Painted velvet with foil

I played with some velvet, wonder under, and foils a couple weeks ago. I thought I would experiment some more with these.  I decided to use Lumiere paints to stamp circles onto my black velvet.

It took a lot of paint on the stamp for it to stamp well on the velvet. 

I had some leftover painted wonder under circles from my last piece, as well as some long strips.

I ironed these onto the velvet and then partially foiled them.  The Lumiere paints look very muted next to the shiny foils.  I think it looks flat and uninteresting, but I will add some fabrics and see if it can be improved.

Closeup.

Master bedroom renovation

We finally are getting the final touches done in the renovated basement rooms.

Here is our completed master bedroom.

Here is the room before. It really doesn't look much different in these photos, but a lot of work was done. I liked the original paint color, so it is pretty much the same color as before. Most of the original walls had pressboard paneling on them. We had that removed and had it replaced with drywall. We got rid of the ceiling fan, and replaced the flooring, base, and crown trim.

Here you can see that the existing room (beyond, as seen from the basement entryway) was not completely finished. I don't know why this area was not finished.  We actually moved the door to the bedroom to this location. The door was originally down the hall.

After the pressboard was removed.

New drywall.

There is a walk-in closet at one end. Since we moved the entry door, we have to move the entry to the closet as well.

The basement rooms had textured wallpaper on the ceiling. It was in decent shape and we were not up to the task of removing it, nor did we want to replace the drywall on all the ceilings, so in the bedroom (and entryway) we just repainted the ceilings. You can see how the white really makes a difference. Also the previous paint was a bit shiny, and now it is matte.

We replaced the blond laminate floor with click lock vinyl. If water ever gets in the basement, these could be removed, dried off, and reinstalled. Pergo type floors are ruined if they get wet. The only down side is there is no padding under it, so it is rather hard and you can feel the variances in the concrete floor underneath. We also put frosted cling film on the windows, so we have privacy without blocking out the light.

Stenciled felt coasters, art experiment

Art Experiment is a a series of posts using supplies which I own but have rarely (or never) used. Failure or success is not important, it is trying something different and seeing what can come from it.  There are three goals: try something new, use something in my supply stash, and have fun/experiment in the studio.

Finished coasters!

Over a year ago, I was experimenting with using Decolourant on felted recycled wool sweaters.  It didn't go very well. When I rinsed the fabrics after ironing, I could barely see any difference.  I went to a sewing expo and bought some Catch & Release (a product to remove color, which I believe is designed for wool but says it works on cotton too), and some wool felt that a vendor had for sale. The vendor was Crawford Designs and they make the Catch & Release product. These supplies have been sitting in my box of felt ever since (which I believe was last February).


My glass/metal coasters have been falling apart, so I decided to make some new ones.  I took out my wool felt, Catch & Release, some paint, and a stencil with different leaves on it.

I applied the Catch & Release directly to the felt using a makeup sponge to pounce it through the stencil.  After it had dried, I decided to do another layer of stenciling with paint mixed in to the Catch & Release. (If I do this again, I will do the colored ones first, as it was hard to tell where the clear ones were when I was adding the colored ones).  

After these were dry, I ironed the felt.  The clear Catch & Release did a fabulous job at removing the color.  The ones with the paint mixed in look like they were painted on, not like the original color was removed and replaced. I rinsed them with cool water per the directions.

I do like the way the fabrics turned out. I know the last time I tested the Catch & Release on recycled wool sweaters, it did not really work. This was probably because of the type of dye that is used in the sweaters. The dye in the wool felt I bought worked great with the Catch & Release product.

Just FYI, the Catch & Release product is pretty stinky.  It smells like those bathroom disinfectant sprays that add a floral scent, but the chemical smell is still there too. It smells when you apply it and it smells when you iron it, it just downright smells. And I don't have a great sense of smell so it is pretty potent if I am commenting on it. That said, I will use it again and cope with the smell.

After they were rinsed and dried,  I cut 4" squares from the felt.  I sandwiched some foam material between the layers (to help make the coasters somewhat impervious to liquids), stitched around the edges with a straight stitch a 1/4" from the edge, and did some free motion stitching around the leaves. Now I have some lovely coasters!

 
Here is my free-motion stitching on the front (I could use a bit more practice)

Here is the back side. I like the contrast on the back between the printed leaves and the stitched outlines.

I am glad to have new coasters, but am also excited to have this project finished. I started this before Thanksgiving, and between the holidays, traveling, and home renovation projects, they have been sitting on my sewing table half-finished for over a month. Hurrah, onto the next!