Swiss Army Blanket

All posts tagged Swiss Army Blanket

Upcycled Swiss Army Blankets

Posted by James on August 24, 2013
Posted in: Did Ya Know?, New Home. Tagged: , , . 1 Comment

The Cavender house is a “hubbub” of activity today as we both pack for the airport tomorrow and make sure the house is stocked with plenty of clean towels and bacteria-free bottled water for the Doberman sitter.

Mexico, Cabo San Lucas. Thanks for asking.

We have both earned a vacation this year, trust me.

I was closely monitoring Jamie pack, as I always do, and I noticed his new collection of little travel bags.

Apparently Mr Jamie had snuck some new pieces into his line-up for traveling.

These groovy travel bags from Ecolution on Etsy.

Swiss Army Bags from Ecolution

Ecolution bags and accessories are the brain child of artist Sylvie Thiel.  She lives in Montreux Switzerland, BTW.

Didn’t you wonder how she got her hands on so many Swiss army blankets to hack up?

This toiletry bag is enormous.

Upcycled Blanket into a Toiletry Bag from Ecolution

We both travel with a lot of “product” – what well-groomed gay man doesn’t ? – and this bag holds it all.

The details are right on target too. That sewn-on cross is my favorite part.

Close Up on the Toiletry Bag Strap

Sylvie honors the past using vintage fabrics (old Levis, wool blankets, French linen, even Japanese Kasuri textiles) and gives them a second life by combining them with leather and current hardware.

The smaller toiletry bag is just the right size for Jamie to keep all his small electronics, their chargers, batteries, and memory cards.

Small Wool Toiletry Bag and Business Card Holder

She even custonizes with monogrammed leather tags.

Close Up on the Monogramed Tag

No more confusing whose is whose.

The boiled wool wallets and business card holders are soft and flexible for traveling too.

Business Card Holder from Ecolution

Y’all know how much we love Swiss Army Blankets in this house. A few years ago we covered a vintage chair with an army blanket.

Looks like Jamie is all set for our trip. My stuff is in ziplocs, I may need to catch up.

We’ll return after a week of well-deserved beaches and margaritas,

In the mean time, you are free to read about a couple other trips we’ve taken.

Dinner on the Carnival Victory Caribbean Cruise

Our Caribbean cruise with the Pecks

James and Jamie with Mile Markers

Our quick Key West trip (not to ruin the surprise, but there’s a hurricane involved)

Adios……………..

Blanket Chair Revisited

Posted by James on February 19, 2012
Posted in: New Home. Tagged: , , , . 9 Comments

I know that everyone remembers a few weeks ago when I was bragging about how we were gunna reupholster an old 50’s chair with military blankets from the Army/Navy store….

Well guess what?

We freaking did it! I told you that we would, and we did. So take that! Not everything around here is a half-done project….

Have a look-see….

Pretty Awesome , right?

OK, to be honest, it took 2 tries, but they finally got the cushions right. The old ones had piping…and I definitely did not want it on the new, young ones. So what did they do? They piped them. No worries though, it only took a day to reconstruct them.

I gave him all the written and visual instructions that I could think of…I even ran the stripe down the front in blue painters tape as an example. So he understood that I wanted it on the sides of the cushions and not just the fronts…..ohhh, and slightly off centered.

We bought 2 pretty good-sized blankets. I’m glad that we did. All 4 stripes on both blankets were slightly different widths. Yeah, that sounds like government issue detail work to me. One would have been plenty of fabric, but because I wanted the stripe worked into the cushions…I knew there would be a slight degree of difficulty, at least, more difficulty than I can endure sewing. 

He hacked both blankets pretty well. But don’t fear, I saved ALL the scraps (cough”hoarder”), and I think that I can make a couple decent sized pillows if I need to.

“How much did it cost”, you say? Well that was kinda rude to ask……I can tell you that it was slightly less than the price of a new (vintage) chair, and about half of what my regular upholsterer we use for work projects would have charged.  Besides, the new brown with red cushions are way esier to live with than the green-tragedy that it was before.

