What is Melissa Doing in her Spare (haha) Time?

Technorati Tags: upholstery,upholstery repair,do-it-yourself upholstery,needlework repair,needlework restoration,needlework cleaning,needlework doctor,needlework finishing

Why, taking her first ever (and maybe last ever!) upholstery class, of course! Yep, that’s what I do for fun and to save money (but lose blood) on my own furniture. In typical fashion, I began my upholstering odyssey with THE hardest thing for even seasoned craftsmen to do: tufting.  And not just any tufting, but a tufted double ottoman with 18 buttons. sigh

Before I even show you the piece, let me tell you, this is one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. I have some arthritis setting in that I refuse to acknowledge, and removing hundreds of staples from this very well-made piece in order to “break it down” was killer on my hands. I also, at one point, sported 4 Band-Aids. Yes, there IS a reason why you usually see male upholsterers. And how much did my husband help? Well…he puts the ottoman in the car for me, if he’s home. He never took out one staple. He never even offered. Not that I blame him, but there *is* a husband in our class, helping his wife every single week.

Anyway, here is the ottoman “before,” while it has doggie hair and dirt on it and where you can see my Australian cattle dog bit some buttons off, back when he was a pup. What you can’t see from my photo is that this is forest green, burgundy and cream. I’m trying to do a more updated color. As the story continues, just about everything went wrong with finding my fabric!

So, the fabric I chose was this (below) but you can’t tell it’s more of a light gold with, again, the green and burgundy:

I LOVED this fabric and it was $15/yd from the discount place. Got 5 yards. Began breaking down my ottoman:

		Upholstery VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

I don’t have photos of the stripped-down piece, but to continue with my sad fabric saga, once I took it to class, we figured out it wasn’t wide enough (ottoman is longer than 54” fabric) AND the pattern ran in one direction, like wallpaper. That meant that if I “railroad” the pattern top to bottom all around like I’m supposed to, the pattern would be upside-down in the back. Now, for some people, that might work, if the piece goes up against a bed’s footboard or something. However, this is extra seating for my den, so it sorta needed to be correct.

Solution: use that fabric on my 2nd upholstery project, which is another really difficult piece, a chair with channeled back and piping!

I’ll post more photos later of my ottoman. Each class is 3 hours, takes 4 classes and costs $195 total. Fabric was sorta purchased twice. I don’t think I’m saving much money, do you? LOL

Oops! Bedspread Returns for More Repairs

Well, I’m dreadfully embarrassed to say that one of my repair projects came back to me. My customer, Kay, was very understanding, though, and I do appreciate it. Kay’s crocheted bedspread had so much handwork in it that it is easy to see why areas would come loose and need work. After six or seven hours’ worth of putting things back together, however, I do believe that several other areas literally “came out in the wash.” My textile cleaner June does a great job, but though the spread was nice and white and looked great after its bath, it sure had many places that needed to be re-stitched. The spread is, however, so beautiful, and Kay says that her mother worked on it while pregnant with her. What a great piece to own! I know she sure is glad to have it all nice now. Here are more areas I worked on lately. The rest of this story is in an earlier post:

Kay's Bedspread Repairs VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

And here are a few more action shots of the bedspread repair. Kay marked spots with her safety pins, but I found a bunch more and marked them for her with orange thread that she can snip off once she receives the bedspread. Thanks for your patience and understanding, Kay!

		More Bedspread Repair VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Pineapple Crochet Project: a Tablecloth

Gayle K, a repeat customer, had a beautifully-worked round tablecloth in the familiar pineapple pattern. This pattern is really a lot of crochet chain, single, double and treble stitching. It’s just the sheer volume of work that makes it a long project. The pattern booklet Gayle sent with the project looked as if it came from the 1940’s. This is it in the photo to the left, I believe. I’ve already sent it back to Gayle. She also sent plenty of thread, and I used the ball that was attached:

               

The pattern was pretty easy to follow. Took me a while to see where the original needle-worker had left off, and I definitely had to get to working on it before I realized how much time was involved in covering one round! The piece was probably about 70 inches already, but it wasn’t blocked. So just going the rounds I did on it pulled it out and then I did a lace finish on it. Here is how the tablecloth looked as received:

		New Project (to complete for client) VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Very nice! And then the work began, and here are the first 2 (believe it or not) trips around:

They don’t look like much but due to the pattern and large circumference took hours and hours! Each little circling of that hole you see at the hem is 24 double treble crochets all the way around (I think 22 of them) + the pineapple chains in between, x 2 rows!

