Cut up all the pieces yesterday and today made this cuddly lamb for the #ladyboss. It’s not perfect, not exactly aligned to the centreline at the back, not symmetrical but who is.

#toymaking #fixingshit #dressmaking #imakemyownclothes #sewing #sewcialists #customized #customizacao #DIY #homemade #vintage #sundayvibes #weekendproject

BACKPACK ORGANIZER INSERT with 15 Compartments Pockets DIY homemade project

Have you ever thought that it is so irritating when everything falls to the bottom of your backpack and it takes ages to find something because you have to rummage around due to everything being all mixed up and messed up? This organizer with 15 pockets or compartments is quite easy to make and requires no other template than the template of your backpack outline and the things you have to lug around!

This is the template, traced from the outline of the back of the backpack.

This is a sheet of buckram stiffener, to be cut a few mm smaller than the outline of the template.

View of organizer in use and in action.

I am a total backpack devotee. I am not a handbag kind of girl. It is so awkward with a heavy one-sided bag and the same thing always happens - everything inside is messed up and jumbled up. For evenings out to cinemas or restaurants, I have little crossbody bags and so I can be hands free on the tube or when travelling abroad. But for daily use, it has to be the backpack. Once you're a mum and you have to carry more than a lipstick and a mirror, you will understand what I am talking about. You may remember a previous post when I had to replace the zip on my my favourite backpack the mini Converse All Star leopard print backpack which is not even available to purchase now.

Thanks to my neighbour Krissy, I have all these scraps which are quite large and they are from curtain or upholstery offcuts so I did not want to waste them and they are a bit too rough and tough to use for dress making. The scrap I have chosen is just a simple checkered pattern canvas like cotton.

I should have made this organizer long ago, like since my student days when I first had a backpack. Why didn't I think of it then?

IKEA Hack: Painting and customizing found cabinet

I have had to complete a few #DIY tasks so I had to restrict social media access to once or twice a day. Found another piece of discarded #furniture in someone’s rubbish. It was in pieces, many parts. Took it home, woodglued it and got #ladyboss to help paint. I marbled the top. Black gloss is a pretty amazing paint imho. It really smartens the entire look (frame, legs etc).
And. Wa-lah! #1950s #Parisian #glamour#makeover for this incredible piece of #IKEA furniture. BTW it is the Hemnes bedside cabinet if you are interested to do the same.
Feeling quite proud. Total cost £2. This is for the pink paint which unbelievably I did not have since it is my favourite colour.
The other paints I already had. When I repurpose old or found furniture, I don't have a design execution plan or a sample schedule. I think it's fun to make things up as you go along, and if you stick to only three colours, you won't go wrong - as long as the three go together well. I know what colours go well together because I have a good eye and I don't plan or premeditate the task beforehand. I tend to use whatever I have, otherwise it defeats the whole purpose of repurposing and thrifting.
I tend to go for high contrast colours. I prefer strong colours to grey on grey or beige on beige. Those would be a dull choice for me. 

This is the ladyboss helping to put the jigsaw together and woodgluing the joints.

After gluing, we painted the drawer gold.

View of finished cabinet

View of marbled top

How To Fix or Replace Broken Umbrella Handle DIY

I found a posh umbrella, discarded. I know it’s posh because it says Belgravia Gate, and also know it’s been discarded because it’s got no handle. But it’s actually very good quality, fully-lined and everything. Thick black spokes and fabric. 

So I took it home and I made my own handle, from DAS modellingclay. This usually costs about £3 from The Works or any art shop but I already have a lump in my fridge for doing repairs.

Even carved my initials at the end using a butter knife. I stuck a BBQ skewer to make holes in case you want to hang up and put a string through. 

The handle even has finger moulded grip like you see on golf umbrellas. I used both left hand and right hand to form the moulding so that you can use it with either hand.

And wa-lah! After about 24 hours and it has completely air-dried, I masking taped and took it outside to be spraypainted. I used matt black as that is all I have from doing gutter repairs and other black things.

 It looks like a charred sausage. 