Oh, and just so you know that it is still me……Here’s the new chair with a Navajo pillow.

AHHHHHHHHH, somehow that looks so much better.

Swiss Army Blanket Chair

Posted by James on January 31, 2012
Posted in: New Home. Tagged: , , , , , . 4 Comments

SOOOOO, A few days ago, whilst prowling the internets, I came across this picture….

Everybody knows that I am all about a Hudson Bay Blanket. My Pendleton obsession runs a close second to my glass ornament fetish. (Both border on the fringe of 12 step program help) This picture totally reminded me that we have a very similar chair that belonged to the previous owner in our living room. That’s the “formal” room at the front of the house where Harley sleeps all day – also the only room sans a television. It is possibly because of the dog smell and lack of TV viewing that we don’t really use this room for much.

I did install can lights a few weeks ago…so there’s something.

When we were at the house for the home inspection, I snapped this picture of a heap of crap the previous owner had in the garage.

See it there? Underneath what could have possibly once been a side table and some scrubbing pads? Pretty Groovy chair, right? Obviously has a cool 1950s vibe. The cushion covers are hainus in person…olive-green-pea-green-chartruse pollyester stripe……. Now the chair shape, on the other hand, I knew I could do some magic with that. Jamie was eying the lawn mover and weed eater to add on to the closing, I was scanning this chair and an orange light fixture that has yet to be used anywhere in the house. But I digress. We offered 200$ for crap in the garage…the previous owner excepted.

Here’s my second piece of chair inspiration…

Beautiful, isn’t it? Mid-century office mixed with Swiss Army Blanket….AAAAhhhhhhh (wheels are turning ) See where I’m headed with this post folks?

I posted this picture on my Pinterest page, and my dear friend Amy quickly informed me that this chair was from her shop, Red Barn Mercantile, a few years ago… Small world.

Hudson Bay blankets are about 200 dollars….Swiss Army Blankets, on the other hand, are much more reasonably priced. Mostly because there are so many reproductions available……if you aren’t “married” to the idea of 100% wool, that is. Since I plan on chopping this baby up, 100% wool isn’t that crucial…actually, a little poly in the mix will keep it all-the-more stain resistant.

Every online military surplus shop I tried was completely sold out of these blankets (in the 25$ range). Every time I placed an order, I would receive a follow up email refunding my purchase because they were no longer in stock. What the Hell? Of course, there are plenty available for 300 bones.

Maybe I could do some shopping in person, like people did in the olden days. We took a chance and hit up The Army Store in Garland Texas. I’ve driven by this shop hundreds of times, it’s 2 blocks from H. Depot, but Never been inside. Honestly, it looks a little, well, ummm, sketchy. I’m giving them props because I completely loved the place. There was inspiration hanging from the ceilings. Literally, HANGING FROM THE CEILINGS. Boiled wool peacoats, vintage foot lockers, silk parachutes, and just like I wanted …….”mostly” wool military blankets…

50% wool, and 50% something else…Not really sure what the “Something else” is, but who really cares? They were 22 bucks each. We bought 4. Navy with a reddish stripe, grey with a yellow stripe, and (big sigh of relief ) brown with a red stripe.

We bought 2 of the brown. These will be our new chair cushions. Too bad they are the only blankets with a little whip-stitch around the edge…because it will just be hacked off in the process.

They also have this crudely sewn cross…..

After much consideration, we decided to seam-rip the cross off, and focus on the red stripe as the detail of the cushions. Genuine Swiss Army blankets have a cross woven into the red stripe. This sad sad cross ain’t fool’n nobody.

I kinda love this project, because I have already done most of my part. The remainder is left up to my seamstress. ( under my supervision , natch ) I can sew a pretty decent pillow, and occasional Christmas stocking, but I feel much more confident having a professional line up the 2 stripes on 2 separate cushions.

I went through a similar dilemma a few years ago trying to decide if I wanted to pay a framer or just tape a cherished picture into an Ikea frame……I assure you, I am WAAAYYYYY happier with the professional framing job.

And I will be with this chair as well…..

We’ll keep ya’ll posted on the finished product.