Plumbing Problems

We all get funny stuff emailed to us by our friends and family.

This I just had to share!!!!!!

These are the plumber of the year awards!!!!!

First up...

How does this even get by the planning phase?????

Next.....

Every man's dream!!!!

Next.....

Ummmmm.....Ooopsss...

Next.....

Another oooppppsss.....

And they keep on coming....

Not much privacy....

(I think these doors were installed upside down)

They keep  coming up with great ideas.....

The purpose for this door?????....not privacy.....

I love this barrier free design...

I guess if you use a wheel chair they figure you can get back on it and wheel to the toilet paper.....

What the #$%???

Side saddle?????

Next up....

OY VEY!!!!!!!

And finally, my brother Peter's favorite.....

Which are your favorites?????

As someone who designs bathrooms, these made me really laugh.

It just shows, it's good to know plumbing building codes.....

This was just a fun little post 

I do my real one tomorrow....

Later, Gator

How to Make a Simple Bench Slipcover

For those of you who leave comments......

i'm sorry!!!!!

BUT

I had to install the word verification to the comment section due to the 

unholy

amount of robot spammers I was getting.

I started receiving around 30 a day.....

First I felt 

REALLY POPULAR!!!!!

and then I realized I was just becoming a victim to the weirdos on the internet.

Some of these spammers were promoting stuff related to my blog:

like windows and shutters and plumbing and on and on.....

BUT

I didn't think you guys would be interested in erectile dysfunction 

or

having a larger penis.

After all.....

most of you don't even have penises!!!!!!

So I have now installed the word verification, so you have to prove that you're not a robot.

BUT

if you are a robot.....

and like my decorating.....

I don't mean to discriminate...........

BUT NOW!!!!!

BACK TO THE DECORATING!!!!!

We last left off showing how I upholstered my niece Miriam's bench top...

This followed how I painted this bench.

SOOOOOO.......

Today I am going to show how I made the slipcover.

Now.....

you may wonder why I slipcovered it, since I had just reupholstered it, and I could have made it like this in the reuholstery job......

The slipcover is a slightly more casual look.

It created more work for me,

but then 

I am retired!!!!!!

 Below is my inspiration picture from Kim's Kottage

 Sooooooo.....

This is how I done doed it.....

First I cut a piece of fabric that was 1" longer and wider than I wanted the body of the slipcover to be, centering the design in the piece I cut.

This supplies an allowance for a 1/2" seam when I attached the skirt.

Then I turned the fabric over (to the wrong side)

and I 

 pleated the corners and pinned them in place.

Then I carefully removed the fabric with the pins in place, and sewed the short seams for each corner. 

 Then I..... 

turned it back to the right side....

put it on the bench....

took a picture to send to Miriam....

so she would know....

just what a bangin' aunt she had!!!!!

Then I tackled the skirt.

I am all about the skirt.

I love me a pleated or gathered skirt.

Now.....

Not a tight gather.....

I don't like a full skirt with lots of fabric.....

Just a nice loose gather......

Since the fabric was somewhat thick,

 I decided that I didn't want to self line it.

Self lining is easier, because you can just fold the fabric in half and stitch it to the body, 

and voila..... you have a lined skirt!!!!!

But if the fabric is thick, and you want to pleat or gather it, 

and you have a sewing machine that isn't for the big girl commercial situation.....

It's not that easy to sew through tons of thickness.

Just sayin'......

 So, I made a lining out of ..........

lining fabric!!!!!!!

That I keep in my closet with all my other goodies!!!!!

Soooooooo.......

I wanted a 3" skirt on the bench.

I wanted a 1" cuff on the inside edge (lining side) of the blue fabric.

so I cut the lining fabric 3" wide,

and I cut the finish fabric 5" wide.

This way, I was able to fold the finish fabric over to show one inch on the back of the skirt.

Sooooo.....

The first thing to do is figure out how long a skirt piece you need to make if it's going to be gathered.

Because I always do different fullnesses, I can never know how long I should make it, so I always err on the side of caution.

