Tuesday 23 July 2013

Bob, Bob, Bobbin’ Along!

There’s a space between two chairs at Cornerstones which needs a small table [for 2 cups of coffee, and my book, and Bob’s tablet]

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What I really wanted was one of these bobbins. I blogged about them back in May – and their £330 price tag.

Anne [from Marmalade and Catmint] said they were for those with more money than sense, and Mags said “Bet Bob could make you one”. She knows he cannot resist a challenge like that!

When Sandie [of Sandie’s Patch] moved house in April, she’d generously offered me some bits and pieces of sewing stuff she was decluttering. “And can you make use of this chipboard table?” she said. And look what happened…

First Bob took the table and made a circular base ready to screw on [using some scrap wood which was in the garage]

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Then he covered the sides with a cylinder of stiffish card [also lurking in the garage. I spent £3 on some red corduroy fabric, purchased on Leicester Market. I cut the fabric very carefully, hemming top and bottom and sewing a vertical seam. Then I slid the resulting tube over the card cylinder.

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The wooden base was screwed into place. Then Bob found a picture of a Sylko label online, enlarged it, and applied it to the top. He covered it with a number of layers of PVA glue.

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And here we have our bobbin coffee table, ready to go to Cornerstones.

Thank you Sandie for the table, and Mags for the challenge.

I am sure you will both agree that Bob has done a brilliant job! £3 is a lot better than £330, don’t you think!

21 comments:

  1. Fantastic. Perhaps you should go into business...

    What a well racked out garage. You could do a post on that and make your female readers jealous!

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    1. A friend was decluttering a shed and gave Bob all those plastic storage units - sorting all the bits and pieces has made sourcing the right screws etc for odd jobs a lot easier.

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  2. Marvellous! Well done Bob!

    I'm in two minds about the "more money than sense" thing.
    If people with loads of dosh didn't spend it on stuff most of us couldn't afford, then even more of us would be without the jobs that make those things. My mum worked most of her life at the John Smedley factory where lots of people were (still are) employed to make high quality knitwear for people who might be thought to have "more money than sense" considering that their jumpers cost ten times as much as one from M&S.
    My mum's one claim to fame s that when she worked in the mending department - yes, these wealthy people used to return their worn out clothes to the actory to be mended and restored to good as new rather than throw them out - she once mended King Farouk's (very large) underpants!

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    1. I guess that if you pay an awful lot for your clothes, mending them is a sensible option. I notice online that the JS vests are £95 - so I guess underpants are just as expensive.
      I loved your anecdote about 'My Mum and The King's Underpants'
      My concern is that many of the 'premium' clothing firms are no longer employing workers in the UK [with proper pay and conditions] but sometimes get the work done overseas more cheaply [ and do not always ensure workers are properly looked after]...and yet they still charge the megaprices.

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  3. That is brilliant! especially thinking of corduroy to look like giant cotton thread! Well done to both of you!

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  4. I'm so impressed! I love it when I can figure out a way to duplicate a very expensive item on a very tight budget...

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  5. Oh now I want one of those!!!!

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  6. If anyone could do it,it's you! It's fabulous ,Angela!
    JAne x

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  7. This is just marvelous. Oh, that Bob! Is there anything he can't do?

    xofrances

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  8. All I can say is: WOW!!!! That's amazing! The label looks great -- and you may well have a table of better quality than the regular ones!

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  9. Oh my!!! That is a seriously impressive DIY piece!!!!! WOW!!!! Well done to you both!x

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  10. That's brilliant. You have a very clever husband. Well done to both of you.

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  11. Wow! So glad the table came in handy then!
    Sandie xxx

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  12. Wow! Amazing and yes - what a price eh?

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  13. Brilliant - can I ask how you printed the top label - a huge photocopier or did you do it in sections? I wasn't going to ask but days later it is still bugging me - lol!!!!!!!
    L.x.

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  14. On an ordinary colour A4 printer, in tiles, to give an overall backdrop. Then Bob reprinted the shell shield and the 'sylko' section and stuck them on top. Or so he tells me- clever chap!

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