Just sew

Hello lovelies!

*Sniff* Whilst I'm a bit cross that three minutes into autumn I've been struck down with the mother of all colds (my nose seems to have turned into the gunge tank from Get Your Own Back), I'm *cough* appreciating that being ill gives me the perfect excuse to stay in and sew. 

In addition to baking him so many cakes my fingers nearly bled, I recently made my first ever soft toy as a second birthday present for my favourite little boy. I didn't use a pattern, so he didn't come out quite as I was hoping, but thankfully toddlers are not that critical of sewing. I've since had a text from his Mum to say he hasn't let go of the dinosaur since he got it- and insisted on tucking it up in bed next to him last night! Awww :)

I didn't leave the bow on when I wrapped him; I just thought it made him look all French and sophisticated for the photos

I spent last Saturday grinning like a Cheshire Cat after finding an unbelievably bargainous lampshade in Oxfam. I'd been looking for The Perfect Lampshade for a particular project for ages, because the trouble with looking for a really specific bargain in a charity shop/at a carboot/in the local flea market is you have no control over what people throw away (although, just in case I unknowingly have the powers of Derren Brown, can someone please leave one of these outside my house? Ta). I was really pleased to finally find something suitable. 

Brand new Habitat lampshade w/ RRP of £35! Slightly dented, but £2.99 can't be sniffed at!

I then hurried to my favourite fabric shop, The Patchwork Dog, to find something to cover it in. I chose a really simple stripe that I thought looked half nautical, half shabby chic. Rather brilliantly, the fabric width was long enough that it covered the whole lampshade, so I only needed to get 1/4m.

The completed lampshade- coming in at a total cost of £6.49 :)

I originally intended the shade to be the light for our landing, but decided to swap it with another lampshade project I'm working on and put it on my re-vamped table lamp. It took me over a year to find the lamp base (as Googling "table lamp" turns up a lot of results, surprisingly) but I eventually spotted one in my favourite antique shop :) It was originally a dirty cream colour, but I gave it a lick of blue paint whilst I was giving my dresser a stripy makeover. 

Pre-makeover

Finished lamp and lampshade

Have you completed any sewing projects recently? Or made over some furniture? Before/after pictures of upcycled furniture are my favourite thing to look at (well, that or pictures of Joe Manganiello) :) 

Katie xxx

*Two episodes of Downton Abbey and one of X Factor - that's how I measure my sewing projects.