West Elm Origami Inspired Pillow (No Sew)

              

I was scanning the West Elm site last night and saw their Origami Pillow.

I thought, I can make that!  I had just purchased some felt material by the yard at JoAnn's Fabric at the sale price of 2.99 a yard and decided to try it out.


 Tutorial:

1. I used a yard of fabric (I didn't actually use the whole yard but I used a great deal of it.) 
2. A hot glue gun with glue sticks.
3. Whatever you are going to use for your pillow form. I used an ugly old pillow I had laying around.
4. Some of that heat and press no sew adhesive stuff.
5. This cost about 3 dollars and change because the only thing I had to purchase was the felt and it was on sale!
 

 

I started out measuring around my pillow form to see how big to make the cover. I left an extra 2 inches or so around each side.  Cut out the fabric. I then proceeded to figure out where to lay the no sew adhesive by using my level/laser. You can't see it (in the pic to the side) but it shoots out a nifty little laser.  For some odd reason my mother kept entering and exiting the room while snickering.

 I kept trying to figure out what the heck she was snickering about.  Finally, after being laughed at several times, she proceeds to tell me people in the sewing world use these cutting mats that have all of these little measuring things so you can decide where to cut your fabric at etc.....  It apparently makes it easier. Who knew?

Here's that cutting mat thingy!

This straight edge allowed me to measure precisely from the edge of the fabric in to where I wanted my seams and line up the heat n bond (which is the strip of white you see) so that my pillow is not wa.ber. jawled- adj. Being crooked or off center.  You probably won't find that word in a dictionary. It's apparently only published in the, " Dictionary According to My Mom."

To figure out where exactly I wanted my heat-n-bond stuff I  used this tool (pictured above, I think it's called a straight edge) and lined it up. You don't need any of the tools I used. In fact you probably already know how to do this, but I'm not a sewing person so this is all new to me.

Anyhow, line it all up and add the heat n bond to where you want your pillow seams to be at. Make sure you leave one end open to insert your pillow.  Flip your felt over and iron it all together. It doesn't matter what side it's on cause felt looks the same front and back.

The ironing  may take a little longer due to the fabric being thicker. I used the wool setting for the felt and it ironed just fine. I know i was worried some people were afraid the felt might singe.

After the adhesive is sticking adequately,  turn the pillow right side out. Flip the ends of the side you left open in on themselves, gluing them with the hot glue gun. 

Folding the open end of my pillow in on itself and gluing with hot glue gun.

Now you have your pillow and the fun part begins! Wooohooo!  So my pillow ended up being a little over 15 inches long. I cut out 3" by 3" squares and 6 of them fit across one row.  Take your square and fold it diagonally,  iron it down the middle to make a permanent crease. Open your square and fold one corner from opposite sides, meeting in the middle, and hot glue them in place. Now, starting from one corner, begin placing your origami folds. Work from one side of the pillow, in rows, til you reach the other side. Glue in place.  Here are some pics to give you an idea:

DIY faux silver leaf and/or faux mirrored dresser tutorial. AKA My 7 dollar mirrored dresser.

Pay no attention to the funky carpet! We inherited it with the house:)

Over the weekend my hubby and I put in a lot of time trying to faux silver leaf an old dresser we've had in the family for years. 

My husband put more time in than I did and basically took over the project for the most part. 

He's a pretty helpful guy and I"m really lucky to have him.  The bad part of this is that I told him we needed to sand down  the drawer fronts and sides before applying our faux finish. 

He, getting really caught up in so many other things he had going, decided against the sanding of the sides and drawer fronts and the results were less than stellar.  So, while this was a DIY flop for me, it still can be DIY success for you. 
 
All you have to do is basically make sure that whatever piece of furniture you are going to use has been thoroughly cleaned and sanded so that the surface is as smooth as a baby's bottom.  This is aluminum foil and it's not very forgiving. So prep time is crucial to your positive outcome:)

Cost for all of this was about 7 dollars!

You are going to need 2 sizes of aluminum foil, the wide kind and the normal size, wallpaper glue, and something to apply the glue with. I used a foam brush.   You can get the aluminum foil at the Dollar Tree and wallpaper glue anywhere.

I have frequented several sights where people used aluminum leafing to DIY a piece of furniture. I, not knowing anything about metal leafing thought, " Hey, that looks a lot like aluminum foil and if they can do that with aluminum leafing I'm sure I can do it with aluminum foil!" 

