How to make and attach a neck pillow for your glider

This neck pillow makes it so much easier for you to rest your head on when you're up late at night with the kiddos.

What you'll need:

-8 inches of Velcro for sewing 

-1/2 a yard of fabric (if you are following from the Glider update tutorial you can use fabric you'll have left over from your 5 yards)

-old pillow

Cut out two strips that are 2 inches wide and 16 inches long.  Make sure the material is double sided.  Turn the material face to face and sew a 1/4 inch seam along the left, top, and right edges leaving the bottom open.  Turn inside out.  Make sure you get the corners pointy again.  You may need to get a pencil to push the corners out.  Turn over the bottom edge, pin, and sew it closed.  Cut your 8 inches of Velcro in half.  Pull the two pieces apart.  Sew one piece from each of them to one end on each strip of material.  

To make the pillow part, lay out your material (make sure it's double sided) and cut a 12 inch wide and 7 inch tall piece of material.   Lay the material down face to face and sew around three edges.  Turn the pillow inside out.  Take your two strips of material you just made and sew them to the pillow.  Refer to the picture to see how far apart they are.  Make sure your Velcro is in the right place (refer to the picture below).

Now you'll need to get your padding for the inside of the pillow.  Get your old pillow out and cut a corner off that will fit inside your new pillow snugly.  Place your padding inside your new pillow.  Turn over the edge of material which is still unsewn, pin, and sew it closed.

Next you need to sew the other side of the 4 inch Velcro pieces to the back of your back cushion.  If you're following from the Glider Update tutorial you will have left your bottom piece to this open.  To sew this, you'll need to take out any existing cushions so you have room to sew.  

Now put your cushions back in and fold the bottom piece up, pin, and sew it closed.

The Velcro attachment allows you to change where your pillow is placed.  Much more comfortable.

And you're finished

Glider Update-Stain/Recovering

I got this glider for $20 at a yard sale.  It really needed more cushion support and new material.  So I decided to give it a face lift.

What you'll need:

For cushion update:

-5 yards of material for reupholstering

-matching thread

-sewing machine

-pins

-2 foam piece to fit back and bottom cushions

-matches

For neck pillow:

-velcro

-old pillow

For stain update:

-your choice color of stain

-power sander

-wet cloth to wipe off sand

-plastic gloves

-old sock for staining

The arm rests are connected with snaps and the other pieces are with Velcro.  To start, take all the cushions off the glider.

This is the back rest cushion to my glider.  Lay yours down on your material with the material double sided so you don't have to cut it twice.  Cut around the outer edge of this cushion

leaving about 2 to 2 1/2 inches around the outside.  You'll need this space for your extra cushion you'll be adding for more back support.

Now turn the two pieces to face one another and pin around the edge.  Sew along the three edges (top, left, and right sides) leaving a 1/2 inch seam. 

My glider back cushion is connected with two Velcro ties on the back.  Next, I cut a 1/2 inch line right where both of these ties were on the cushion so I could poke them through.  I used a pencil to mark the two lines.

Heat seal both cuts in your material so they don't fray.

Here's a picture of the two Velcro ties on the back of the cushion.  To cover these, cut two strips 1/2 inch thick and 3 inches long.  Sew a 1/4 inch seam around the edges.  Now pin them to the top part of the longer piece of Velcro (the one that will be seen from the back of the glider).  Sew both strips to their respective Velcro tie matching them up to the corners and outer edges.  You will have extra material from each strip.  This is to ensure your ties stay tucked in when you pull these pieces through the two cuts you made in the material previously.

This is the foam piece i bought from Joann's.  This size fit for both the back piece and the bottom cushion.  Lay this foam pad on top of the back cushion.  Cut so the foam piece matches the same design/size as the back cushion.  

Now you will take your material you sewed for the back cushion and turn it right side out.  Place the foam piece and the back cushion in this material pocket making sure the Velcro ties on the back cushion are in place to poke through.  Poke the Velcro ties through the two cuts you heat sealed earlier.  This is where your extra long piece on the Velcro ties will come in handy.  This piece will stay tucked in the pocket for a cleaner look.  Fold the bottom up, pin, and sew it closed.

