Little Boy Bedroom Part 5 - Wall Decal

In the second to last installment of my son's bedroom makeover, we have the Wall Decal...

He's pretty big...measuring about 41 inches wide by 61 inches (104 x 155cm) tall...

Here he is with my son who will be three this weekend, to give an idea of scale..

I created him over at Spoonflower to match the rest of the room, that you can see in these posts:

• Fabric canvases
• Lampshade
• Roman Blind
• Pillowcase

Spoonflower have a maximum decal size of 30 x 30 inches.  Don't let that stop you from creating something big and bold though!  You just need to put careful thought into where your joins might be.

Mr Mikey Robot is actually 9 different pieces...all carefully cut out by me from two 30x30 inch decals.

I took the robot I had drawn, enlarged it to the finished size I wanted it, then broke it into logical parts, juggling it around to make it fit the two decals.

Once it arrived, I cut out the pieces, then "tacked" them to the walls using spare offcuts of the decal background.  Here are some shots I took after cutting it out, and while I was "assembling".

Some tips for designing a large decal that you will be piecing together:

1.  Choose a good contrasting background colour to give a good edge to cut around.  Light grey on white might be a bit hard on your eyes!

2.  Take your time re-composing your design.  Tape it up on the wall before you peel the backs off to make sure you are happy with the placement.

3.  Don't worry about keeping the orientation the same.  Some of my pieces were landscape and some portrait - it really doesn't matter and you can't tell when it's on the wall.

4.  Butt the cut edges together when applying to your wall - don't overlap them.  If you overlap them, you can see the edge of the underneath decal through the top decal.

5.  Don't be afraid to lift and move your decal.  I pulled a couple of mine up more than once to get the joins looking perfect.


Result - one happy nearly 3 year old!

UPDATE:  I've had a few requests to make a version of this available for sale, so I have.  It's too big to fit on one decal sheet - so I've split it in two.  You can find it here.

Little Boy Bedroom Part 2 - Lampshade

Following on from my last post - about the wall canvases, I moved on to the next task...a new lampshade cover!

This is what I started with:

Not quite right for a wee boy is it?!

The supplies I needed to fix this were:

• Paper
• Pen
• Scissors
• Spray on glue
• Card or a dropcloth to protect your surface while spraying!
• Fabric
• Wide bias binding to match fabric

It was fairly straight forward to do.  I needed to first make a paper template, in order to cut the fabric out right.  To do this, I found the seam on my old lampshade cover.  I placed that on one edge of my paper, and rolled it around, drawing along the top and bottom of the cover as I rolled.  I stopped once I got to the seam again, having drawn the complete circumference.  I then added an inch to one end as a fold over to get a neat finished seam.

This is what my template looked like after I cut it out - with the lampshade placed so you can see how I rolled it.

 

Next, use your template to cut out your fabric. 

If you are using bias binding both top and bottom (I didn't - I only used it for the bottom), then cut the template out exactly as is.  If you do as I did - and only edge the bottom with binding - then cut the top edge (smaller semi-circle) about an inch wider so you can wrap the edge over the top of the lampshade neatly.

Go somewhere with some ventilation for the next part.  I laid an old cardboard box down on the lawn.  I placed my fabric wrong side up, and gave it a good spray with the adhesive.  I couldn't get any photos of doing this, as I had to work quickly in the heat of the day before the glue dried!

It's as easy as wrapping the fabric around the lamp as smoothly as you can, matching the bottom of the shade to the bottom of your fabric.  When you get to the side end, overlap the starting edge a little, then fold the rest of the fabric under to neaten the raw edges, add a little glue, and stick it down.

I used spray adhesive for this, as I was worried about bumps and lumps on the shade if I brushed glue on...  The spray gave a lovely even light coating, and has stuck well.

I folded the remaining fabric over the top, and down into the inside of the lampshade.  I decided it was busy enough without adding binding to the top, but I wanted it on the bottom.  To do this, I cut an approximate length of bias binding, sprayed the back of it with the glue, and ran it evenly around the bottom - up about half an inch from the edge.  I started at the same seam line as the rest of the shade, and ended it by tucking a little under again for a nice edge.  Once I got all the way around, I then folded the overhanging binding into the inside of the lampshade, completely covering the bottom cut fabric edge.

It then looked like this...

Really quick, really simple, and really easy.

 

 

And it matches the bedroom!

The fabric I used is this one...

Next...the Roman Blind for the window.

Little Boy Bedroom Part 1 - Canvases

Ok...so quite some time ago I started work on my 2 year old's bedroom...  I wrote about it way back here.  I have two more things to finish, then I'll show you the complete room!

Until then...the first in a series...the wall canvases!

I decided he needed some art to match the rest of the room I was creating for him.  My son loves robots, so I designed a range of fabrics for him, and his room, over on Spoonflower.  I started with the canvases - for a quick project to get underway with.

I didn't stretch canvas over frames.  I took the simpler option of buying pre-stretched canvases from a local art store.  Mine measure 8 inches by 8 inches.  This allowed me to use a regular weight fabric (I used Spoonflower's Cotton Poplin), rather than a heavier weight canvas-type.  You could use any fabric at all using this method - regular quilting cotton would be just fine.  The best thing is that I could get an exact colour match to my curtains, quilt, etc, etc, by using the same fabric type.

