Tuesday, January 24, 2012

The ABC Toddler Tea Table (IKEA Hack by My Amazing Mom)

There's been a whole lot of sewing and knitting going on over here... I counted it all up and realized I'm currently super actively working on a pair of trousers, some toddler overalls, a Colette dress, a vintage Du Barry dress (more on that later—super exciting!), a hooded sweater AND a pair of mitered mittens... all in a sparse 1 - 2 hours per day. Now that I'm back into the making of things, I AM OBSESSED. Er... this is a familiar feeling.

Sadly, I have no finished objects to photograph this month—yet. But I do have a fabulous IKEA hack to show you, courteous of my amazing mom (last seen helping to solve a vintage sewing genealogy mystery at My Happy Sewing Place).

It started life as a $19.99 unfinished IKEA Lätt set. Little Ms. Z loved nothing better than sitting at her table and coloring with her crayons or partaking of imaginary tea:

It was unfinished and a little boring, so my parents took it home with them to give it a makeover, leaving Z the table my dad built for me and my brother when we were kids in the meantime. My mom stuck down some sticky foam letters and shapes she had lying around...

Then she spraypainted the Lätt red, creating an awesome relief effect (we're letting it air-dry for a while before Z gets it back, though, as I'm not sure of the paint's VOC levels). And she sewed little pockets for the chair backs for Z to keep her crayons in. Voila!

Oh, and just for fun, my mom also made some snow globes featuring photos of Z in the Tea Party dress I made for her—I believe glitter, glycerine and some cheap jars and vases from Michael's were involved:

P.S. Even if you're exclusively a sewer and not yarn-inclined, you might relate to this post by the Yarn Harlot on startitis and its aftermath.

2 comments:

  1. That's adorable! I LOVE the little pockets.

    My kids have gotten too big for the table my mom got them... it's kinda poignant, really. The little chairs float around the house, getting used for stepstools, and the table is supporting the hedgehog's cage, which is honourable work but nowhere near its former art- and tea-set glory.

    And I LOVE the startitis post. My main defense against it is being too lazy to change the thread before the project's finished, but now that I've become a machine hoarder, even that is not as helpful as it once was...

    Good luck with all your projects! (and if you are managing 1-2 hrs of sewing a day, you are doing FAR better than me!)

    ReplyDelete
  2. I agree- one or two hours is pretty good. Lately I've just been sitting around and staring at things hoping
    they magically get put together.

    Love those snow globes!

    ReplyDelete

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