NOTE: IF YOU WANT TO ADD THE PILLOW TO THE GLIDER YOU NEED TO LEAVE THE BOTTOM PIECE TO THIS BACK CUSHION OPEN SO YOU CAN SEW VELCRO ONTO THE POCKET!

*There is a link to the pillow tutorial at the bottom of this page.

Now we'll start on the bottom cushion.  Place the bottom cushion on top of your material (double-sided) and cut around the outer edge leaving a 2 to 2 1/2 inch space between the cushion and the edge of the material.

Turn the material face to face, align it, and pin it for sewing.  Sew along the three outer edges (left side, top, and right side).

Place the bottom cushion on top of your second foam piece and cut around the edges matching the same shape/size.  I drew lines around the cushion with a permanent marker to make it easier to cut.

Now you'll cut strips for the bottom cushion Velcro ties.  Cut two that are 1 3/4 inches wide and 4 inches long.  The other two you'll cut are 1 3/4 inches wide and 2 1/2 inches long.  Sew a 1/4 inch seam around the edges of these four strips.  Now pin and sew them to their respective Velcro ties. The left side should have the one strip that is 4 inches long and another strip that is 2 1/2 inches long.  And the right side should have the same (one 4 inch strip and one 2 1/2 inch strip).

Now measure where your bottom cushion Velcro ties will need to go through the material.  Mark a 1/2 inch line for these two areas with a pencil.  Cut your two 1/2 inch lines and heat seal them with a match.

Turn your bottom cushion pocket inside out.  Place the bottom cushion and foam pad on top of each other and put them both inside your bottom cushion pocket.  Make sure you match the original bottom cushion Velcro ties to the cuts you heat sealed.

Pull the Velcro ties through the material.  You will have extra material that will still be inside the pocket for a cleaner look.  

The next step is to close up your new bottom cushion.  This was too difficult for me to sew with my machine so i used embroidery thread and sewed it by hand.  Fold the end up like a present and sew it up the middle.

Starting on the arm rests, place one on top of your material to cut.  Make sure your material i double sided.  In this picture I didn't leave much room around the edges (bad idea).  I had to re-cut it but forgot to take a pic.  So make sure to leave 2 inches around the edges!  My pocket was roughly 14 inches wide and 17 inches tall.  So when I cut the material it was 16 inches wide and 20 inches tall.  I left extra room at the top so it would be easier to put the arm rest back onto the glider.  When you put it back on you kind of have to pull it this way and that to attach the snaps.

Instead of using the existing pocket, we'll make a new one for each arm rest.  It's much easier to do this.  Cut a piece of material that is half the size of the arm rest ( just like the existing pocket).  Turn the top piece of the pocket over 1/2 inch and sew a 1/4 inch seam along the edge.  Now place the pocket on the inside of your existing pieces.  Make sure this piece is correctly placed with the top edge up.

Turn your material face to face (with the pocket piece in the middle), pin it, and sew along the left, top, and right edges.  Mark where your snaps are with a pencil and cut a very small hole so you'll be able to snugly fit the snap around the material for a clean look.  Heat seal the edges of the holes.  Make sure your holes are at most half the size of the snaps to make sure they'll fit snugly.  

Now place your existing arm rest inside your new pocket.  Make sure you get your snaps in the holes snugly.  Fold the end in, pin, and sew it closed.

Your next step is to place your cushions back on your glider to make sure they fit.  

The cushion Recover for your glider is now finito! Yay!

STAINING YOUR GLIDER

Take all of your cushions off the glider and sit them somewhere safe.  I took mine out to the garage to make the mess easier to clean up.

Now you'll get out your power sander and go at the glider.  Make sure to sand all of the wood really well.  I didn't bother taking off the white material here but if you would like to you can.  You would need a staple gun to put it back on.  

When you have sanded the glider, you'll need to wipe all the sand off.  Make sure you get all of it off!

