I visited The Ministry of Upholstery to do the Weekend Footstool Course http://www.ministryofupholstery.co.uk/product/weekend-footstool-course/ I was both nervous and excited, I was going on my own due to having had to cancel a previous booking with my friend and sister, this was definitely not a knitting or crochet course! I did not have a clue what I was doing!
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| Fabric almost chosen ( I took them both) |
Anthony & Susie immediately made us feel welcome with cups of tea and lively chatter about the day ahead and I met the other ladies who had signed up for the weekend. There are two sizes of footstool and I had it in my mind that I wanted to do the larger of the two and asked to upgrade, but a word of warning you really need to book this ahead of your course date because they are made up especially for the course. I was lucky as Anthony dug one out for me.
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| Base Made & Webbing on |
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| Legs Painted |
All I had to take was my fabric, but as a crafter I had more than one in mind and struggled a little choosing my main one. This is an important choice as on day one you paint the legs of your footstool and they need to compliment your fabric. Susie has such a good eye for the fabulous Annie Sloane paints which you use that you feel like you are in very safe hands.
Susie helped me to mix two colours to get the perfect match for my fabric, I was so pleased!
Anthony is quite scary when he crosses the line into the upholstery workshop, he, very rightly, becomes Mr Health and safety and when you do your training on using the compressed air stapler you realise why, if you are not sensible and careful a nasty accident could happen. He is very clear as to what is and is not allowed in the work space. Unfortunately he is not as strict with his music choice and tortured us with Dolly Parton on day two (some liked it, I did not!), seriously though, both he and Susie make learning so much fun and their passion for their subjects shines through.
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| Truly the crafter I made 2 sets of buttons because I could not choose |
The work on day one was really all preparation for day two when my muscles where put to the test with lots of pulling and stretching of fabric and tightening buttons, which by the way we covered ourselves on the most fabulous machine, all in all by the end of day two I was exhausted and definitely needed the G & T which was waiting at home. There were 9 of us on the course and each of us made such different footstools, it was amazing. One of the ladies made the most fabulous pink sparkly footstool for her mum using fabric which she sells online.
The stool on the left was made by another student and the legs were done using silver leaf to compliment her pink sparkly top.
I finally chose my buttons (I got to use both my fabrics after all) and used my muscles to pull them into the footstool. I was so pleased with how my footstool was looking!
My legs are also on and I have used lots of skills to get to this point, all under the eagle eye of Anthony.
I was very quick to sit down and put my feet up on my new footstool whilst I pondered what my next upholstery project might be!! Maybe sitting and knitting for a while will help the thought process!
You can see lots of Anthony's work on the BBC program Money for Nothing http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b077p0jj/money-for-nothing-series-2-episode-1
which shows you just how creative you can get! Don't forget to visit the website
http://www.ministryofupholstery.co.uk/ and take a look at the shop where they stock Annie Sloane paints.
Finally if you are thinking about doing a course in anything look at it as an investment in yourself, it is great to gain a new skill and have fun into the bargain. Why not start small and learn how to crochet with Helen & I.
Have a great weekend xx
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