Doing the Tango

Last winter, I was drinking coffee in my local shop, Tango Palace, and I noticed that the chairs were looking a little, ummm...shabby, let's say.  I took my biz card and walked up to the counter and offered my services.  It just happened to be the owner that I had approached.  He told me they were 100 year old oak chairs from the King Edward Hotel on King St. in Toronto, and suggested I put a bid in for the job as he was planning to get them upholstered in the spring.  What perfect timing!  I must have killer instincts for this upholstery operation. ;)

Long story short-ish, I got the job, and it was not a small one.   There were 21 chairs in total and they all needed to be stripped to the bone and built back up with new foam, fabric and welting.  Jeff had initially wanted them painted too, but due to budget constraints, he settled on maintaining the "vintage patina".  Lucky for me, as I had my hands full as it was!

Here are some pics of the process:

Before, obviously!

The back before.

The room filled with "before" chairs.

And so the stripping begins!

Since there are some upholsterers out there who cut corners by covering over existing fabric and foam, upholstery can be like archaeology: when you begin a "dig", you never know what you're going to find.   Because I prefer to remove all the old materials, I am often surprised by what's beneath the surface.  In this case, not one, but two layers of historic design choices revealed themselves!   The discovery of such "fabric fossils" is thrilling at first because they tell a story about the chair's past.

Once that excitement wears off, I really am just left with more work to do.

Fabric fossil layers. (yes I do have a thumb ;)

Stripping the back...oh so many staples to remove!

Can you guess which seat is the new one?

Each job grants an opportunity for learning, and for the Tango job my lesson was on making double welt cord.  Once again...thank you YouTube and fellow crafty bloggers for my welting education!

Double welting doing it's thing.  

And the finished chair:

Ta-da! 

The chairs in their natural habitat.

If you are in Leslieville and are looking for a cozy place to latte, or a wanting an oasis of a back patio to tea and read, this place is it!  It's open early and closes late, so you can plant yourself and caffeineate with comfort in some new old chairs...Thank you Tango Palace!

Address: 1156 Queen St E, Toronto, ON M4M 3N5

Phone:(416) 465-8085

Hours:

Friday 7:00 am – 11:00 pm

My first boxed cushions!

Today I am a happy lady.

Why?

Because there is nothing~ nearly nothing~ that can feel so satisfying as teaching yourself a new skill and applying it to the creation of something new, something that wasn't in existence before you came along and nurtured it into being...something that makes a difference in the life of another...sigh...so so good, that feeling!

Two opportunities came floating my way last week to expand my ever-growing upholstery/sewing skills.

One came to me in the form of a woman named Ann, who had purchased 8 pieces of foam at the store from which I also get my foam.  Lisa, the proprietor, recommended she come to me to get the cushion covers made.  She dropped off the stack along with the fabric, and I proceeded to log into you tube to learn exactly what I was to do next...!

Seriously...what did we do before YouTube and design blogs!  I spent a few hours online studying as many different methods as I could find, and when I felt ready, I dove in.

The second opportunity came to me through GUFF, the awesome furniture store I do upholstery for on Queen St. E in Leslieville.  Joe, a lovely man who owns a beautiful mid-century modern shop called ZigZag, and a regular shopper at GUFF, requested that I do some cushions for him.  Sure!!!  Why not add 3 more to the pile?!


I forgot, as usual, to take progress shots as I made them, but I can certainly provide links (and pay homage) to the sites I found to be the most useful.

Here are some pics of the finished cushions:

nope you can't see that zipper!

cushions in action at ZigZag

The plaid cushions are for Ann:

I came up with a fun idea, as a way to make my business extra special and to set Uplift apart from other options...

Since my biz is not only about upholstery, but also about upcycling materials used in the process, that may otherwise end up in the garbage, my "new thing" is to make an Uplift Gift for the client, using pieces of scrap material from the project they have commissioned me to do for them.  In this case, I made Ann a pillow out of small pieces of plaid fabric.  I think she will be very surprised and happy to receive it!

Here are the links that helped me BIG TIME!:

http://www.designsponge.com/2012/01/upholstery-basics-boxed-cushion-sewing.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VfGpK7TnKSQ

http://books.google.ca/books?id=NG3tiM-h96IC&pg=PA50&lpg=PA50&dq=upholstery+boxed+cushions&source=bl&ots=ONsbFETcet&sig=T01vRc2WjXHq5u9ZKL7PzapYUVA&hl=en&sa=X&ei=q0rPUb7zKPWx4AOqpoEI&ved=0CGkQ6AEwBw#v=onepage&q=upholstery%20boxed%20cushions&f=false

Zoe's birthday wallets

Not for the first time in my collection of blog posts am I deeming Mercury Espresso as the venue responsible for providing me with Uplift-ing work!