Apres spray: I took it back inside and I had to air dry it on the end of the Dyson vacuum cleaner which has a perfect hole because can you believe it I do not have anywhere to stand it vertically to dry for another half a day!

Very proud of fixing this perfectly top quality umbrella. But now I have finished "handling" (get it) this project, how come it won't bloody rain. It was raining all last week!

• Thanks for reading this blog post! If you like South-east Asian and vintage arts and cultures, you will love my award-winning novel Cry of the Flying Rhino set in Malaysia and Borneo in the 1990s. It is dark, macabre and thrilling, it has received a handful of five-star reviews already. And of course, it is stylish like you and I. 
• Paperback US Amazon
• Paperback UK Amazon  
• Kindle eBook  US  
• Kindle eBook 
• Amazon author’s page 
• Goodreads author’s page 

How to replace broken zip on Converse All Star backpack

 

This Converse all star leopard print backpack is a treasure. It has been to a few countries with me and it is the perfect size. I actually had to fix the zip because I cannot find another backpack which is so perfect for me. If it is too big for a daypack, things will just get lost in it. It is just nice for an umbrella, a book, a cardigan, a small makeup kit, and the usual, wallet, keys etc. It is ideal for night or day. I use it for ballet. I use it for trips with the children or to the city or to the park. Needless to say, the leopard print makes it hard to lose or to steal. You will always notice it. No stealer will want to walk around with it unless they want to look like a cartoon character saying "look at me! I stole this!". Wherever it is in the house, you will find it. Sadly, the zip went and it was through frequent use, i.e. wear and tear.

Photo of the broken original zip and me taking a seam ripper to it.

TIP#1: Never take apart something unless you have examined it closely and taken photos to show how it was put together. No one can help you put together something in reverse order, you have to know this yourself as everything could possibly be put together differently even though it is a standard item like a zip. TIP#2: So for this task I measured the original zip required BEFORE taking it apart. Do not waste time unless you are sure you can get one. I had to buy it on Ebay. It was a 22" or 55 cm zip and because the old zip is a fashion lightweight kind I was not happy that it was not longlasting. I bought an industrial heavyweight big teeth red zip this time so that it can withstand wear and tear. It was very cheap, I think only £2.15 on Ebay.

Slice away one stitch at a time without touching original fabric or bias binding.

View of the defunct zip and original zip pull. See how small the teeth are? This is a lightweight zip.

Using a seam ripper, rip out a few seams at a point near the start. Once opened up, use the razor to slice away more of the stitching as shown. This is quite an agonizing task because you will have to grip with left hand if you are right handed, and with the right hand cut away the stitching very carefully (i.e. one stitch at a time) without cutting the original fabric or anything else - just the stitching. You cannot do this quickly - believe me I tried and I am real fast at ripping. You just can't because the fabric is waterproof and tough. This stage took 45 minutes.

Once you have done one side of the zip, do the other. A zip has two sides after all! Obvs.

Now using your record photos as a guide, remember how to sandwich the zip in place within the fabric and the seam bias binding. Hand pin the entire length of the new zip followed by hand tacking it in place.

Once you have done one side, unzip the zip and do the other side.

Once tacked by hand, zip up the whole zip and shut the backpack. You can see the black hand tacking in this pic.

Check balance. Lay flat. Make sure there is no pulling, wrinkling or puckering of the fabric, it should be totally smooth and like the original!

Now use the machine to stitch over the hand tacking. Use the record photos again to check - and it so happens I have yellow ochre thread to overstitch the outer or the right side of the fabric, with the under bobbin thread in black.

On the other side of the zip, it is black on the bottom and top side of the fabric. Use the machine to stitch this.

Finished!

No original pull but I will get a small piece of red or black webbing to sew a generic pull.

Checking to ensure that is it all neat, no gaps, puckering or pinching of the fabric. Fabric against zip must be perfectly smooth as the original.

Whole job took 2 hours and 45 minutes including the seamripping and broken zip removal. So proud of the Converse leopard print backpack. Now it will and should last another ten years.

Frugality is so tedious. It takes time because all things take time which are worth the time. Why not take a look at the book I wrote? It is a literary thriller and features themes of excess in the 1980s.