Shelf additon to cloakroom shoe rack

I finally got round to adding in a shelf above the shoe rack i built in our cloakroom. Its the perfect place for Lovely BM and I to stash our work bags so theyre out of the way. So pleased i finally did it :)

Restaining the garden furniture

 

I took advantage of the recent (rare) nice weather to spruce up our garden furniture by restaining it. I like this before and after combo photo, shows what an improvement the restaining was :) Especially since id bee putting it off for months!

Handmade shoe rack

Check out my carpentry skills!! Yes i made shoe rack corner shelves, with my own hands, so very proud! The corner in our cloakroom is a funny shape and i couldnt find anything storage wise to fit in it. So i decided to make my own :)

Basically the most important thing i did was make a template of the area i wanted my shelves to cover. But, because it wasnt a standard shape, rather than cutting a  template to fit the shape, i fitted smaller bits of cardboard into the shape, layering them over each other and taping them down, until i had the shape i needed. I then used this template to see what angles and length i need to cut my wood to.

 

I just bought untreated sawn timber from my local DIY store and cut everything to the correct length using a jigsaw and couple of saw horses for support. Once everything was cut i checked it all fitted and made a few adjustments.

As this was my first every carpentry project i didnt fix everything to the wall permanently at first. I used command hooks first to make sure i hadnt made any stupid mistakes

 

Luckily i hadnt so i sanded and varnished the wood and then fixed it together permanently. I screwed the slats to the supports from the bottom so the screws didnt show and then fixed the brackets directly to the wall - job done!

I think i want to add another shelf, a solid one this time, above so there is somewhere to put our work bags so i'll update you on that if i ever get round to it!


 

Wooden handle leather clutch

I subscribe to a few making magazines and they seem to have a free gift attached every week! I got some square wooden handles a few month ago so I thought I’d have a go at a little leather clutch for myself.
It was pretty easy but (as always) I forgot to take pictures as I went along so no tutorial - sorry. I'll try and walk you through it. But aside from that im pretty happy with the finished article, it could probably be a bit shorter, to make it look more suitable for evening, but I’ll give it a try out next time im out for dinner :)

Basically I cut a rectangle of leather and another rectangle of lining fabric that was the same width but slightly shorter. I fed the handles onto the leather and then lined up the short ends of the leather and the lining, right sides together. I sewed the short sides together to make a big loop of fabric, with the handles on the loop.
I then lay the loop flat, right sides together, with the lining fabric central. Make sure the handles are in the right place and then sew along the long sides, only as far as the lining fabric. Don’t forget to leave a gap for turning out.
Turn the fabric out, fold it in half, right side together and match up the lining fabric. Sew a very narrow seam along the sides of the bag. Don’t sew all the way to the handles or you won’t be able to open your bag very wide! Turn the bag right side out and you’re finished