What To Do On A Sunday Evening

Two weeks ago, I decided to finally ‘upholster’ my DVD folders. I bought the folders at the SS2 pasar malam for something like RM4 each. They come in admittedly boring but fairly decent colours. I initially wanted to do a pale green and rose pink thing but ended up buying silver, navy, red and black too so that went out the window and in came the need to cover them up – quickly!

Again, the initial idea remained an idea. I was going to do them up with gorgeous Heather Bailey fabrics, especially from her Nicey Jane range. After a whole afternoon spent browsing through them a few weeks back, I was set to pack my bags for Vermont and spend my days frolicking in autumn leaves and baking Apple Charlottes.

But I would have ended up having to participate in The Biggest Loser. Plus after buying bits of furniture and art supplies and lycra dresses and prints of Lady Godiva prancing naked about Leicester and what not, I decided to just work with what I had.

What I did, and still do have, is a chest full of fabric. Most of them I cannot bring myself to cut up because I do take them out every now and then and stroke them lovingly. I know, I’ve been told it’s slightly disturbing but we all have our oddities don’t we?

What I could bring myself to cut up was the never-ending metres of sari material from Madras – in downtown KL, not India. They clash in colour but complement each other enough to look good as a series and there was plenty enough so as to not feel heartbroken about setting a pair of scissors on them.

Plenty of fabric glue later, voila! Teddy looks on appreciatively. I think the white and gold go really well with the orange. The blue is a tad cliché but OK. I’m not a fan of the green. It’s way out. I may have to re-do it or store horror movies in them or something.

The folders are padded with….I would like to say “artisan’s foam” or something clever and crafty, but no. I left it to the last minute on a Sunday evening to shop for supplies, so the best thing I could come up with was…air-conditioner filter. Yup that’s right. Despite being thinner than foam I would get at say, a craft or textile shop, I think it’s worked out just as well.

And of course while digging around my craft drawer I also found a bag filled with metres of embroidered ribbon I’d bought in a wholesale market in Guangzhou last year. So there you do, my DVD folders are a clash of Indian and Chinese influences. Let’s not say clash, but a confluence. There you go, now it sounds like Masjid Jamek.

Anyway, I really enjoyed making them and they look pretty alright on my shelf.