A fellow Mercury addict, Jon, hired me to make 20 wallets for his daughter Zoe's 11th birthday, to give away as part of the goody bag package for her guests.  I took "birthday" and "age 11" to mean one thing~ COLOUR!!!

Here they are in all their brightness:

Handlebar Round #2

My lovely friends, Bruce and Rachel, were so happy with the vinyl booths I did for them back in February that they hired me back to do some upholstery for their 20 foot long bench.  Wanting to keep patrons comfortable (and drinking ;) for the length of their stay at the Kensington market bar was the goal of my mission.

After a brief discussion with Bruce, we decided rather than upholster the whole thing as one piece, that it was best to divide the bench top into 4 removable sections.  This would make my present task a lot easier, as well as any future touch-ups or repair work.  I did some research on Industrial Strength velcro and after reviews saying it lives up to its name, I went and purchased two boxes of 10' long strips.

Once Bruce dropped off the 4 pieces of 57" long plywood, I glued on the 2" foam and uphlostered them each in the black vinyl we had leftover from the booth job.  When they were done, I popped to the bar and, in under an hour, the 4 pieces were velcro-ed and placed into position.

It's amazing the difference some 2"foam and vinyl can make!  I'm sure those who visit the Handlebar now will find themselves appreciating the extra cushion for their tush, and enjoying their much longer stay!

Go have yourself a cold beverage and snacks at the 

Handlebar

159 Augusta Ave

Kensington Market 

www.TheHandleBar.ca

My first restaurant banquette!

Let me begin by saying I live in THE best neighbourhood in Toronto, Leslieville, where business-owners are friends and friends are plentiful! Seriously, if one isn't employed by a local business then one is patronizing it, and in lots of cases it's both.  Interconnectedness abounds in this community.

And due to such a connection, I was hired by two local restauranteurs to upholster a banquette for their restaurant Table 17.  When Erik Joyal and Johnny Sinopoli opened their second restaurant, Ascari Enoteca, they had installed a banquette along one wall of the dining room, and it was this design that they hired me to mimic for Table 17.  Once the wooden box came back from the carpenter and the fabric was purchased, I could begin!

The Ascari banquette

To be truthful, as I was with Erik and Johnny, I had NEVER done anything like this before.  But from my experience with the Handlebar booths and studying this pic, I devised a way to get the job done!

Though the actual task of upholstering a wood box with foam sounds simple, I was faced with two huge challenges that added to the scale and complexity of this particular job.

The first being the sheer size of the banquette: it was 9 feet long! I nicknamed the seat "The Beast".  I had to do the job on location in the banquet room upstairs as getting these pieces up to my studio would be impossible! 

the Beast

On the first day, I affixed 3" foam to the top, 2" foam to the front, stapling it so that the seam was nicely rounded, and padded each end with some 1" foam.

The Beast was now ready to don some clothing, which leads me to my second challenge: the fabric.  In a clever move for them, John and Erik had chose a sturdy Sunbrella black, an outdoor fabric designed to weather the storm, (AKA spillage and mess from diners that miss their mouths or servers who miss the table) but for me it was the most difficult unwieldy fabric I have ever had to work with!  Honestly, it's so firm it sounds like bristol board when you wiggle it.  Pulling it tight and making it smooth was so hard on my fingers I lost some skin in the process!  Bandaids saved the day and together we got 'er done.

 

Ouch!

Ta-da!  I beat the seat.

The back was a 2-tiered job, as Johnny requested 1" foam for the top bit and a thicker 2" foam for the lumbar region.  It was this act of sectioning a back piece that was unknown to me.  First I glued the 1" down and stapled the fabric tightly around the back.  The second piece of fabric is applied in conjunction with a cardboard strip that ensures a nice straight line.  Once that's been stapled down, the second piece of foam is glued down, the fabric is stapled, and the rest is...up-hilstory?...upholstory? ;)

The Beast becomes the Beauty!

The banquette in action.

You can come see the banquette in person and have yourself a delicious meal at:

Table 17

782 Queen St E, Toronto

(416) 519-1851

And check out their sister restaurant:

Ascari

 1111 Queen St E, Toronto

(416) 792-4157

By special request!

