Category: DIY

Funem Swift Loom: Learning a New Skill

Source: Funemstudio.com

I’ve talked about my love of visible mending in the past and over the years have mended jeans, sweaters and quilts. When I saw a little loom pop up on my Instagram feed with a way to cutely patch small holes, I immediately clicked through to check it out.

I ended up purchasing a Swift Loom set from Funem Studios, which came with the swift loom pieces and a Cotton Warp Thread bundle of three colors. (It doesn’t look like my set is currently available, but the loom is here)

And yes, I’m also quite tempted by the larger looms to make scarves, napkins, place mats and even bookmarks (SO FREAKING CUTE), but I figured I’d try the little loom first to see if I enjoyed it. Also, I JUST set up my stained glass studio, so I don’t have a ton of other crafting/art making time…

Anyways, it was honestly pretty darn easy. I had a couple smaller holes in my jeans to experiment on, so I followed the Funem Studios instruction video that came with my order and hooked the loom into my jeans.

I made a few mistakes initially. Stopped the video. Rewatched it again. Tried again. Repeat. Repeat.

After my first square, I moved onto the second and realized that I might have made a mistake in the weaving portion the first time, so I experimented with a different way. This actually worked out great because I could look at both weaves and see exactly what the changes I made did as a result.

I LOVE it. Once I figured it out, it was pretty easy, quite quick to do and there are so many ways I can personalize it with different thread colors, thread weights and weaving patterns. Each mend becomes a tiny piece of art… kind of imperfect, visible and full of character.

Most importantly, it’s so satisfying to turn something worn-out into something uniquely mine. I can’t wait to use this new mending loom on everything from jeans to sweaters to tote bags!

Also, I am really wanting one of the larger looms too. Perhaps in the fall/winter when it’s too chilly to do my stained glass work in my sunroom…

Oh I do have one question though — does anyone know what that hook/needle thing on the top photo with the bend in the middle is for? It came with my set and I have no idea what it’s used for!

Disclaimer: Not sponsored and no affiliate links.

A Quick and Easy Dress Update

I’ve talked about easy ways to tailor your clothes to make them fit better or make them feel more “you” and I’m at it again. This time it is the literal EASIEST tailoring job I’ve EVER done on a dress, so I wanted to share it with you all in case you have a dress or skirt sitting in your closet that would benefit from the same treatment.

The dress:

I was browsing the thrift store, saw the fabric of this dress from 15 feet away, and immediately clocked it as something from Anthropologie. Even better, it was my size and a style I recognized – the “Somerset” dress that I own in another colorway and love!

The only thing was that I didn’t really *need* a second Somerset maxi dress. So, I figured I’d hem it to more of a midi dress so that I could get more use out of it. And that is where I completely lucked out…

The bottom of the dress is tiered and has these pretty little folds above each tiered section. So all I had to do was carefully cut off the bottom tier, BEHIND the folds and save myself the trouble of getting out my sewing machine and hemming it!

That’s right, I JUST HAD TO CUT off a tier. No needle and thread. No sewing. NOTHING.

It took less than 5 minutes.

And BOOM. That’s it. Dress tailored in the easiest way possible. It was so easy, I woke up, decided to shorten it, cut the bottom off and wore it to work that day. That’s what we call an easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy moment, my friends!

Here’s the thing, there are TONS of tiered dresses and skirts out there. So if you have one in your closet that isn’t getting worn much because you’re not as into the ‘maxi’ length, give it a little chop-chop. Depending on how the tiers come together, you may get lucky and not even have to hem it at all. (If you MUST hem it and you can’t/don’t want to sew, you can always use this for a quick and easy hem: https://amzn.to/4s3Lkkc)

Oh and if you’d like to see a quick before/after video which gives a better look at the dress folds and the inside of the hem where I cut it, I made a Reel here:

Disclosure: This post contains an Amazon affiliate link. This means that clicking on a link may help me earn a small commission at no cost to you.

DIY Laundry Room Refresh

Our laundry room has been kind of horrible since we moved in 14 years ago. I know, I know. How did we get by for FOURTEEN years without me doing something about it… especially when I’ve redone the nearby bathroom like 3-4 times? I don’t know, I guess I tried to just ignore it.

Which is kind of hard when I have a straight view into the washer and dryer from my favorite spot in the den. And I let the dogs out into the backyard with that door to the left multiple times a day. And I enter from the right door every time I come in from my garage. Anywhoo, I finally decided to just go for it and within a week, our laundry room had a glow up!

Here’s the before:

So yeah, it’s kind of a ‘hard working’ room.

The ugly brown walls were leftover from the last people who owned the house (I KNOW). When we moved in, I added the curtain and pictures from my ‘home decorating stash’ and they were okay, I guess. We also added the ‘stockroom’ portion which is what we call that food shelf and it is invaluable when we do our Costco/Sam’s Club shopping for extras.

My goal for the refresh was: lighter and brighter. I wanted it to feel clean and crisp and have better organization. I also didn’t want to spend a ton of money to do it and planned on doing every single thing 100% myself.

The plan: repaint the walls to something lighter, add tile to the back wall, and mount some shelves to give a natural spot to end the tile and start the upper wall paint. Also, clean out some unneeded stuff and add better organization options.

Here’s what I purchased for the project:

Total: $265

Things I already owned: 1 gallon of Behr “Greige” paint (leftover from when I did our living room and upstairs bathroom/walk-in closet), ceiling paint, white trim paint, white silicone caulk, command hook, wall mounted laundry drying rack, and assorted stuff for shelf décor.

First up, was cleanout time. I removed everything from the laundry room, dragged the washer and dryer away from the walls, and took down everything from the walls. I scrubbed the crap out of the gross laundry room sink too, which frankly has needed to be done for a while. Then, I spackled all the holes in the walls and let them dry for about a day before sanding the bejezzus out of them to get them nice and smooth.

Next, I grabbed some ceiling paint I had sitting around and painted the tops of all the walls. The person who painted previously was messy, so there was some brown on the edges and the ceiling – so in repainting with a new color, I wanted to make sure I’d have nice, crisp edges with no ugly brown lurking around.

Then, it was time to start the tile… which is quite fun and gives some immediate gratification of what it will look like when it’s done. I used a level and tape measure to make sure that everything was going to be perfectly straight and then I started peeling and sticking that tile on from wall to wall. I absolutely loved the tiles I picked and they were relatively easy to work with. For piecing the puzzle together, I would eyeball the sizing and then take a pair of hardy scissors and cut the thick plastic tiles to the correct size, making adjustments as needed. The edges (where the tile met the wall) didn’t need to be perfect since I was planning to caulk.

It took 2 coats of paint for nice coverage of the previous color. Once I was done painting the walls, I grabbed some trim paint and re-painted all the trim so it looked nice and fresh/white/clean again. Then, I caulked each side of the tile to give it a professional look.

Then it was the easy bits of hanging/re-hanging everything – up went the shelves, laundry drying rack, vacuum charger and pictures. Oh and if you’re wondering why I had to take down the laundry rack and vacuum charger, fill the holes and then re-mount them both… they had to move over a few inches to accommodate the new shelf.

Here’s the after:

If you’d prefer to see a compilation video, you can see it here:

I’m so happy with how it turned out! It just feels so much more bright and clean, and it is a much prettier view from my spot on the den couch. Of course, I’m kicking myself for not doing this year’s ago, but I’m quite satisfied with my less than a week of work (in my spare time, I have a day-job) and less than $300!

Disclosure: This post contains an Amazon affiliate links. This means that clicking on a link may help me earn a small commission at no cost to you.