Staining

You'll need:

-a pair of disposable gloves

-an old sock

-stain of your choice

-plastic sheet for easy clean-up

Put your plastic gloves on first.  Then put your sock on.  Open up your stain and dip your sock into it and start applying the stain to the chair.  Continue this until the chair is as dark as you like.  

Let the chair dry completely before bringing it back inside to put the cushions back on.  You don't want to get stain on your new material :).

The finished product!

Before and After

After I finished this I decided I needed a small pillow for my head to relax on.  Much easier when you're up late at night.  Follow this link for the tutorial on How to make and attach a neck pillow for your glider.

Follow this link to the Neck Pillow tutorial

Baby Girl Head Bands

I recently made these for a baby shower and found something awesome to help with attaching the bows to the head bands.  I bought one of those plastic snaps clamps at Joanns.   It makes things so much easier.  And the snaps dont hurt your babies head :)

Here's a few more ideas...

Oak Cabinet Update

What you'll need for this project:
-dark walnut stain
-white paint
-faux glaze can
-gloves for staining/glazing
-paint brush
-power drill
-drill bit for hardware
-hardware
-stainable wood putty
-wood putty
-crown moulding
-3 corbels
-bead board
-corner moulding for lower cabinets
-3 base corner moulding pieces
-accent wood piece
-base board (i chose the small 1/4 circle look)
-8' of pine wood board (1" thick)
-4' worth of 5" wide and 1" thick board
-a beveled piece of wood 12"x width between cabinets above your sink (I got mine at my local home improvement restore)
-post for banister cut into two pieces (also found mine pre-cut at the restore)
-nail gun & 1.5", 3/4" nails
-miter saw
-jig saw
-circular saw
-level
-power sander
-degreaser/cleaner for cabinets
-tape measure

This is how my cabinets looked when we moved into our house...pay no attention to the dirty dishes :)

I'm not a huge fan of the lighter stain pine look so I took it upon myself to redo them:)

I've been looking at ideas on the internet and decided I really liked the two tone color cabinets.  I'm going to stain my upper cabinets a dark walnut color and paint/glaze my lower cabinets.  I'm also going to add an insert above my sink and a few corbels here and there.  Also, I need to install some hardware.  

Step 1: 

Clean and degrease all of your cabinets.  Just because you can't see it, doesn't mean it's not there.  I would go over everything a couple times with your degreaser.  It's a bummer when you're painting and run into a greasy spot.  

Step 2:

Add the banister pole (which has been down the middle) to both sides of the bottom cabinets below the sink. 

Step 3:

Create your middle insert above your sink.  I drew out the dimensions and plans for this exactly how I wanted it.  You may want to make a few changes to it depending on what the area looks like above your sink.  Take your 8' pine board and cut it into three pieces; the front, and both sides.  Make sure you cut 45 degree angles on both sides of the front piece and one side on each of my side pieces.  My front was 43"x12", and each side was 17"x12". The bottom piece to these three sides is 43"x5".  Attach the four pieces together with your nail gun.  Now attach this whole piece to your cupboards on the left and right sides.  Use your 1.5" nails. 

 Next, add the beveled piece at the bottom of the insert piece as you can see in the picture below.  To do this you need something to nail it to because it's flush with the cabinets in the front.  Measure how thick your board is and mark a line with a pencil.  Cut two 2" thick board as tall as your beveled piece from the left over pine board.  Line them up to your lines you drew.  Use your nail gun and attach these two pieces to your cabinets.  Now attach your beveled piece to these two pieces to secure them to your cabinets.  I bought three 2"x5"x6"corbels.  They were around $10.00 each at Home Depot.  Use your nail gun and nail two of the corbels into place like my picture below.  

Now add your choice of crown moulding.  I put two different types because I wanted designs with dimensions so that when I glaze this center piece it will stand out.  Also add your accent wood piece and do your best to center it.  I put wood glue behind it and a couple of smaller nails.  

