Sewing Box Makeover

This is what my sewing box used to look like. It was very kindly given to me by my friend when she was having a clear out before she moved. 

Now from what I can remember she'd had it for some years and I've had it since may last year and it was starting to look at little worse for wear. 

One of the main issues was that one of the hinges on the top section was broken and some of the screws had come out and gotten lost.

So I went to Rikki batting my eyelashes and he agreed to fix it. And then he suggested that we just pull the whole thing apart and re paint it because some of the paintwork was chipped and fading. 

And that's how my swing box ended up looking like this. 

First of all I had to empty the dammed thing which led to another "why do you have so many pairs of scissors?" discussion. FYI I want at least one more pair but I want really really good ones this time not cheapo ones!

Our agreement was he would pull it all apart and glue the bits that needed gluing, then I would sand it and paint it, and then he would put it back together and fix the hinge and stuff. 

I genuinely thought I had the easy part........I was wrong.

THE BLOODY THING TOOK ABOUT 5 HOURS TO SAND! 

Honestly my right arm is like pop eyes now and I worked muscles I never knew I had! luckily we have this weird sander tool thing where you stick the sand paper on the bottom. I can't find our exact one but this one is similar and I'd definitely recommend it for this sort of job. I did think about using our electric sander but its quite big and bulky and I didn't want to damage the box beyond repair. 

After the sanding I gave everything a good wipe to get the dust off and started painting whilst it was disassembled. The white paint is some silk emulsion that we had lying around and the purple is a tester pot that Rikki popped out the get whilst he was getting a new hinge [he actually colour matched it too our living room perfectly!] It took four coats of white to get it looking nice and three of the purple.  

I painted the bottom of the box and the lid purple as well because I thought it might help me find stray pins. I left the sides bear because some of them contain makers marks which I thought was a nice touch.

The handle was especially fiddly to paint because I had to have it half propped up. The little wooden extendy bits [I have no idea what I'm talking about can you tell!!!!] Because they are only about 1cm wide I ended up with most of the paint on my fingers. 

Some of the purple paint came off on the white paint the first few times we opened it but its stopped now so now I really need to touch them up. 

I also added my signature to the front in sharpie but its not very neat so I'd like to cover it in a little metal or wooden sign instead. 

And then we put the whole thing back together again! 

I've got to say I love it! Its surprising how far some elbow grease and a bit of paint can go. And its so nice to breathe life back into something. Especially seen as I've become quite attached to it! I just wish it was a bit lighter so I could take it with me when I do demonstrations! 

Speaking of which.......

This was me today! Yep I braved the cold and went to Abakhans Hanley to demonstrate the things you can do with EPP hexagons! 

Whilst I love the sewing part the best part is chatting to people! 

I met a couple who had been married for 62 years [yes they were adorable, they met at the cinema]

A lady who's daughter owns a pub in Staffordshire that has quilts on the wall and that I am definitely going to visit! I mean booze and quilts? Does it get better?

I also met a young girl who had started sewing. She was only 9 but had made a quilt, clothes for her dolls and is about to try and make something for herself [I believe she said a skirt] She left me completely in awe and she has a lot of talent so I hope she sticks with it!!! Especially in a world where so many schools are being forced to cut back on textiles and other hand crafts.

My next one is on how to make an embroidered cushion and its on the 21st of April!

Much Love

Frankie!

xxx