~raggygirlvintage french farmhouse stylin’~burlap~

Hello friends,

Well enough about blogger issues, let’s get back to the fun stuff! Ready for some more ~french farmhouse stylin’~ 

raggygirlvintage syle?

We can’t talk about ~french farmhouse stylin’~ without including a feature on burlap. Burlap is one of the most versatile decor fabrics. Of course if you can get your hands on authentic burlap sacks all the better, but there are also great burlap fabrics out there that still have that rustic, vintage feel and look.

I haven’t yet been able to bring myself to cut up the few vintage sacks I do own, but they make great “props” folded or rolled and tucked here and there in your decor. {I think they are going to look awesome hanging on my whitewashed ladder when I am brave enough to smuggle it inside the house!}

You know how I love burlap table runners, and if my etsy sales are anything to go by, I’m not the only one! I love to make plain burlap runners, runners with white ruffles, ticking ruffles, vintage ruffles and runners with french graphics. They have all featured in my home decor at one time or another.

Whilst I am a big fan of decorating with burlap, I have to tell you I don’t enjoy working with it. If you’ve worked with burlap you will know what I am talking about!! By the end of a sewing session both my home and I are covered in fluff. and I have itchy eyes and skin for days. But every now and then I roll up my sleeves and work with burlap, ‘cos it’s worth it for the final product!

This is a pillow I recently made out of a printed burlap, it has french script and graphics all over it.

I backed it with plain burlap, but next time I would back it with a heavy cotton. It is hard to sew burlap on burlap and not have the seams part, as it is a very loosely woven fabric. For this reason it is not my favorite fabric for pillows, and for this same reason this pillow resides in my home : it did not pass my somewhat perfectionist standards for sale!! I’m okay with that, it looks kinda cute on my little bench, don’t you think!

The great thing about burlap is the neutral color goes with pretty much anything, and it adds that rustic lived-in touch in a home. You can get it in a variety of colors nowadays, but I prefer the traditional light brown burlap, or the off white.

 

 This is a small runner I made in the off white, with white ruffles and broderie anglaise lace. 

It fits well on a bench or end table and looks equally cute folded up.

And of course you may remember my Queen Anne chairs which I painted white and reupholstered with burlap.

So there you have it, ~rgv french farmhouse stylin’ a la burlap~

How about you, do you like to decorate with burlap?

linking up to:
Nifty Thrifty Tuesday
Primp your Stuff Wednesday
We Did It! Wednesday
Wow Us Wednesdays 
Wednesday Wowzers 
White Wednesday

Tracey

for more posts on ~rgv french farmhouse stylin’~ see here:

vintage milk carrier

ticking and lavender

~blue and red ticking love~

~don't forget to check out my giveaway here~

Hi there! Let's talk about ticking shall we?

There is something so timeless and classic about ticking fabric. I love how it fits with so many decor styles. It comes in a variety of colors nowadays, but I like to sew with the blue or red.

These are large 20x20” pillows I sewed up in blue ticking for a customer. 

They look so good with the white pillows.

This is a smaller version with .…. a ruffle of course! 

A wide raw-edged shabby ruffle, why not! Great for tucking in with a bunch of pillows, or propping on a chair.

I’ll leave you with my red ticking pillow on my old rocker outside on the porch!

How about you, do you decorate with ticking?

linking up to Feathered Nest Friday
Home and Family Friday 
Frugal Friday
Air your Laundry Friday 
Show off your cottage Monday 
Take-a-look Tuesday
Nifty Thrifty Tuesday 
Creative Things Thursday 

Tracey

~the never-ending chair story~

Well friends, these chairs were a while in the making. Let me start at the beginning…

{this could be a longish post, grab a coffee}

Many years ago Mr RGV and I bought a handcrafted wooden farmtable and chairs. They have stood up to multiple moves and family dinners, but one by one the chairs were falling apart, literally. It was time to replace the chairs.

But new chairs are very, very expensive, and I’m not overly fond of new furniture anyways. So began the search, I had a budget of $100 and I wanted Queen Anne style chairs. Solid wood with tall backs and shapely legs.

Easy right? Not really, I found plenty on craiglist and such but they were either way overpriced or sold with the table, which we did not need.

Finally, finally around 18 months ago (yes really!) I found a set of four chairs while out treasure hunting one day with my friend Janis, they were $24.99 each. Even better, they were reduced to half price. $12.99 each. 

Perfect. Well within the budget. They started out looking like this:

Good solid bones, shouldn’t take long. Only I had never actually completely refinished chairs before!

First step was sanding, BIG job, and I couldn’t figure out how to get the seats off them so eventually just pulled them off. BIG MISTAKE! In the process I basically stripped the screws right out the wood and wrecked the bases.