Now you'll want to use your wood putty (if you're glazing this like I am you can just use regular wood putty). Make sure to use your putty knife to get as even as possible so it looks smooth and normal when you sand it down.  Putty all of your cracks, nail holes, and the areas you pieced together.

Step 4:

Rip off your existing corner moulding to the lower cabinets where you will be installing your bead board.  If you can, be as nice as possible to your moulding while pulling it off so you can reuse it.  I got my bead board at home depot in an 8'x4' piece.  It's cheaper that way.  Measure your bead board areas and cut it down to size.  I used my circular saw to do this.  Make sure you cut it slow and as straight as possible.  Nail the bead board into place with your shorter nails.  Cut your base board with your miter saw to fit along the bottom of the cabinets as they wrap around your kitchen.  I was able to reuse my corner molding but I had to cut it a bit to fit with my base board and base corner mouldings.  The base corner mouldings definitely added to the look of the update, but you don't have to do them.  You could just add your base board and cut 45 degree angles to align your corner pieces.  The jig saw is handy with this next part.  Measure how far out you want your base corner moulding to go and mark it.  Now take your jig saw and cut it so you have a 90 degree angle out of one of the four corners on each piece which will custom fit to the corner it will go to.  I used my larger nails to attach the base board, corner moulding, and base corner moulding.

Step 5:

Use your power drill and drill bit to pre-drill the hole for your hardware.

Step 6:

Add your wood putty to any nail holes, crevices, etc... Let it dry.  Once dried, sand it really well so it's smooth.  Make sure that all your piece smooth right to one another.  When you glaze it will pick up any funny marks or pieces that stand out.  Run your hand over the areas you putty.  This helps better than looking at it.  

When you have sanded everything very well wipe it off with a damp cloth or one of those static cling cloths to get all the saw dust off to prepare the wood to paint.  I like the look of white paint under my glaze so it gives it that rustic charm look.  Paint everything that will be glazed white. This project took 3 coats.  Make sure you cannot see the color underneath.  Let this dry overnight.  Make sure to take all your cabinet doors off to paint and glaze.  When you take them off don't forget to draw a map of your kitchen with numbers on each cabinet.  And also draw on your cabinets the same numbers so you know exactly where they go again.  I wrote on mine with permanent marker in the hole where the hinges go on the inside and covered it with painters tape.  

Step 7:

Here comes the fun part!! Glazing!!  Follow my Glazing 101 tutorial on how to glaze and what materials you'll need.  Make sure you let this dry for a week before you put your sealant on.  I would put polycrylic on this because it's white.  Polycrylic doesn't yellow over time but polyurethane does.  

Step 8:

Add the crown moulding to your upper cabinets.  Crown moulding is not fun to do on your own if you're new at it!  I think it's a two person job.  Check out a few tutorials on how to do crown moulding before you attempt it or get someone who knows how.  I had my brother help me:).  You'll use your miter saw for this.  Cut your correct angles and dimensions.  Use your level to make sure you have it straight before you start nailing.  This is why I think it's easier with two people.  One person on each end of the moulding.  This also ensures that your corners meet up cleaner.  Wood putty the nail holes and corners.  Sand, and wipe down to get them ready to stain.   

Step 9:

Use your power drill and drill bit to pre-drill the holes for your hardware.  Sand down the holes.

Step 10:

Take all your doors off the upper cabinets to prep them to stain.  I used the dark walnut stain from my Glazing 101 tutorial.  Make sure to go crazy sanding these babies!!!!!!  I used liquid sander on mine...not a good idea!  Where these cabinets are over 10 years old..they've been sitting a while and had a lot of grease, etc.. baked onto them over time, the liquid sander does didly squat!  I had to go back and sand everything with my power sander.  Go over the cabinets you're staining a few times.  In the end it's worth it!!!  You want your stain to suck into these old cabinets, not dry on top of them.  

Once your stain is dry, put the doors back up.  

Add your hardware to all the cabinet doors and drawers.

*remember to put a sealer over everything after it's completely dry.  A week is usually pretty safe.

And you're done :)

Before and After

 

AFTER

The finished product.