A man I know from my local coffee shop, Mercury~ and yes, I'm aware that my last post started with me extolling the virtues of such a local (and addicted) community~ approached me last Tuesday with a request in mind.  When I had seen him there the week before I had told him about my new business, Uplift, and he was so excited for me that in the meantime he had dreamed up some items I could custom-make for him.

I really do have SUCH a lovely community!

Anyway, he had purchased 3 very special gifts for his business partners who had all very recently ended their 25 year long collaboration.   Knowing I live to make useful things from leftover upholstery fabric, he was looking for me to make gift bags for these items, preferably out of a thick grey wool.  Together we came up with the gist of the design,  and off I went to find all the pieces I would need for this project!

After taking a long time to hunt down the perfect buttons, meaning "male" suitable, I put everything in its place and am thrilled with the results!  In fact, I will be making more of these to be sure....:)

Denim aprons for a baker

The power of coffee shops cannot be underestimated!

I have been going (read: addicted) to my local coffee shop, Mercury Espresso in Leslieville, for many years now, as have many other die-hard fans in the hood.  As a result of seeing the same people day in and day out, connections are made beyond the shared adoration of a particular americano! 

One day, Andrea, a local baker and supporter of art and community, approached me with the proposal to custom-make some aprons for his new business enterprise.  I have never made an apron before, and don't consider myself to be a seamstress at all...and I confessed as much to him.  He said he would provide me with an apron to template and the fabric.  Noticing this job was totally out of my comfort zone...I said YES! 

I made the prototype with a surprising amount of pleasure.  Luckily Andrea was just as pleased with the first one I made and ordered nine more! The most thrilling thing for me, aside from challenging myself to do something I've never done before, was that each one got better and better...the refinement that resulted from repeating the same process was soooooo delicious....I can't wait to make more.

My new market space!

I love love love having a space at the Arts Market at 1114 Queen St. E, in Toronto.

I liken it to having a garden...it's always there, a living organic place that displays the beautiful "plants" I create, and whenever the timing pleases me I get to go visit my "plot" to tend and nourish it.  These visits are thrilling for me, as it's always a surprise to see what someone has "harvested"from my garden.    

Let's face it~ making art is fulfilling...but having someone love a piece enough to adopt if for their own is extra fulfilling!

Soooo, I was recently offered a new space when an artist moved out.  It immediately felt right to me...cozier.  I have had so much fun re-designing and stocking it.

Here is a pic of the very first day I moved into the market in November:

That shelf was picked right out of my kitchen.  I assured my boyfriend I would only be borrowing it temporarily. ;)

Here is the space now....gotta love evolution!

found the perfect frame for my sign!

And the perfect hook for my bags!

linen napkins

lovely cloth napkins

An important reminder :)

From my valentine's day "love" line. :)

Please stay tuned to see what my garden grows next...

I love my serger. LOVE.

So my lovely cousin Megan had in her possession an old tablecloth of her grandmothers, and after this past Christmas dinner, she presented it to me.  It had been stowed away in a cupboard for years, and though valued, it was rarely given a chance to be really appreciated.  As it wasn't a good fit for her table, she handed it over to me in the hopes that I could make something more useful out of it!  

I really appreciated this job for two reasons.  The first being that it felt great to be able to collaborate with Megan on how to "Uplift" this personal item that was precious to her.  

And secondly, it gave me the opportunity to learn how to use my serger in a new way.  Once we settled on the idea of turning the tablecloth into napkins, out came the instruction manual that taught me how to set my machine up for a rolled hem.  Let me tell ya, I enjoyed the heck out of sewing these napkins because of the sheer simplicity of the task!  

In the end, I was able to give her 10 napkins and one beautiful table runner:

Now I am on a roll, converting vintage pillowcases and suitable fabric finds into useful and oh so pretty and eco-friendly cloth napkins!  My favourite part are the vibrantly colourful threads I am using for the edging.  

Up-lifted pillow cases!

Finally found the perfect use for the fabric I've had forever.

Sold singly at the Arts Market or...

....in sets of four

My friend Margarethe gifted me with a bundle of yellow linen she had purchased when she thought she would make herself a tablecloth.  She never did, and so now it's turning into some sweet lookin' linen napkins instead!

As much pleasure as I gain from hunting for fabric treasures to up-cycle, the truest satisfaction comes from helping another UP-lift their own material into something perfectly customized and useful.  Feel free to send an email if you yourself have such a need, and I'll turn on the serger!