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When I was photographing Fifi for the chair makeover post this week, she was really not in the mood. She kept shooting me some serious side-eye! I’ll tell you what. At least she’s cute, even when she’s grumpy.
Happy Friday, all! xoxo Brett & Fifi
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Today I’m a stop on the Jimmy Beans Wool blog tour in support of their new book, Sew Red! Authored by Jimmy Beans’ founder, Laura Zander, this book features sewing projects from some truly amazing names in the sewing world. The designers include Amy Butler, Anna Maria Horner, Denyse Schmidt, Kaffe Fassett and many others, plus little old me! Honestly, a fantastic collection of projects is packed into this book with everything from clothes and gifts to home decor.
The concept behind Sew Red is that all the projects are made from red fabrics, in support of women’s heart health. I think this is such a fantastic idea for a craft book, and I really applaud Jimmy Beans for taking such a creative step in helping to educate women about the dangers of heart disease.
Little known fact: I was born with a heart condition that required me to have heart surgery when I was 20 years old! Luckily, the surgery completely fixed me up and I’m 100% healthy now, but whenever I think about it at times like this I realize how fortunate I am to have my health. So this project really hits home for me and serves as a good reminder that we should all do as much as we can to take care of our tickers. (I think I’m going to go out for a run now…)
Want to see my project in the book?
I made the wool felt Origami Pillow on page 58. This was such a fun project, and surprisingly quick and easy to make! You start with two big squares of felt which are the front and back of the pillow. Then you cut 25 smaller wool squares, and by stitching and folding them in a clever pattern, you create these wonderfully textured folded shapes.
I thought this was so fun to design, and now that the book is out I’m reminded how much I want to make myself a few of these for my sofa! I really do need some new throw pillows for the living room.
AND! Extra exciting, I have one beautiful copy of Sew Red to give away to one lucky reader! To enter, leave a comment on this post and tell me what you do to take care of your own heart health. (Me, I try to exercise, walk a lot, eat tons of veggies and whole grains… and drink plenty of red wine!)
A winner will be drawn by random on Monday, February 25.
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A while back I bought a vintage chair intending to reupholster it; I liked its curvy lines but the fabric was quite blah, so I thought it would be a perfect upholstery-learning project. Well. A year and a half went by and I had done nothing to the chair, and I knew that learning upholstery was nowhere near making it to the top of the to-do list, so I decided to try painting the chair instead–fabric and all.
This kind of painted upholstery has been all over the web lately, and I’ve always been very intrigued by it. I wasn’t sure I trusted it at all (wouldn’t the fabric be awfully stiff and crunchy?!), but I figured this was a good piece to try it out on–I was ultimately planning to reupholster it anyway, so either way it didn’t matter. Worst case scenario, I could just tear the fabric off.
This is how the chair started out–fun shape, but plain colors. When I first brought this piece home I declared it to be Fifi’s chair, because she immediately claimed it as so.
Here she is giving me the stinkeye for making plans to change her chair. Oh, Fifi. Don’t worry. Change is good!
Ok! Let’s talk paint! I’m not going to lie, I took a very lazy approach with this project. I decided to paint the trim and the fabric all the same color, partly because I thought it would be an interesting effect, but more because I realized that by painting the whole chair one color, I wouldn’t have to worry about taping anything off or being neat at all!
So, first I started by scuffing the wood slightly with some sandpaper, then wiping it down, and vacuuming the whole chair really well, including the fabric and all the crevices. (If you were painting the trim and fabric different colors (or not painting the trim at all), you’d have to take an extra step here and carefully tape off the fabric/wood.)
I started by painting the wood. If I were more serious about the longevity of this chair I would have primed the wood first with an oil-based primer, but I didn’t bother in this case, I just painted directly onto the wood, using regular old acrylic wall paint. (Priming the wood first would just help the paint to stick and discourage chipping, and is generally a good step to take when painting wood.)
As for the paint color. I had a lot of black, white and grey wall paint leftover from various projects, so I just mixed up my own shade of grey and went to work!
