Patio Set & Outdoor Pillow Covers

I'm excited to tell you about this mini revamp.  I found my wrought iron patio set on the side of the road about two years ago and some change.  Aside from alot of chipped paint and some rust, the set was in great condition - nothing that a good can a spray paint couldn't fix.  I spotted it on the way home from work just a block from my house.  I raced home and told Rob what I found and told to him hurry up and follow me in his car.  We snatched it up in seconds and off we drove.  Score!!! 

I knew we'd be moving into our town house soon and that I'd want a nice patio set.  So the timing on this find was perfect!  I saved us a couple Benjamins (at a minimum) that's for sure.  Several weeks after we officially moved in to our pad, I borrowed a friend's power washer and Rob gave it a good scrubbin'.  Once the patio set was dry, I sprayed it with a fresh coat of white Rustoleum paint. 

Well that was almost two years ago I gave it a fresh coat of paint.  If you're a project junkie like me, you probably get tired of things around your home pretty quickly.  This year, I decided that the white just wasn't working for me any longer.  We got a cute black outdoor table (which is actually designed to look like wrought iron) and four black chairs as a shower gift, so I thought I'd spray paint the patio set black so that everything matched.

before.  here's our table in white.

rustoleum is the best spray paint because it prevents rust (which is important for outdoor furniture) and it's great for all sorts of surfaces such as metal, wood and plastic.

my neighbors think i'm nuts because i don't bother to lay a drop cloth outside.  why would i?  as soon as the grass is cut the paint is no longer there.  ha!

after.  here's the patio set in black.  much better - don't ya think?

Did you notice those awesome pillows?  Yup.  I made em'.  I started to tell you about this project in my New Sewing Machine post.  As I mentioned, these pillow covers were the first thing I've ever sewn.  I dunno...I think I did pretty good.  I definitely got better and better with each one.  The pillows are just the perfect touch to my newly revamped patio set.  Ahh.  These DIY moments make me so happy.



check out that super straight, straight stitch.  not shabby for a beginner right?



here, i wanted to show you another stitch angle.



yikes.



I told you that I got better with each one.  The pillow above was the first one I sewed.  I folded too much fabric for the hem which left me with a shortage of fabric coverage in the back of the pillow. 

just your basic envelope pillow case.  easy breezy beautiful cover job.

see, my pillow covers got better and better as i went.  full coverage here.

Rob teases me that Brother is only a phase, and that I'll get over the excitement soon and it'll start collecting dust.  Not happening my friend.  Right after I finished my pillow project, I started sewing curtains for our family room.  For the time being I think I'll be plenty busy with sewing projects. 

Here's sneak peak at my curtains in progress.  I'll blog about these soon, too.

New Sewing Machine

After almost a year of wanting a sewing maching, I finally bought a basic Brother model.  I did some online research and I decided on this machine because it had over 200 positive reviews, the majority were from beginners like me.  My basic Brother machine was only $94 with shipping at Walmart.com. 

I've never sewn anything in my life but I knew that I could do it and I've always wanted to sew my own curtains and pillow covers.  Here's a picture of my Brother:

The first thing I did when Brother arrived was take it and all of its parts out of the box and lay them across the table.  Then, I read the entire manual from front to back.  Again, I'm a beginner, so reading the manual was an absolutely necessary step.  After I read the manual I learned all the basics such as winding the bobbin and threading the upper and lower part of the machine.  I took about an hour to read the manual and then I thought I was ready to roll.  

Was I nuts?   

 

sorry for the crappy iPhone pictures.  my phone was all I had to work with because the camera died and the charger was left in san francisco.

Ugh. I wanted to throw Brother across the room and smash it into peices against the wall.  Just when I thought I was ready to rock out with my new sewing machine I COULD NOT figure out how to draw up the lower thread.  I was so freakin' close and it was the only step keeping me from sewing.  After an additional HOUR of reading and re-reading and re-reading the manual, a VERY STIFF vodka drink (which I promise wasn't the cause of the problem) and a half of spool of thread, I gave up for the night.  I was too tired to read the small manual print another time and it was approaching midnight. I threw in the towel.

Of course the next day at work the only thing I could think about was my failed attempt at sewing.  What the hell was I doing wrong?  I talked to a friend at work who has been sewing for years and told her how I was having a hard time drawing up the lower thread.  She drew a diagram for me explaining how I should pull the thread through the machine.  My work bud gave me hope again.  She lifted my morale up and I was feeling like I could definitely do this again.  So the second I got home from work I sat down in front of Brother with my work bud's diagram in hand, never thinking to kiss Rob or Roxy hello, and gave it another shot. 

Fast forward an HOUR.  Fu*#!!  Breath.  Sh*&.  Ugh. Really? What the hell am I doing wrong???  My frustration was taking over at this point and I was border line crying.  This is when Rob sat down next to me and asked, "Babe, do you want me to pull up YouTube videos for you?"  This was super sweet of him to ask, especially since I hadn't said hello to him yet.  But what did I do?  I freaked on him.  I didn't want help. I wanted to punch Brother. And why the hell didn't I think of YouTube???  Goodness.

Several minutes passed and I chilled out.  I watched bits and pieces of "how to draw up the lower thread on a sewing machine" videos.  I finally figured it out.  I'm so glad I watched YouTube videos because I was so off on what I was doing from what actually needed to be done that I would have never figured it out on my own. 

Now, I was ready to rock with Brother.  Crossing my fingers.  I didn't have any swatches to test stiches.   Only people who know what they're doing have swatches of fabric to test different stiches, not this chic.  So I grabbed an old rag from the kithcen and started sewing for the first time ever.  I was so excited.  I couldn't wait to pick out fabric for pillows. 

The follwing day (this is now two days after I took Brother out of the box) I went to Joann after work and found an outdoor fabric on sale for $6 a yard.  And just like that I decided to sew pillow covers for my outdoor patio set.  I still had no idea how to sew a single thing, I just knew I'd figure it out.  I snatched up four yards of the fabric for $24 and four pillow insert at $11.99 each for a grand daddy total of $72.  I was so excited to start sewing that I didn't care I was paying full price for pillow inserts.  Now that I know better I'll never buy them again unless I have a coupon or they're on sale.  I could've bought four pillows at HomeGoods, already covered, for less than $72.  I was starting to think Brother wasn't a good idea. 



i turned my back for a second and roxy sprawled across my fabric.  she always gets involved in my projects.

When I got home from Joann, I YouTube'd videos on "how to sew a pillow cover."  I found a super easy tutorial on how to sew basic envelope covers.  

here i'm folding the ends for the hem.

i stuck pins in the folds to hold the hem in place while i sewed.

i used a basic straight stitch on the pillow covers.

Two hours after I watched YouTube videos on how to sew envelope pillow covers, I had myself four outdoor pillows for our patio set.  Not sure if two hours is a long time - I'm guessing it probably is.  But for an amateur I'll take it. 

Stay tuned for the final product and pictures of how I revamped our patio set...coming soon!

Have a good night.