Here are the finished canvases on his wall:

For each canvas you will need:

• One pre-stretched plain canvas (I used 8 inches by 8 inches - 1.5 inches deep)
• Scissors or rotary cutter
• Staple gun, or hammer and tacks
• Ruler or measuring tape
• Masking tape
• Fabric (I used my own panels here - which are four different fat quarters on a yard)

To calculate how much fabric you need...take your canvas width and add two times the depth to each side for wrapping.  So for my 8 inch square canvases, that are 1.5 inches deep...8 + (1.5 x 2) + (1.5 x 2) = 14 inches square cut fabric.  From a fat quarter you can cover a maximum canvas size of 12 x 15 inches, at 1.5 inches deep.

Use your ruler to measure out your fabric and then cut it to your desired size...

Place the fabric over your canvas so that the canvas is centred underneath.  If you have stripes like I do - you need to be careful with your positioning so that they are straight.  I found the pre-made canvases were not perfectly square.

Once you are happy, flip it over

Pull the four sides in and tape them in place temporarily - pulling them in firmly, but not too tight that you would warp the print.  Flip it back over once you've done it to make sure you are still happy with the placement on the front.

 

Start by stapling (or tacking) in the centre of each side through to the wood.  Then move to each corner, folding them in neatly.  Here are some shots of how my folds look:

 

 

 

So the back is not perfect, but not too bad for an amateur!

The front - very happy with, and so is my wee boy!

 

 

I love how they look in his room.

 

Next on the list to share with you...the lampshade!

 



A Fairy Party

It's been a while since the day - but for my daughter's fourth birthday - she asked to be a fairy, and to have a fairy party.  Silvermist to be exact, from the Disney Fairies movies.

So on top of all the creating I was doing for her presents (Fairy House, Jewellery, Handbag, etc), I also needed to make a fairy dress.  Oh, and make a multitude of little edible flowers and leaves for her birthday cake and cupcakes...

I found this pattern Simplicity 2559.  It's the toddler size (because my girl  is a slender build).  There is a size 3-8 one available as well, but I was certain it would be way too big in  the chest/waist for her, so I just lengthened the toddler one.

My version ended up looking like this (the only time before the day I would let her wear it!):

The crinoline wings from the pattern were a nightmare - floppy and just were not going to work - so I opted for store-bought white ones, which I added turquoise crystals too, sparkly silver glitter swirls, and tied a swath of the turquoise tulle around to tie into the dress.

I put a zip into the back - the original asked for velcro, plus to velcro the wings on but it just wasn't going to look so nice if she ever wore it without wings, so I changed that.  I did make the original belt, but in the end used another length of tulle as a sash - which I could tie in a bow at the back.

You cannot see from the photos - but it was very shimmery and sparkly - particularly the tulle.  I added some of the sparkly tulle  from the underskirt over the satin on one shoulder of the bodice.

She was way too excited on the day to get any good photos, but here is the back:

The front (you can see the necklace I made her to go with it)

Plus the all important wand!

Altogether I think it turned out quite well.  I made matching slippers and a hairclip to finish it all off.  There were times I SWORE never to sew with satin and tulle again :), but I'm over that now!

Here is a better look at the jewellery I made her for her birthday - the colours matched the dress perfectly.  I had no idea how to make jewellery before this - it just shows you how much you can learn from googling!  That, and finding a good place online to order what you need :)

If you are wondering why she is wearing tights and a long sleeve shirt underneath - it was winter here! :)  We got very lucky on the party day - it was lovely and sunny and quite warm.

I did get everything done in time.  Just.  We had the cake, complete with all my handmade little flowers, butterflies and leaves (now those took a while!):

...and the cupcakes and little flower biscuits/cookies

The girls all made their own fairy wands.  We used dowels I had wrapped in advance with ribbon.  The head of the wand was made from sheets of stiffened felt.  Feels like cardboard - but furry!  I cut them out beforehand too.  The girls chose their colours, then added lots of sparkly self-adhesive "jewels", stars and extra ribbons.  All things that were fun, but not messy!  Best of all, they got to create them themselves, and take them home to play with.

Then they burnt off all the sugar they had eaten by running around playing fairies outside with their new wands.

The best thing about the entire day - the absolute beam on my daughter's face as she had the BEST time with all her little fairy friends... :)

A Fairy Project!

So, for my daughter's 4th birthday I found this neat pattern from ikatbag.  I've never sewn with plastic canvas before - but hey, I'm keen to give most things a go!

This is how it turned out...

The Toadstool - a.k.a The Fairy House

Checking out their new home

And having a chat

We named them of course...



Tinkerbell



Rosetta



Silvermist



 And they seem to get on well together

They even have some sparkly decorations inside!

And they like to play peek-a-boo!



Did it go down well?  YES!



It took me a fair while to make, but it was so worth it!  My daughter loved it - so much so I've already had to replace the hair with wool rather than felt.  The felt hair just didn't quite stand up to the attention!

I used cotton drill for the coloured fabrics - and plain old canvas for the outer body, and I'm pretty pleased with the end result.