I applied two light coats of paint to the wood. (As you can see, I got some paint on the fabric, but it didn’t matter. Gotta love that.)
Here’s how she looked with all the trim painted. Next it was time for the fabric!
To paint fabric, you can either add a fabric medium to regular acrylic paint, or use fabric paint. Either option will give you a result that’s (somewhat) soft and flexible once dry, rather than crispy the way regular paint would be on fabric. Because I wanted to use the exact same color paint as I was using on my trim, I chose to go the fabric medium route, using a product I picked up at an art store (the Golden brand bottle up above). This type of fabric medium simply gets mixed in with your acrylic paint, and you’re good to go.
The other option is to use a special fabric paint, which you can find easily in craft stores. Tulip makes a great line and I kind of wish I’d done a test with the Tulip paints and this fabric medium/paint mixture to compare results.
It was super freaky to paint the fabric, it just felt wrong–but I persevered! The fabric medium made the paint really watery, and I just slopped it on and kept going. I needed two coats to get full coverage on the fabric.
After the paint was dry it had to be heat-set, either with an iron or a hair dryer. I used a combination of both. The paint was very crispy before being heat-set, and a bit less after the fact, but still crispy nonetheless.
After the paint was done, all that was left to do was add some color! I had been thinking about doing bright-colored buttons, but as I was staring at the chair one day it just occurred to me to try sticking some felt balls into the divots of the tufting…
And what do you know, it worked! The felt balls fit perfectly in the tufting and I thought they were a fun touch. They add lots of texture and they make this chair very playful. And, since they’re not permanent, I can easily swap them out if I get tired of them. (I think fabric-covered buttons in all one shade would look great, and definitely more sophisticated. But the balls are fun for now.)
And that’s it! This really was a quick and easy project, and I love that I was able to do the whole makeover using materials I already had around the house, except for the fabric medium.
The verdict? I like the way it looks–I wouldn’t say this chair is Miss Forever, but she’s definitely Miss Fun For Now. As for the comfort, I have to give the painted fabric a low score. It is crunchy, sort of just like you would expect it to be. It might be the fabric medium I used (again, wish I’d tried the Tulip paints, to compare). I definitely wouldn’t recommend painting a piece of fabric furniture that you want to cuddle up on, because it doesn’t have a cozy feeling. But for a piece like this that’s more decorative than functional, and especially for a piece that you don’t intend to keep forever but would like to play with for the time being, it’s a fun quick fix.
But the most important question is, what did Fifi think?
I think she likes it!
She really likes it!
And here’s the final before and after! All in all, I feel like this is a fun facelift for a quirky piece that wasn’t valuable or particularly special to me. Why not, right?
What about you, have you tried this painting fabric furniture trend? Have any tips to share about fabric paints in general? Post ‘em in the comments!
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One of my current goals is to make more things from dough. Even though I bake a ton, I actually tend to only make things from batter, not from dough, and the truth is I have a bit of dough fear. It doesn’t always turn out well for me, and I kind of hate sticky dough hands, and I really have an aversion to the whole genre. Yet, I want to be a person who makes pizzas and pies and breads and all those wonderful things.
So, I’m trying to get over my dough issues. Therefore today I am very proud and pleased to present: buttermilk biscuits! Taa-daaaa! These technically might be cheating a little bit on the dough thing because they’re a drop biscuit and really more like a batter, but they’re also like a bread in the end so what the heck.
My mom told me she has never been able to make a good biscuit, and I myself have had many flat and lackluster attempts. I finally came across this recipe and it was amazing so I thought I’d share it here, in case any of you are looking for a good biscuit, even if you don’t consider yourself a dough-maker.
If you’re trying to give up carbs or gluten or anything like that, just click away now. Nothing to see here! Noooo ma’am, you do not want to look at the buttery-biscuit goodness coming up next. Definitely not.
So! Let’s get started. First of all, this recipe is a dream because it’s super quick, it requires only one bowl, and no mixer or anything complicated like that. It starts by whisking all the dry ingredients in a bowl. (Note: I’m making a half batch in these photos, so the quantities of ingredients are going to look small.)
Then you chop up cold butter into small squares…
…and blend the butter into the flour by rubbing the butter and flour together in your hands. It’s really more of a smooshing than a rubbing, actually–just pick up clumps of butter between your fingers and sort of smear it into the flour; keep repeating till the butter is evenly distributed within the flour, which will result in a soft sandy texture.
At this point, I put the mixture into the fridge for 15 minutes or so. The recipe doesn’t specify to do this, but I think it helps the biscuits to keep their shape and not flatten if the butter is very cold, and of course it warms up a bit when you work it with your hands–so I think a little chill is a good thing to do here.
Next just add the buttermilk–both times I made this recipe, I had to add more buttermilk than was called for. I just drizzled in a little extra, enough to make the dough come together.
Once you add the liquid, just stir a few times with a spoon (no need to use your hands! No dreaded dough-sticky-hands!). This is where I had to add a little more buttermilk because the dough didn’t quite come together.
And there it is, once it did come together–a nice little wad of dough!
Next, scoop the batter out in 1/4 cup chunks and place them on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Don’t worry about forming the dough neatly–messy clumps are good here. Also, note that half recipe only yields five biscuits, which I think is fantastic. I love baking recipes that make tiny batches.
Pop ‘em in the oven, and boom! Mine had to bake for a bit longer than the recipe said, but I just let them go until they were golden and beautiful.
And this is why you want to form the raw dough in a messy clump–all those craggy bits turn into wonderful crunchy bits once baked, which is just divine.
Ooooooh. These biscuits are seriously good. They’re light, and so tender on the inside, with a gorgeous crumbly crunch on the outside. There is nothing more satisfying than breaking off a warm, craggy chunk…
…except maybe slathering said craggy chunk with butter. YES PLEASE.
These guys are really off the charts with bacon and eggs (and quick enough that you can easily whip them up on a weekend morning, without angst). I love them with soup too. I love them with everything. I’ve had a bag of them in my freezer for a while now and there is nothing better than popping one in the oven for myself whenever I need a little extra something with my meal!
{FREEZING TIP}
These biscuits freeze beautifully–drop them in a large plastic bag and just throw them in the freezer. When you’re ready to eat one or more, take the biscuit out and wrap it in foil, then pop it in a 350-degree oven for about 10 minutes, or until soft. Unwrap it from the foil and place the biscuit directly on the oven rack for another 3 minutes or so to crisp the exterior.
{SMALL-BATCH TIP}
This recipe divides in half very easily, for a tiny batch of only five biscuits!
{SPECIAL INGREDIENTS TIP}
Don’t you hate how buttermilk is one of those things that you have to buy in a big container, then you only use a little bit of it and you don’t know what to do with the rest? You can freeze it! Check out this post to read all about that. (I especially love the idea of keeping frozen buttermilk on hand so you can whip up these biscuits on spontaneous lazy weekend mornings.)
RECIPE: Buttermilk Biscuits
Originally printed in Bon Appetit, October 2000
INGREDIENTS
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If, like me, you are realizing that Valentine’s Day is here and you haven’t quite had the time you’d hoped to handcraft an amazing day of all things love and chocolate… I have a little something that I hope will help you out.
It’s my recipe for two (exactly two!) chocolate cupcakes! Ta-da!
I posted this recipe about a year ago and it has definitely stood the test of time. Originally I developed this recipe — which makes two perfect, delicious, moist dark chocolate cupcakes that take only a few minutes to whip up and require only basic ingredients that you are pretty much guaranteed to have in the house at all times — as a way to satisfy my own private late-night cupcake emergencies. Since then, it has come to my attention that many folks out there are using this recipe to make a treat for themselves and their loved one, especially a treat of the romantic dinner for two variety. If you know what I mean.
There’s one for you and one for them! It’s perfect!
So even if you’ve got no time and your cupboards are almost bare, you can still whip up a couple of cupcakes for you and your sweetie. (Or you and friend, or you and… you!)
Get the recipe here, and Happy Valentine’s Day! xoxo
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