Embroidery hoop presents

Hello there.  I have bought a new embroidering machine and have been playing around with it.  I have made some hoop presents.

Sorry i can't turn it the right way.  Am loving the new machine, writing on all my sewing projects at the minute!

Funky footstool

From faded brown paisley pattern to bright and padded footstool.  What a transformation! When i peeled the brown fabric off the stool it turned out to be an aerial washing powder box underneath! Everything fell apart from that point.  Turned out it was only glued together and stuffed with cotton wool.  It smelt really bad too so everything had to go and be replaced.  I've not quite finished it but the project was a lot longer than i expected.  I've also painted the legs a glossy grey.  I might finish it one day.

Pretty updated chair

 I found this tired old chair at a house clearance shop. I stripped the old office style leather from the top, which had seen better days.  I wanted a pretty little chair so found some flowery fabric and matched some paint.  Wilko have some great paints at reasonable prices compared to the chalk paints that everyone seems to buy.  I didn't like the chalk paints because they dried really quickly and i could see all my brush strokes plus i like a glossy finish.  This was a dusky pink furniture paint from Wilko that i had used on a previous project.  It turned out to be a very pretty little chair.

Up-cycling a display cabinet

From the cabinet on the left to this one on the right.

 My next project was a display cabinet from a charity shop.  I love the Victorian style furniture but it is very dark so it was sanded to remove the varnish and stain and then oiled for a more natural tone.

I love duck-egg blue. It's such a relaxing and calming colour.  I painted the inside of the cabinet a good 4 times before i was happy with the coverage. 

 I was looking for something a little special to give this simple cabinet the wow factor.  I found this bird design sticky plastic at B&Q.  I laid the glass doors together and rolled the pattern over them both so they would match up when put back in the cabinet.  The end result is a much more attractive cabinet.

Re-upholstering chairs

I have been trying my hand at a bit of upcycling.  It started with finding some chairs at work that were going to be thrown out.  The metal and woodwork was beautiful but the fabric had come away and it seemed such a shame to put them in a skip so i brought them home.  I replaced the sponge and chose a more modern fabric to cover them.  I think the end result is very good.  I am very pleased with them.  They are so comfortable and retro.