing?

It's still standing, but it looks horrible. Like, really, really horrible, in a way that even I, the queen of Lived-In Chic, am embarrassed about whenever people visit and I have to expose them to the horror of its appearance.

But here's the thing: a couch that looks horrible? That is SO fixable. Just throw a slipcover over that little monster and go on with your life! And if you don't have a slipcover? It is SO easy to sew one from scratch!

The key to this DIY slipcover project is lots and lots of upcycled denim. Fortunately, old denim is easy to come by--as soon as I announced this project, I had family and friends and people I didn't even know practically throwing their old blue jeans and denim shorts and jean skirts at my head.

I finally had to start saying a flat-out no to anyone who tried to hand me a bag of clothes (even then, sometimes I'd wake up to find a bag on my porch), and I've still got enough to slipcover all three sections of my horrible couch and probably make my entire family warm, heavy denim quilts this winter, as well--stay tuned!

Tools & Supplies

Here's what else you'll need to make this upcycled denim slipcover for your couch:

• Large-format pattern paper. Newspapers work well for this. If your paper isn't large enough, tape additional pieces to it until it is.
• Cutting and measuring tools. I work with a fabric tape measure, ruler, self-healing cutting mat, rotary cutter, and fabric scissors.
• Sewing machine with a denim needle and heavy-duty thread. For extra security, you can use the thread that's designed specifically for denim.

Directions

Grab your tools, and let's get sewing up that ugly couch!

1. Measure And Piece Together The Big Rectangle

Your couch definitely has a big rectangle. Maybe it's the back, or maybe, like mine, you'll get a whole straight section running from the bottom in front, up to the seat and across, up to the back and over, and down the back to the floor. Thanks to that big rectangle, the only slipcover pieces that I need to sew are the big rectangle and two matching side pieces.

To measure this big rectangle, here's where your fabric tape measure comes in handy. My couch is 45" across, and using my fabric tape measure I could measure everything from the bottom front to the bottom back as one continuous length of 92".

Add a couple of inches to each measurement for a seam allowance, and go piece together a GIANT denim rectangle!

To actually piece together that big rectangle, simply start squaring off pieces of denim and sewing them together. The goal is to create a piece that's larger than the required dimension so that you can square again, if necessary, and trim it down to size. Pretend that you're making a crazy quilt; the nice thing about using denim is that everything is basically the same colorway, so it'll all go reasonably well together.

And yes, feel free to include pockets and embellishments! Keep metal pieces off of this big rectangle, because you don't know yet what part will be the seat and what part the backrest, but in a minute when we do the sides of the slipcover, then even grommets and zippers are fine.

When you've got your big rectangle finished, drape it over the couch and, if necessary, trim it further.

2. Make A Pattern For The Slipcover's Side Pieces

Tape together newspaper or large-format paper until you have a piece that's larger than the side of your couch.

Line up the bottom of the paper with the floor, and hold the paper against the side of the couch.

Trace the edges of the couch onto the paper. When you've got the outline, lay it flat on the floor and use a straightedge and a french curve to help you neaten the lines. You can also add an inch of seam allowance.

Cut out the pattern piece and hold it up to the couch again to double-check it. Redraw or trim as necessary.

3. Trace And Piece Together The Slipcover's Side Pieces

Again, your goal is to piece together denim that is larger than the pattern piece, then trim it to size. I don't know who gave me their old denim skirt, but I was STOKED to see that when I cut it in half and cut out the zipper and waistband, it was still enough fabric to make one entire side panel of my slipcover! Yay!

Conversely, I did a LOT of piecing for the second side panel. Don't forget that those large pieces of denim are nice to work with, but using up small pieces and scraps is just as important when you're trying to save as much material as possible from the waste stream. In the photo below, I pieced my trimmings from the big rectangle to the panel, then traced the pattern piece directly onto it and cut away the extra. As a note, I seriously overestimated the dimensions because I was paranoid, and it's easier to trim away than to add more fabric!

I did the same trick of piecing together a section made of small scraps, sewing it to the panel, and tracing the pattern to trim the excess to make this backrest section. Since the section that I was adding was pretty small, I dove deep and used up some pretty small scraps to piece it:

4. Sew The Slipcover Panels Together

When you have the big rectangle and both side panels complete, you can sew them together. Double-check your work first by placing everything on the couch and checking its fit; when I did this, I discovered that I should cut a couple more inches off the width of my big rectangle. I don't know if I accidentally added my seam allowance twice, or was just, again, overly generous with my measuring. Regardless, the slipcover looks much nicer when it's clearly well-fitted!

