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Orla Kiely DIY Lampshade

3/23/2015

I love Orla Kiely's work, her colour palettes, her clean simple designs, so 60's! We where in Waterstones a few weeks ago and I spotted the Orla Kiely tea towels that had, now I really don't need any more tea towels but the fabric was so lovely and such a good price I picked one up to keep on one side for a project.

Then the other day (when I really should have been doing more important things!) I remembered that I had a make your own lampshade kit I got of ebay over a year ago for cheap and had stuffed away in a cupboard! Ive wanted an Orla Keily lampshade but could never afford one so decided to have a go at a DYI version!

Its pretty simple but sooo fiddly, a fun way to waste a hour though!

It came out better than expected! Am definitely going to do this again!

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Ercol Revamp

3/13/2015

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I've been a little quite on here of late, mostly due to life getting in the way! Anyway, one little job I have been wanting to get on with all winter was recovering our Ercol three piece suite, the current fabric is very worn in places and needed a refresh (I wonder why?!).

As usually the lack of funds has held this project up as all the fabric I really liked was way out of our budget, so I started searching the charity shops for large amounts of fabric, old curtains, duvet covers or blankets. Well last month I really scored when in a charity shop in Ludlow and managed to walk away with two huge slate grey felted wool blankets for the bargain price of £6.

As I never covered a cushion this big and fitted before I make fabric templates from some old curtain lining, this was great as it helped me get the sizing right. Our house is pretty small so the only place large enough to cut big bits of fabric is our living room floor...

...which attracted some attention.

Many long evenings where then spent sewing them together on my trusty vintage Singer (I only had to unpick a few bits amazingly!).

As I only had two blankets I figured I could either do both cushions on both armchairs or I could do the seat cushions on the two armchairs and sofa. In the end we decided to just do all the seat cushions as they where so badly worn, I will eventually recover the back cushions in something contrasting but for now covered the buttons with coloured felt to give them a bit of a lift!

Over all Im really pleased with how it came out considering I've never done this before, one or two corners aren't perfect but hey that pretty much matches the rest of the house! At least its given our beloved Ercol suit a new lease of life!

These two evidently approve!

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