I cut four pieces of the blue fabric and four pieces of the lining fabric and sewed each together into long strips.

Then.....

I seamed the lining to the finish fabric, right sides together.....

with a 1/2" seam.

Then I ironed the seams.....

ironing is very important!!!!!

It makes everything look gooder!!!!!

 Then I folded the sides together and stitched them along the top of the skirt.

The reason for this extra step, was the blue fabric was very stretchy, and I wanted the lining to give it some stability.

Then.....

I ironed it again.....

to crated a sharper edge at the bottom. 

At this point I made the welting.....

what many of you call piping.

Well!!!!

Get with the program!!!!

In interior design, for furniture and home stuff....

it's welting.

For clothes it's piping.

I wear sweatshirts, so my clothes don't have no stinkin' piping!!!!!

If any of you have an interest in how to make welting, 

let me know and I'll do a tutorial.

I lined the welting up with the edge of the body, and then started sewing in the skirt, lining up the unfinished edge of the skirt with the edge of the welting.

I had a brain cloud and forgot to take pictures.......

When I do pleats like this, I don't measure them but do it by sight.

After I attached the skirt, I put it on the bench to see how it looked.....

 Then I took it off and ironed in the pleats.....

 Here's a view of the top.....

I love this fabric.

It's from Calico Corners.

It's velvety!!!!!

sooooooo.....

I went from this .....to this!!!!!

That's my story and I'm stickin' to it!!!!

 Later, Gator

Adding an Upholstered Top to a Hard Bench

Well you guys....

Let's continue with my niece Miriam's new bench.

When we last left off.....

I had stripped off the padding and painted it and got it ready for it's new cushy top.

Soooooooo.......

what follows is a tutorial on how to add an upholstered top to something that's 

not supposed to have one!!!!!!

Or, I guess you could just say, 

that it wasn't originally designed to have one.

Sooooooooo.......

this is what I done did.

First I cut 2" medium density foam to the size of the top.

The full size, including the shaped edge.

To cut foam, I use my special supper duper foam cutter.....

 It's an electric knife made by Hamilton Beach that was the cheapest  best priced one at Bed Bath and Beyond.

I then used spray adhesive to attach the foam to the bench top.

Then I cut a piece of Dacron to the same size as the foam....

Adding this extra piece of padding helps create a nice rounded crown on the seat.

I used more spray adhesive to adhere it to the foam.

Then I applied a Dacron cover......

And started stapling it to the sides of the top.

I use a small compressor and a staple gun.

If you plan on doing more than one piece of upholstery,

it's really important to get a compressor.

They are only around 100 bucks, and well worth the expense.

I love my compressor!!!!!

It's my buddy!!!!!

First set a staple in the middle of each side.....

 I stapled it to the very edge.....

 Then working from the center out, staple along the edge of the top, smoothing and gently putting the Dacron into place.

Then, trim off the excess.

Since I was going to be making a slipcover, 

I just covered the bench in a plain lining fabric.

I keep a bolt of it in my closet.

My closet has lots of goodies.

(but no dead bodies.......)

 At this point, I thought I could cover the top while it was still attached to the bench.

That's because I am an idiot.....

So, once I realized that that wasn't going to work so great........

I took the top off the hinges, and whadayaknow!!!!!

It worked much gooder!!!!!

 I stapled the fabric to the underside of the top.

Starting in the middle of each side, I set a staple.

Then working from the middle out, I smoothed and pulled the fabric to the outside corners, stapling 

as I went.....

 When I came to the corners, I tucked the fabric under, like a package.

 Then I trimmed off the excess, and cut away from where the hinges would screw back in.

Then I covered the bottom in cambric.

I keep a roll of it in my closet, along with my other goodies.....

 Then I trimmed the cambric and reattached the top to the bottom.

Now it looks like a real upholstered bench!!!!!

And when it's open, it doesn't look tooooo bad, but then I don't plan on opening it, 'cuz it's Miriam's.....

So, here's the shot of it before and the picture of it up to this point.

Next post I'll show you how to do the slipcover.

So that's it for tonight.....

Later, Gator

Partying at: