Scrap Happy

Do you remember awhile back when I wrote something about all those projects that keep piling up that we never get to? Well once again there is nothing like a deadline to blow the cobwebs off.


Next weekend I will participate in my first antique show since closing the shop and getting ready for it has been quite the undertaking. I am having a monumental purging moment so I literally hired movers to help me get the 10 large furniture pieces out of my house as well as half a garage full and another 18 large plastic tubs full of antiques. (and I still won't get to it all!!) There is something quite frightening about thinking you have priced the last of your stash then turning around and uncovering yet another box or suitcase full of stuff you collected from a flea market past. Egads... but what a fun sale it will be for you!


For nearly a year now I have stared at a plain, beige wing chair knowing full well what I wanted to do with it. Little by little I acquired old tablecloths, scraps of lace, embroidered doilies and finally (because of the upcoming sale)... got 'er done.


I can be a puritan when it comes to handcrafting something. Give me a needle and thread over the quick and easy glue gun any day, which was my intention in this case. But once I got started I could see a glue gun was the only way to complete this project. To be honest, hot glue holds a heck of a lot better than thread! This thing is indestructible!


Little by little rows of trim and lace were added to the base; measuring just how far a particular piece would go. Some were nice and stretchy making covering the curves easier and others were not, making it a bit more difficult to cover some areas.


I found this funky corset last year and knew immediately where it would go. And I have always been a sucker for suspenders, so why not add those too.

A large tablecloth was used to cover the entire backside.

I sewed a pocket here and there to insert a photo and every once in awhile when the pieces would not come together quite right, I camouflaged with a crocheted floret.


This will be for sale at the Schlepp Sisters Antique Event so come take a look. (But don't look too closely!) I'll post a larger, overall shot of this later but my house was filled with ugly tubs in the background!

The good side...

And while I was cleaning and pricing my own ironstone collection to sell, I finally did something else I had always wanted to do: patch a giant chip on one of my favorite bowls.

The bad side.

Occasionally I have stumbled upon a humble repair someone has done on a wooden bowl; you know the kind where they may have wrapped a piece of soft metal over a large crack and tacked it down. Or my favorite is when someone actually drills through the broken parts and wires them together- which I would have loved to do on this, but as you'll see, this is SO much easier!


I always loved this giant tureen but because of the large chip, no one ever bought it in the shop so I brought it home, turned it around on my shelves and filled it with seashells. But today, I decided to soften the broken edge with a patch of linen.


I frayed the edges on all four sides and glued down the fabric with Elmer's. Now if you want, a heavy duty clear, water resistant glue would be ideal and hold this forever, maybe even through washings- but do we really ever wash our ironstone displays much?! For me, this was just fine.


Tada! Ready for you to fill with anything your heart desires!
Hope to see you Thursday!

SHOP 24/7 at curioussofa.com or ETSY
FOLLOW on Facebook and also the Schlepp Sister Event