Patchwork Challenge

I wanted to make a patchwork bag in which the bottom and the gusset would continue seamlessly in the body of the bag.

I hadn't used that construction before so it was a bit of a puzzle. I ironed the patches in a diagonal on interface, starting with the gusset/bottom part and filling the front and back afterwards.

It wasn't the most straightforward way possible, but I only could figure it out by doing it so.

After the bag was assembled this way I cut it open to be able to sew the patches together in a flat surface.

And then you can see how easy it really is if you know how ! Well, next time it will be easier :)

I love how slick the seamless construction looks!

The bag is available at StarBags, among other patchwork bags :)

A Glamorous Makeover

Last week we had a fun furniture makeover. It was fun as it didn't take as long as the bigger chairs with great result.

It had very ugly and sad upholstery, and ugly brown smeared paint that was also scratched and in a sad state.

After peeling the upholstery off which always take more effort than you would think and I always hurt a few fingers in the process, I sanded the feet. As we usually have less modern pieces I always have to sand by hand, so I was happy I could do this one with the machine which was done is a jiff compared to other chairs :)

Already looking better :)

Our inspiration was this amazing embroidery piece, in gorgeous colors in a bit of a art deco style.

Here is the back side so you can really appreciate the amount of work this piece was.

Mum had the idea to make a patchwork for the back. We cut dozens of solid colored upholstery fabrics in the color palette of the embroidery.

I arranged the colors on the able and sewed them row by row, mum was doing some exercise while she brought me the rows one by one, it took a while, always longer than planned. And another exercise was all the ironing in between :)

 But already looking so fun and cheerful!

And the result!
The embroidery was exactly enough, by cutting out the center and then turning the sides we did not have any left overs, it was just meant to be :)

The seat and top of the arms and back are done in black to match the black paint I did on the feet, plus to let the colors of the embroidery and patchwork pop. It had to be sewed before stapling it, and I did a top stitch for extra security and a better finishing, it all worked out nicely and we are so happy with the results!

Doesn't make these colors you smile :)?

Available at StarHomeStudio among other one of a kind furniture pieces and home decor.

Our Creative Space...

We are working on some adorable custom order bags with vintage embroidery and patchworks.

The patchworks are all made with vintage fabrics, making these bags not only pretty but eco friendly as well.

You can see our bag selection at StarBags.

Flying Carpets

We have been busy with making a whole bunch of new pretties for the shops. And the past 10 days or so a lot of them had something in common which was the use of old tapestries and Kilims. We started with this coat which we made with a tapestry which was entirely hand embroidered!

The thought of cross stitching such a large piece makes me crazy, it clearly was done before internet or tv :) Unfortunately in time some of the embroidery got damaged so by the time we scored it, it was not usable for it normal purpose.

We found the perfect pattern with not too many parts which was necessary as small pieces wouldn't have worked with the material. We cut out the entire pattern and puzzled a whole while till we got all pieces with mirrored embroidery and all damaged parts were not used. The tapestry turned out perfect for it as we were only left with the tiniest piece of it and with this gorgeous coat which is available at our clothing shop StarsWear.

Many many years ago (about 30 to be more precise) my mother bought a whole bunch of Kilims in Turkey, this was of course way before we moved here and when we were still living (or maybe not me as this might have been before I was born) in Holland.
We are now slowly having them professionally cleaned and the ones in good state are once cleaned listed in our Vintage section of the Home decor shop.

Unfortunately some of them turned out to be damaged, making them useless as floor coverage but of course not rubbish. Throwing away hand woven pieces of kilim was not an option.

Even though this one had a big fat whole right in the middle, making it impossible to get a decent sized piece out of it.

But I remembered an old pouf in the attic which I brought down.

After sanding, varnishing and painting it in a soft pink...

It got some extra foam to make it higher so that the motives of the kilim would fit perfectly.

Tadaaa  pieces of Kilim + old forgotten pouf and this came out of it, pretty cool don't you think?

The brass feet got all cleaned up and shiny and it got a pompom trim for some quirkiness. The unexpected choice of pink paint is as you can see a matching color with the pink of the kilim and a little unexpected. The newly made pouf is now available here.

We had a few little pieces left after the pouf...

Which after many hours turned in to a pretty awesome bag!

We used a doctor bag frame, upcycled leather and two pieces Kilim.

It has an old feeling but still a cool newness, I love re-using 'useless' stuff it is so satisfying! Can you believe that we still have some pieces left? Those will most likely turn in to smaller purses :)
For now this one is available in our bag shop, StarBags.

Our Creative Space...

While we're always busy creating I haven't been sharing much creative progress lately.
This pillow however took so many steps that I remembered to take some pictures.
First I made three petal patterns and drawn them on the fabric. I then folded the fabric double and added polyfil under the fabric layers and sewn those three layers together.

I then turned all the leaves inside out and the polyfil filled the petals up, I sew the petals close to that no polyfil would peek out.

I then did the same for the leaves but used a thinner polyfil, I also sewn some leaf nerves for some extra detail and sewn them on a circle in such a way that the leaves where like a bowl to hold the rose nicely together.

The rose petal were too thick to sew them together by machine so I had to sew everything together by hand, but I'm very happy with the result!

It took a ridiculous amount of hours for just a pillow but I guess it was also because it was my first.

The pretty cushion is available n our decor shop, StarHomeStudio.

Sew Cute

We had a little side project yesterday, a little self made gift for Mother's day, making our own little sewing machine. We started with using a toy sewing machine as model.

Then copying that to fabric.

After some trial and error, we finally were satisfied with the outcome.

We first thought to paint the decoration you can see above that I wrote Singer on one of them, but the paint was a bit tacky, one wrong drop and it would be ruined, besides it wouldn't look very pretty. So we went for gold lace, you know to copy the old sewing machines which were mostly black with gold details.

Tadaaaa! Our very own sewing machine, we love it!

The shape it not perfect yet, the needle is a bit too high and the body goes a bit crooked but it is very charming and this was only the first, we are already busy with a second which body turned out better.

We used a vintage brass piece for the wheel and a vintage brass button on the front for the thread tension :)

Both sides are decorated with lace. On top of the machine is a metal piece for the bobbin, which is vintage too, a very cute wooden one.

The bottom is found on the beach, just a few days ago, a lot of pieces from a lot of places, it was fun to make and the result is even more fun. We have a little collection of old little sewing machines, you can see the start of it here, there are two more now, and this little guy will be a great addition to the collection :)