  I pretty much thought I had an original idea and was excited to show what I discovered to the blogging world of other DIY'ers.  I did some research however, and found a few other bloggers who have had similar ideas:  http://redhenhome.blogspot.com/2011/06/bling-for-bedroom.html http://vintagerevivals.blogspot.com/2010/09/tin-foil-nightstand.html  http://www.positivelysplendid.com/2011/06/faux-silver-leaf-tutorial-from-ivy.html  http://bluecedarlane.blogspot.com/2011/07/faux-silver-leaf-side-table-tutorial.html


My best advice to anyone wanting their results as smooth and shiny as possible, is to use it on a piece of furniture that is rectangular and no wider than the widest version of aluminum foil they sell. 

My dresser was, and I was able to get a wide roll of aluminum foil to cover the tops and sides without having to piece it. We tried piecing it at first with the smaller aluminum foil and the results weren't so hot. However if you are going for more of a shabby chic look piecing it can be beautiful! Just look at the amazing transformations that I found in the above links!

                          Here is a quick tutorial:

Prep: Clean and Sand your surface if there are surface irregularities. Make sure it's free from all dust.

1) Measure out the size of foil you want and carefully cut. Decide which side of the foil you want to use. I used the shiniest side to make it look more mirror like.

2) Take your foam brush and apply wallpaper glue to the surface you are working on.

3) Have someone to hold the aluminum foil up for you while you work the other end. Smooth the foil with your hand in a karate chop position and sweep with your hand across the foil at an angle, while your helper is holding the rest of the foil up off of the surface. You want to do this project  with a helper to avoid getting too many air bubbles in the foil, by working small sections at a time. Continue working down the surface until it's covered.

4) Repeat with all other surface areas. If  you get air bubbles keep working them over to an edge and you should be able to get most of them out. We had a lot of problems with air bubbles at first but we were able to work most of them out.

Here is a close up of the wood grain. I love it!!!

5) If you are working on a wood surface use a small soft towel to smooth over the foil so that you can work the wood grain in to the foil. This makes a more realistic finish. To me it looked like brush strokes so looked more like what I imagined silver leaf to look like.

6) If you accidentally get wallpaper glue on the surface, and you will, clean it up immediately with a little soap and water. I read where others said their glue came off easily. Mine did not.

7) This is something I did but didn't get to take pictures. If you have wood grain showing through the foil, take some black acrylic paint and rub it into the grain. Let it sit for several seconds and then wipe it off until  you have the look you want. We had a look similar to something I saw at Z Gallerie: 

8) Editors Note: My dresser is getting small tears in it or nicks from items I've placed on it with sharp edges. You may want to seal this or use it on something like a nightstand that won't get so much wear and tear.

And that is about it you guys! I haven't given up. I'll probably redo this dresser again and make sure that prep work is done first. So, what do you think? Would you use aluminum foil to redo a piece of furniture? Let me know! And if you have and want to post pictures send them in and I'll add your photos up here as well! 

 Oh, one more thing!  Speaking of this Z Gallerie coffee table, I feel inspired to try my own version in the not too distant future! So, we shall see.

My Dollar Tree Halloween Mantel

Hi everyone!  I've been working on some projects and by far the easiest one is my Dollar Tree Halloween Mantel. I basically worked with things I already had and added the rest from the store. Everything was basically under 11 bucks!  I bought some grey creepy cloth, a couple of black crows, and a few cemetery head stones to make my own tiny graveyard.  I threw in my large glass bubble from CB2 to make a Crystal Ball and.... Voile.  It's a pretty decent seasonal mantel on the super cheap. There is nothing terribly creative about this mantel. But it is quick and cheap and doesn't really require you to make much of anything. I love the idea of bringing the CB2 bubble in.

One more thing....the 3 candlestick holders were from the Dollar Tree as well and we just used some Mod Podge and Martha Stewart Onyx glitter and did a simple transformation to something a little more festive:)

Welcome

Hi everyone! Welcome to Design Fluff. This is my first Post and my absolute first blog! I haven't quite figured out everything yet, that's to say the in's and out's of running a blog, but I'm taking it bit by bit.  I must say at first everything was down right terrifying a little overwhelming, but things are running a little smoother now.  I'm  pretty sure I'll screw it all up before it gets started quite confident as the days go by here I'll grow more blog fluent:)

Well I'm going to attempt my first project over the weekend and hope to have it up on Monday.  Check back soon!