Make your own vintage shopping bag

If you’ve been following our Twitterings recently you will know that we have got our hands on our editor Alysia’s great great grandmother’s book of household tips, all cut out of newspapers from the 1920s-40s. We’ve  also come across this rather nifty article, probably dating from the war, about how to make a rather stylish shopper out of upholstery webbing. Not only is it cheap to make (although, what with the recent demise of Woolies, expect to pay more than 2 1/2d. per yard for your webbing), it’s superbly practical – no more yucky plastic bags – and it totally rocks the 1940s vintage utility look – what more does a girl need!

How to Turn Upholstery Webbing into a Shopping Bag

make your own 1940s style shopping bag

“Since the Government’s ‘no wrapping’ order, a shopping bag, like Mary’s little lamb, goes everywhere with most of us. And how prices for them have soared!

Here is a tough, inexpensive but attractive bag made from upholstery webbing. 8 1/2 yds of string coloured webbing is required. (Woolworth’s 2 1/2d. a yd.) Cut 15 strips of webbing 17 ins. long, then the remainder in two, for the handles.

The completed bag has 7 strips a side, with one at the bottom doubled. Treat this as a central strip, and start stitching the lengths of webbing together from the bottom upwards. When joining on the fifth strip, stitch along for 5 1/2 ins., leave a 5 in. gap for the insertion of the handles, then stitch on to the end. Sew on two more strips of webbing and one side of the bag is finished.

Repeat for the other side, again starting from the bottom central strip of webbing, so that the ribbing effect made by the stitching, points upwards to match the reverse side of the bag. Unless this is done there will be no place for the handle.

When the webbing is all joined, double it, lay it flat on a table, and slope off from the top at the top at both sides, one inch, graduated to nothing.

Next, with a half-inch turning, join the sides of the bag together. Insert the handles. Stitch right across the gap left for them, then sew the handles flat to the bag.

Circular handles for the bag are made by stitching the webbing round thin pads of cottonwool.

The shopping bag can be glamourised by a dip in a dye bath. (Dyes also from Woolworth’s 4 1/2d.) After dyeing, when the bag is dry, a narrow bind of of contrasting colour stitched round the top is decorating and strengthening. Press (iron) the bag when this has been added.

The colour scheme of the bag illustrated is tangerine with a navy bind. Other good ones are cherry and black; and emerald and brown. A small oddment of any strong fabric can be used for the bind.”

A Girl’s Guide to Decorating – book review

 

This week we are LOVING A Girl’s Guide to Decorating by London-based interior designer Abigail Ahern! When it arrived on the doorstep of Bookshelf Boyfriend Towers there was a flurry of excitement as we all got to read through what has to be one of the most gorgeous DIY books published.

Filled with inspirational pictures that burst with colour on every page, it is impossible to browse this book without spending far longer than intended and wishing for more rooms in your home so that you can try out the various style and decorating tips.

From making tiny rooms feel more spacious, to tips on dividing up space in larger rooms, Abigail demonstrates how this can be done super-easily, cost effectively and, most importantly, stylishly. The presiding message of the book is that the best way to achieve this is by injecting your own personality through your home. It is a refreshing move from the bland “blank canvas” that has been so encouraged during the housing boom- when was a house was more a commodity than a home.

Abigail includes simple suggestions for how to approach each room and she fully explains all major decorating techniques with step-by-step instructions – from hanging wallpaper, to creating shelving and achieving different lighting effects. Chapters are based around fundamental elements of home design: space; colour; light; texture and the individual touches that make it your own.

Go on – glamorise your home and make it a hot property as well as a cool place to live!

 

Read extracted guides from the book on Bookshelf Boyfriend.com: How to sand and paint floors, and, How to box out shelves.

Buy A Girl’s Guide to Decorating on Amazon.

Make your own paper logs for burning

This is just a quick Thrift Bitch to tell you about something I have just discovered. 

Those of you lucky enough to have a working real flame fireplace will most likely have lit your last fire until the end of the summer (fingers crossed) but that is no need to not look forward to next winter. This contraption will also be of use to those who have a wood-burning stove.

The recycled paper brick maker is to me a wonderful contraption. Basically all you need to do is soak your old newspapers, place them in the brick making mould and then squeeze it to get rid of excess water. Then leave the new recycled paper brick to dry.

When completely dry it can be used in replacement of logs/coal, making it thrifty as all hell- pretty much free after you have bought the brick maker. On top of that it’s more environmentally friendly as you are not using carbon energy fuels and you are recycling something that would otherwise have gone to waste! Perfect.

Bricks burn for up to two hours. Prices vary from around £15- £30.

Check out Amazon for the eko-mania Heavy Duty Paper Log Maker, or B&Q for the Winther Brown Paper Log Maker.

See more tips and how-tos by our Nifty Thrifty .

May gardening jobs

The weather hasn’t exactly be great over the last few days, but we’re all promised at least a little bit sunshine this weekend. So what better than a perfect excuse to get yourself out in the garden and get on with a few of those jobs you’ve been meaning to get round to. They’re all pretty quick and simple, so you should get them done before the rain returns!

• Lettuce and mixed salad leaves, carrots, and beetroot can all be sown outside now. Courgettes and squash should be sown in pots on the windowsill, or in mounds of soil enriched with compost or manure.
• Watch out for frosts at night and cover any tender plants with fleece or polythene.
• Keep the hoe going up and down the rows, to keep weeds at bay before they have a chance to take hold.
• Water thirsty crops in the evening if the soil is dry, but not when the sun is high as it’s a waste of water and might burn tender foliage.
• If you didn’t get round to sowing tomatoes, peppers and aubergine earlier in the year, check out your local garden centre as they will have some interesting varieties for planting out when all danger of frost is past.