So, for each double treble stitch (one row= 24x22 double trebles) here are the instructions:

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1. Yarn over hook three times, then insert hook into next stitch.
2. Yarn over hook and draw yarn through stitch (there are five loops on the hook).
3. Loop yarn over hook and draw through two loops (there are now four loops remaining on the hook).
4. Yarn over hook and draw through two loops (there are now three loops remaining on the hook).
5. Yarn over hook and draw through two loops (there are now two loops remaining on the hook).
6. Again, loop yarn over hook and draw through the last two loops on the hook (there is now one loop remaining.)
7. This completes one double treble crochet.

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Double treble is a fun stitch that adds the needed fan appearance on top of each pineapple. But since adding whole pineapples at that point would’ve involved *far* too much time/hourly expense, Gayle and I opted for a nice finish that was a little lace border. Here is more of it, but then a final finishing row pulled the pineapple tips down a little more, which you see below in the last photos:

		More of the Lace Edging VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Once the hand work is done, it’s time to clean the piece. I enzyme-washed the cloth and then block stretched it to shape it. It dried overnight. I actually blocked it twice because after the first time, I was not happy with the level of lightening on some of the dark brown “rust” stains so I spot-treated them to get them lighter and lighter, carefully using various stain removing agents. If you attempt this at home, I would suggest you do your research first, as there are plenty of times I won’t clean an item and instead will refer people to a textile cleaner I know. Too much room for error, in my opinion.Below are the dark spotted areas. Overall, because the cloth was stored in plastic, there was a lot of yellowing that would come out in the wash:

		Stained Areas VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

And now for the finish! Here are the results! Nice and white-clean, and with a little border that looks feminine. It fits on a round 4-seater table or I’ve shown it on a little parlor table.

Pineapple Tablecloth Completed and Cleaned VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Bathing Dolls for a New Granddaughter

Marsha Y emailed asking if I could clean two of her dolls from the late 1950’s-early-1960’s. She wanted to could give them to her new granddaughter.   Yes, I said, and met her to do the “pass-off” in a Walgreen’s parking lot.

Marsha’s dolls had their original clothing on. One she said was called “Marge the Teenage Doll,” and the other was a ballerina. Both dolls’ outfits were in good condition, though one dress was badly yellowed. I suggested that Marsha take the clothing to my textile cleaner downtown. She did, but the cleaner didn’t get the yellow out of the dress. So my client decided to use Oxyclean and she was happier with those results. It all depends on what you would like to accomplish with the clothing. The textile cleaner errs on the side of caution, knowing the chemicals and the fibers’ reaction to them. But for general bleaching, yes, Oxyclean and other agents (like Borax) will also lift stains. I leave that part to either the pro cleaner or to my customers.

I also asked that Marsha keep all the dolls’ accessories (shoes, hair ribbons, flocked hair flowers, nylon hose, plastic shoes, undies.) This is so nothing gets lost in the exchange, and she can keep them with the doll’s box or label them for the appropriate doll.

With the now nude dolls in hand, I set out to clean them. Here are the two of them, prior to cleaning:

Here are some areas that were cleaned:

Doll Cleaning VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

There were mildew spots and some discoloration from dirt on the face, eyes, torsos and limbs. Both dolls’ wigs retained a good level of shininess, but after bathing the dolls, I carefully (so as not to get water inside the head) shampooed each head of hair. Once that’s completed, the wigs are brushed out with a detangling agent and then set with curlers (for Marge doll) or styled in a bun (for the ballerina.) The ballerina’s wig was totally made for a bun, as only the outer hair was long. The inner hair near the scalp was only made to have the outer hair pulled over it. So back it went into that style. 

The Marge doll had a split in her rubber face at the chin, and I tried to glue it with special cement for gluing rubber, but it did not work. I ended up getting it together with a simple stitch (beige thread) knotted on both sides. This will work well for a “shelf sitter” type pretty doll, but not for one that will be played with.