I'll be frank: this is NOT the cutest thing that I've ever sewn. Patchwork denim furniture is not one of the goalposts of my interior design aesthetic. But you know what? I don't have it in my budget to buy a brand-new couch this year, nor do I have the desire to trash a perfectly decent piece of furniture that is still super comfy and only looks like garbage. This upcycled denim is just as sturdy as upholstery fabric (with NO flame retardants!), and, as I've already discovered, when a kid leaves an uncapped Sharpie lying on it, it's just as easy to patch as a pair of blue jeans.

Besides, the worn denim has made that couch even more impossibly comfortable, and the whole thing doesn't look half bad when it's covered in throw pillows and kittens and happy kids.

I Made a Jewelry Organizer from a Vintage BINGO Game

I first published this tutorial on Crafting a Green World.

I originally bought this vintage BINGO game from a thrift store when my two kiddos were a toddler and a preschooler.

Fun fact: EVERY little kid loves BINGO, and this game stayed in heavy rotation on our games shelves for a shocking number of years. Heck, we still played it even after we lost a couple of the numbers. Knowing that some numbers will literally never be called just adds to the challenge!

My little kids are teenagers now, and their plan for the ultimate game night is no longer BINGO but Cards Against Humanity (don't tell them, but I took out all the really awful cards before they saw them, mwahaha!). Normally, I'd happily donate something that we no longer use to another thrift store for someone else to discover and love for another decade, but my philosophy is that I do NOT donate something that's broken or has missing pieces.

Not only is it a waste of effort and space to put that thing on a thrift store shelf, but it's disrespectful to the person who might then buy it and be stuck with it. And what if they're frustrated and decide that it's not worth it to buy secondhand anymore? Then you've just done a disservice to the entire planet, all because of one BINGO game!

I spend a lot of time carrying around potential anxiety. It's a thing.

tl;dr: a super-old BINGO game that's missing some vital pieces is not something that you donate. It's something that you upcycle!

The first project on the list: I turned the vintage BINGO board into a jewelry organizer. It was a quick and easy project and it turned out great. Here's how I did it!

Supplies

You will need:

• Vintage game board with pegs: You'd be surprised how many board games include plastic parts that would work for this project. If you've got an old Trouble game or some Hungry Hungry Hippos, then you're all set. Want to get crazy? Throw up a dartboard with darts!
• Paint (optional): You can embellish your jewelry organizer any way you'd like.
• Sharpies: Sharpies draw on plastic like a dream, so a Sharpie is a great choice for adding enough color to allow the embossing on this BINGO board to stand out.
• Picture Hanger: Since I'm using this as a jewelry organizer, I upcycled a couple of jewelry findings for this. If you're looking for the cheapest solution possible, paper clips are totally valid picture hangers, I declare.
• Hot Glue: Hot glue also works well on plastic.

Directions

1. Scrub Your Vintage Game Board

This BINGO board was actually really gross, once I stopped playing with it and instead took a good, close look at it. Fortunately, some dish-washing soap, a scrub brush, and time to air dry put it to rights.

2. Use A Sharpie To Highlight Details

As you can tell from my photos, all that white on white is just about impossible to photograph, and it's just as impossible to see the details of. I wanted all the little numbers, especially, to stand out clearly, which means that I had to add the contrast myself. I traced over all of the embossings with a navy Sharpie.

Don't the numbers stand out so much better afterward?

3. Clean Up Any Sharpie Mistakes

If you get Sharpie somewhere you don't want it, the secret is to remember that a permanent ink still has to be soluble in something, or it wouldn't be a liquid. With Sharpies, the liquid that the ink is soluble in is plain old rubbing alcohol.

That means that if you don't want that Sharpie ink somewhere, you just have to wet a cotton swab in rubbing alcohol and gently dab the stain away.

It's magical (Psst! Don't forget to only buy biodegradable cotton swabs!)!

After the rubbing alcohol is dried, you can also seal your jewelry organizer if you really want to. I didn't seal this project because it's not going to get any hard wear, and if it randomly does, the Sharpie is easy to reapply.

4. Add Hangers To The Jewelry Organizer

Since the BINGO board is so light, this was another thing that I could play around with. I hot glued brooch clips to the top of the BINGO board, and then just clipped them onto the nails to mount my new jewelry organizer.

This DIY jewelry organizer is working really well for me, although if I'd been less selfish, I'd have put it in the kids' bathroom instead. Don't you think a game board jewelry organizer would look especially cute in a teenager's bathroom? The next time they're in a major snit about something, a little whimsy might remind them to chill out just a tad.

Or maybe that's just wishful thinking. I'll let you know if my whimsical jewelry organizer keeps ME from wallowing in my next major snit, okay?

If you've got any cool ideas for upcycling BINGO numbers or BINGO cards, please share them with me in the comments below. I mean sure, I've given a new life to one part of this old game, but there are lots more left to remake.