Soooo, Mr RGV decided we needed new wooden bases and kindly cut them for me. Then when I removed the fabric to reuse the foam cushions, the foam disintegrated into powder. So then I had to get new foam cut. My budget chairs were starting to get expensive.

Then on a whim I decided to use oil based paint, what a nightmare (this was before ASCP hit our shores, my BFF). Just my opinion and I know oil based paint has it’s place, but honestly it took forever to dry between coats and ruined my brushes. You get the picture. Now me and ASCP, we get along just fine!

Anyway, you get the picture, lots of work and extra steps along the way. To be honest around this stage they kinda got put on hold, the staple gun wasn’t holding the fabric and I was about done with the chairs. 

Only problem was we were down to 3 of the originals, the situation was dire! I’d already pulled the bench in from the hallway and pretty soon we’d be perched on the floor!

So finally Mr RGV bought me a new staple gun, we upholstered them with a layer of osnaburg covered with a layer of burlap, so they’ll be easy and inexpensive to recover.

Now I totally love them! They have that classic french country look I was after and I love the touch the ruffles and ties give. 

I ordered these awesome chair covers from Paula and Erika's etsy store {Check out their store, the quality of their work is awesome and their pricing very reasonable.}

Don’t they look fab!! Now if Mr RGV would just agree to me painting the table legs white it would be perfect, don’t you think….

I’m sure we’ve all had projects we start that become larger than life and we just have to walk away for a while. It was so worth finishing this one up! Plus now we don’t have to sit on the floor to eat dinner!!

Hope you enjoyed the never-ending chair story!!

linking up to Feathered Nest Friday 
Nifty Thrifty Tuesday 
Furniture Feature Friday 
Show and Tell Friday
Frugal Friday
Piece of work Wednesday furniture

Tracey

~ruffley lavender petals~

So, how was your weekend? Mine was wet, wet, wet!! At least it is washing the snow away. I didn't find any peonies like I had hoped, well who looks for peonies in the middle of winter? A gal can always hope, right!

o

I did find these beautiful baby ruffley roses though, in the most gorgeous shade of pinky lavender, with raggedy, ruffley petals, which I love, and I thought I would share them with you! 

Aren't they pretty!

Tracey

~to brighten the day~

Hello peeps, we’ve had a lot of this around this week

and this

and while it’s pretty at first, after a while it does get me thinking about summer and warmth and pretty things….

Pretty things like peonies, my most favorite flower in the whole wide world.

 dreamy whites via paperbowlsnlemons

I love how full the flower heads are, layer upon layer of petals. Sometimes they look almost ruffled.

 via arosynote

The pink ones are pretty, but the white are breathtaking.

Reasonstobreathe via Megan Foster Corbett

In my own garden I have two peony plants, a pink and a white! I love to cut the blooms and bring them inside.

Don’t peonies make the most beautiful bouquets?

1.hanafloraldesign via Alexia Kedves

2.stylemepretty via Alanna Slusher

3.stylemepretty via Jocelyn Turcotte

Thinking pretty peony thoughts!

Tracey

~burlap and ruffles runners for sale~

had your eye on a burlap runner?

with yummy white ruffles

i've just listed several handmade one-of-a-kind runners in my

raggygirl etsy store

~and~

it's free US shipping on all my burlap runners this week!

~here's a peek~

 Extra long "Rue De La Couronne" burlap runner with shabby white ruffles  15x87" $45

"Rue De La Couronne" burlap runner with shabby white ruffles 15x64" $40

Burlap runner with shabby white ruffles 15x62" $35
SOLD

if you're interested in purchasing a runner click on the title of the one you like to go to my etsy store, or you can click on the etsy link in my sidebar:-)

Tracey

 

~sweet and simple burlap and ticking~

today i thought i'd show you two of the runners i've made recently for etsy customers

i love being able to make a piece just perfect for each customer's needs

this one is smaller and perfect for the centre of a table, or coffee table

it has a low profile but still has the interest of the ticking ruffle on either side

i liked it so much i listed another one in my etsy store!

this customer wanted a narrower version of my runner with vintage white ruffles

and she chose to have it made in the ivory burlap

so that's what I've been up to, sewing up a storm!

Tracey

~shabby vintage ruffles goin' on~

remember the pillow cover i showed you here

 in that gorgeous~romantic~ floral rose~ vintage~ linen?

well, i just couldn't leave it alone, i had to create a ruffley version

i think they would look sweet together on a wicker sofa or porch swing

shabby and springy and super comfy

~larger than a throw pillow, but smaller than a bedding pillow~

the perfect size to sink back into with a glass of lemonade....

.....happy spring - the sun is finally shining here today, yay!

Tracey

PS. don't forget to check out the awesome giveaway on my sidebar