Both dolls looked great once I was finished. I’ve just been too busy to get photos from Marsha (and forgot to take them like I always do) but will post soon with “After” shots. Until then, here “Before” photos of their wigs. As stated, the ballerina’s (Left) went up into a high bun and the Marge doll’s went back the same way, but with more curl, and with her bangs smoothed down and more evened out:

      

Okay, Marshas sent these “After” photos! Don’t the dolls look great?! I just love how she had all their accessories. And the ballerina’s dress did wash up nicely.

Pretty! VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Irish Lace Pincushion

This is a pincushion that I saw online, a free pattern, and really wanted to make for myself. I’ve been doing it in my (lack of) spare time. I like to do small projects in between client ones and/or my long, involved personal projects. This one was a *bear* to do! It is made with a tiny steel crochet hook (size 10) and thread that is more like string. I think the thread was size 30, which makes for very delicate lace.

Here is the finished project:

It’s only 4”x4” but so involved!

And here are some of the parts of it, close-up so you can see the stitches:

		Leaf, FLower, Picot Stitching VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Whew! Glad I did it, but what was I thinking?! Definitely not for beginners, but I’ve been left-handedly crocheting since I was 10 years old, so I guess I’m experienced enough. Still, I re-did those leaves about 5 times, and on the fifth attempt I had to sketch out the rows before I understood what she meant in her directions. Sometimes you have to see it, apart from the “whole” in the photo, in order to understand the pattern writer’s method.

One Mother, Two Beautiful Bedspreads

Technorati Tags: crochet bedspread,handmade bedspread,bedspread repair,crochet repair,crocheted repair,needlework repair,needlework doctor

After I had repaired Bob of CO’s crocheted spread (see previous post) I was very happy when his sister Kay from CA contacted me. She, too, had a beautiful bedspread their mom had made for her about 75 years ago. Hers was in need of repairs as well.

With Kay’s spread, there were quite a few split threads in the cotton, simply from age and use. That doesn’t bother me a bit, since why *have* a bedspread if you don’t use it? There is SO much work involved in crocheting or knitting a bedspread/counterpane. So many hours. When people go to the trouble to make them, they imagine many, many years of gracing someone’s bed. Which reminds me, I once made some felted slippers for a dear friend, and when she opened the package, she said, “You *made* these for me? I’m putting them right up in my closet.” I said, “Um. You’re supposed to wear them.” And she said, “Oh, no way. You made them for me!” I appreciated the thought, but really, when people make you functional items, they intend for them to be used. 

And so the repairs began, on various double crochets, single crochets and chain stitches. (the popcorn stitch (baubles) was all intact):

 

 

Some are re-weaves and some are crocheted chains where a chain link is missing.

There were many hours involved in this project, as I had to very carefully check each motif area and see if there were any loose threads at all. And there were many. If I had to estimate, I would say there were at least fifty tiny spots that needed some sort of repair. Some of the splits were more evident than others that just needed to be tacked or reinforced. All of the fringe was in good shape, and there were only a few areas at the border that needed to be whip-stitched back in place.

Once my repairs were completed, I put the spread on one of my beds so that Kay could see how it looks now! It’s a really lovely spread. There are small “rust” spots in several places that my textile cleaner partner, June, will remove for my customer. June is a very talented woman who has been cleaning every type of textile imaginable for over thirty years, and she did Bob’s bedspread and he was amazed at how well it came out!

Here’s the spread, repairs completed and before going to June, as displayed on one of my beds:

Completed Bedspread Repairs VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Christmas Ornament Finished

Technorati Tags: Christmas-ornament,ornament,embroidery,embroidered-ornament,needlework-repair,needlework,Christmas,sewing-finishing

Gayle K had an angel ornament that needed a few areas completed. The areas remaining were the face, hair, halo, and certain rows on the angel’s wings. I didn’t take a “before” photo, but here are some photos showing where I began work on the face and hair, and then wings:

		Angel Ornament VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

There weren’t instructions, but there were outlined areas. I put the face on just to hold the spaces while I did the rest of the angel. Then I did more detailed eyes and outlined the mouth after everything else was done. These photos are off my iPhone, so they’re a little dark. The one below is taken with the camera:

Here is the finished ornament: