Projects to make the bathroom pretty

Our bathroom is boring. It has white walls and white tile, as well as a white floor and cabinets. The only decoration was a vase with frogs on it and a fake bunch of shamrocks. It's not my style, to say the least. So I moved the vase to the living room, where it can blend it with the surroundings.

I found a pillowcase set and matching twin flat sheet on Target.com and immediately knew what I would do with them. I've made an exterior shower curtain out of a twin flat sheet before, for my college apartment, but that has been lost in the depths of storage.

The pillowcases had different prints on each side of the cases, so to make the window curtain all one print, I separated the two sides and then sewed up the two polka dot sides, making sure that the folded ends weren't stitched together all the way through, so that there was a nice big pocket for the tension rods. I finished all the seams, too. The window is tall, so I pulled the mini blind down a bit at the top.



For the shower curtain, I measured the width of the shower opening and then added about 5 inches (the shower opening is small, about 24 inches) to it so it wouldn't be tight. i measured the length to where I wanted it to fall, then cut it out and finished all the seams. I made buttonholes with my machine for the curtain rings to go through. And viola! My bathroom looks much nicer and more homey, too. On the counter is a reed diffuser in a nice, light, mango scent that is making it smell less like a bathroom, too. But I bought that.



I have plenty of leftover fabric from these projects, too, so I'm thinking of ways to use it. I'll keep you all posted!

New trapeze dress

I made a summery dress a week or so ago, out of an Old Navy trapeze top. I couldn't figure out what to wear with it, as it made me look like a walking rectangle with no waist or hips. But it fit well otherwise.



It was cute, so I couldn't just not wear it. It was already pretty long, so I didn't have to add much to it to make a dress. I took the bottom off a gigantic muu muu I got at the Salvation Army and sewed it to the bottom. The rest of the muu muu will be in at least one more project. Since the bottom of the muu muu was hemmed nicely, I didn't have to do any hemming. I just sewed it to the dress and up the sides of the added pieces (muu muu was wider than the trapeze dress. I kept the flared shape for the addition, too.



It's a little wrinkled here, but it's very comfortable and casual. :-)

Upholstery fabric sample rug

I made a rug for our front door (the inside). It's for wiping feet and covering the boring almond/cream-colored ceramic tile that sits all over the entry (and the hallway and the bathroom and the kitchen, too). It isn't pretty, I'll warn you. But it's easy to make and useful to have.

A few weekends ago, Kevin and I went to the Honolulu Recycling Fair. Among the many booths educating us on how to recycle lots of things was the craft section, which I gravitated to like a paperclip to a magnet. They had lots of books and upholstery samples and things that companies had donated, I assume, and visitors to the fair were to take home and use or make something out of them. I picked up a book of soft upholstery fabrics. I got about 64 large swatches.



I separated them out by color and then chose the ones I liked the least to start my first project with. These were mostly browns and grays and other gross colors that make you wonder why anyone would choose to decorate their home or office furniture with them. I set them up in a nice design, as two short ends next to one another equaled about the same measurement of a long side. I had one square-ish piece that I used in this project, too, that at least in the beginning, fit well in the puzzle-like arrangement.

Of course, once I trimmed off the glue-ish stuff that had held the fabric samples together and to the cardboard book structure, the pieces didn't fit perfectly anyone. But I sewed them together anyway, with a zigzag stitch. I didn't care what the color was, so when I ran out of bobbin thread, I just threw on whatever I could find. The result is very multicolored, but it's a rug, not a wall hanging, and it helps the drab colors that I picked for it, anyway.



I did have trouble with the fabrics unraveling too much. I had to go over several seams a few times. I just laid them next to each other, slightly overlapping, and pushed them through the machine. In retrospect, maybe sewing them together right-sides facing and then pressing it open would have been easier. Anyway, after I sewed it all together, I trimmed the outside edges so it would be an even rectangle. I considered leaving it uneven, as it gave it a nice staggered effect, but I went traditional. I zigzagged the edges to help stop unravelling, and it was done!

It does slide a lot, though, so I'm going to try to find that rubber stuff that sits underneath rugs to keep them from slipping. It's also thin, but it's easily washed and dried, too. The only thing now is that it's unattractive, so I hope that doesn't mean I'll end up throwing it out someday, in a fit of exasperated need for style in my entryway (which would defeat its purpose as a recycled item). But it's a floor mat for the front door, so of course it will get dirty and is supposed to. Only since it's brown of all shades, maybe the dirt won't really show up very much.

Boxes!

I made two boxes to hold my crafty supplies this weekend. Both of the boxes are small, so they're for small items, like needles, scissors, measuring tape, thread, etc. Basically notions and other accessories. In fact, I labeled them both. Conveniently, one already said "Accessories" on top (in several languages).

This first one came from my external hard drive box. I know some people keep boxes like this to store all the extra stuff that comes with an electronic device, but I rarely use them. Normally, they end up as packaging for a wrapped Christmas gift. But this one was perfect, as it already said Accessories on top. Also, it was a black box, so I didn't have to hide the boring brown cardboard color.



I used a lot of newspaper and magazine cutout letters, words, and pictures to cover the top. Since the background was black, I didn't cover even half of the space and left the bottom as-is. I covered the outside, the protect the newly rubber cemented-on pictures, in clear contact paper. That was a hassle, though, so I don't recommend it in one huge sheet, as I did this one. But it was a learning experience. I covered the inside in a blue flower print contact paper, and that was easier, as it was thicker and unstuck easier for repositioning. The only tricky parts were the inside corners and the tabs the tuck into the sides to close it.



And look! It's already a great box for holding my templates, such as the fish ones for the quilt I'm making. I cut those out today, from a Finding Nemo gigantic on-the-floor coloring book. They didn't have a big enough bag at Office Depot, so I had a fun time carrying it around while we were shopping in Ward Center yesterday. :-)

The other box I made Saturday morning. Since this one was regular brown cardboard, I found blocks of color in the magazines to cover it with before I put pictures on it. However, first, I altered the box. First, I taped down the bottom inside, as the flaps didn't sit flat. It was a regular little box, with four top flaps. But I cut off the two short side ones and one of the longer ones. I reattached the longer side, only this time I taped it to the still-attached long side, so the top became one big flap, instead of two opening up in the middle. Like so:



I covered the top of this one in the clear contact paper, but decided it just a.) wasn't sticky enough and b.) wasn't clear enough. I used a bunch of clear packing tape for the rest of the sides and to smooth out the raw cardboard edges. It gave a nice glossy look to it and was much easier to use. I covered the inside with the blue flowers again -- I thought it brightened it up a lot.



In the box for my external hard drive, I found two plastic supports that help to hold it in place while it's in the box. I put one inside of this box (it conveniently fit perfectly) for a caddy, like so:



I want to attached a ribbon or cord to the top of this box, so I can make a closure on it to finish it off, but I haven't gotten to it yet. But if and when I do, I'll post about it.