Thanks to Judy Maciejowska our resident Vegetable Gardening expert. Read more of her gardening advice in the Gardening Section of BookshelfBoyfriend.com.

Springtime house maintenance

Dilapidated house, by Frankie Roberto

With the bank holiday weekend coming up, and many of us saving the pennies by staying at home this Easter, why not tackle some of those household jobs you’ve been meaning to get on with for ages – your property will look and feel better for it, and you can reward yourself with all that chocolate on Sunday!

 

Moss & mildew:

OK, you’ve hibernated for the best part of six months. Spring is here and it’s time to get scrubbing. Invest in a wire brush from your local ironmongers and scrub off any moss or mildew from your brick and stonework.

Your property will breathe better as a result because you’re removing something that absorbs damp and keeps it right against your home. Moss may look rustic and charming but your home is better off without it.

While you’re at it, remove any moss from pathways and you won’t need to tread so carefully up to the front door again.

Kitchen:

Clean the filter in the cooker hood (a totally nasty job but one your kitchen needs). Also, check around the washing machine and dishwasher areas for leaks.

Bathroom:

When you do your spring cleaning, have a look at the seals around the side of the bath, washbasin and the floor and walls of the shower.

If you can see any gaps or discolouration around the seal, go and buy some silicon sealant from any DIY shop and reseal all edges. The last thing you want is for water to get behind your appliances and cause damage you can’t see.

 

Read rest of article: Seasonal House Maintenance on BookshelfBoyfriend.com

Original article by Madeleine Thomas

Bad girls’ guide to good DIY

…or maybe it should be a good girl’s guide to bad DIY?

Despite one’s best efforts, it isn’t always easy pulling the right guy in order to get a particular job in the house done, and you may often find yourself having to tackle the tasks yourself.  Particularly in this current financial climate, the lack of free-flowing money also means that one can’t always justify getting professionals in for small jobs that with a bit of time and effort we could do ourselves.

Previous experience has shown the amateurs among us at BB:

1. That doing a job yourself can be more enjoyable than you might anticipate, and really satisfying once its done, especially when its something tricky you’ve never tackled before.
2. Quite often you can get away with adopting certain ‘cowboy’ tactics and shortcuts without opening any DIY books beforehand.
3. More often than not you can’t get away with adopting cowboy tactics; you do need to open a DIY book before starting a task; and it really does help reading up BEFORE you start (I usually remember this half-way through a project).
4. As a girl living on your own, it can be quite amazing how many neighbours are willing to help you out of a sticky situation, lend you a tool, or give you a hand with the odd job here and there.
5. Sometimes you really do just have to bite the bullet and hire the help of a professional!

 
As moderately technically minded but essentially quite lazy girls here, we lack in patience when it comes to reading and working out long instructions. We do tend to dive straight into a DIY project, and reap the benefits, or other consequences, of our actions later…

So we thought we’d add a few ‘rules’/tips that we find help us get through a day of good or bad DIYing. We hope that some of these can be of help to you too.

1. Get your hands on a pair of nice but cheap jeans and tops that you won’t mind getting indelible dirt on. They should be stylish enough that you don’t mind your hunky next-door neighbour (lucky you!) seeing you in, and (most importantly) very comfortable as there’s nothing worse than having to readjust yourself every few minutes when you’ve got filthy hands and you’re already feeling a little tense because things aren’t going quite as quickly or smoothly as you had hoped.

 

2. Have a half-decent tool collection, which should include:
   a cordless drill and power screwdriver (combined is fine)
   a large and small flat head screwdriver
   a medium and small phillips screwdriver
   a hammer
   pliers
   a utility knife
   a Leatherman multi-tool – such as the ‘Wave’ model – they’re great for getting you out of all sorts of scrapes. Keep it in the kitchen draw so you can grab it in an instant – minimum effort being key! (thank you handyguys for that reminder!)     

   and for any work you’re doing on your car:

   a socket set
   extra pliers and some spanners

   For great tools ergonomically designed for women, check out Tomboy Tools.

 

3. Have a copy of a decent DIY book, such as the Collins “Complete DIY Manual”, which you can refer to before you start, or once things go a bit wrong.

 

4. Allow at least three times as much time as you expect you will need to get a job done. If you’re prepared from the onset that its going to take all day, you won’t get annoyed when it does, and you’ll be pleasantly surprised when it only takes you twenty minutes!

 

5. Borrow your friends’ husbands and boyfriends. Ask people (who you trust enough to offer you sensible help that is) for any advice or to clarify anything you’re not sure about. Quite often they’ll be more than willing to jump in and do the job for you. Don’t get proud in these situations, be grateful that you’re not working up a sweat today, there will be plenty more days when you’ll be wishing someone would jump in for you. (Now, we’re not suggesting that your girlfriends wouldn’t be able to help you out with DIY advice. Far from it. It’s just that in our experience none of them are daft enough to jump in and do the job for you – so what’s the point of asking them…)

 

6. Have access to tea making facilities close by, it allows you to walk away, calm your nerves and regroup your thoughts when things are getting a bit strained.

 

7. Finally, have a decent bottle of wine or some tasty beers standing by for when you’ve finished – you’ll deserve a treat, and my god it’ll taste good. It really can be worth putting yourself through a lot of hard work for this reason alone!

 

This is a blog written by the less than expert section of the editorial team at Bookshelf Boyfriend.  For really good practical advice written by professionals, experts and knowledgeable enthusiasts, then log on to BookshelfBoyfriend.com!

[ASM]

A warming winter welcome!