Mental trickery on day 28

Today's theme picture had pretty much been set from the beginning, as I bought myself a David Frazer wood engraving as a flat-warming present, which just happened to include the number 28 in it:

After I finished yesterday's scene, I printed a version out (much larger than life scale-wise, as that was the only way the number would be seen in the miniature version), and figured I'd just need to smash together either a shelfie or a miniature version on the photo above to hit the target.

Alas, my brain had other ideas. You see, yesterday was traditionally Vacuum under things day: that one day a year where I make sure I vacuum under the fridge. The sofa. The lounge rug (the bed gets done twice a year, but one of those is also on Vacuum under things day). And by the time I'd finished making the scene, tidying away afterwards and doing the usual basic housework, no vacuuming was achieved.

I consoled myself that I still had plenty of time to catch up, and it was a self-imposed tradition anyway so it could be done between new year and back to work.

But this morning, as I drank my morning cup of tea, my devious sneaky weasel-like brain suggested I finally make the miniature version of my sofa to add to the scene: something I've been vaguely wanting to do since I recreated my (now gone) dining room sideboard in miniature back in 2008, and especially after I saw Mitchymoo Miniatures' instructions for making a sofa back in 2011.

There were a few problems to start with. Mitchymoo Miniature's instructions suggest I use a garden kneeler to make the cushions. Which would be fine in normal times, but at the moment I don't think it's worth heading out into the world just to buy padding for a miniature sofa. I also thought I had some balsa wood that could be used for the frame but after much burrowing through boxes in the workshop, came up empty-handed. Once again, I could scuttle down the hill to Bunnings for supplies but it's not worth it.

The good news is I found a roll of foam stuff I'd bought for landscaping on my never-completed HBS Creatin' Contest 2015 entry, which I hoped would work for the cushions.

Luckily, Mitchymoo suggested foam board as an alternative for the sofa, and I knew I had some of that in the studio, as I picked up two packs of mat board and foam core offcuts from our local framing store last year. I just had to find the fabric I bought for just this project...

But first, I needed to measure the sofa. And this is where the depth of my brain's devious sneaky weaselness because clear. Because to measure the sofa, I needed to shift it out. And if it was out anyway, then I may as well vacuum under it, vacuum it and flip the cushions. And to move it out I needed to move the rug. So it made sense to just vacuum under there too...

So I vacuumed. And measured. And calculated. Made a pattern. And turned my fabric tub upside down (so much for tidying up the library!)

cut some bits out

and then noticed something strange about the backs of the offcuts.

Blow me down, they had adhesive backings: perfect for what I needed!

So I peeled enough back to stick the layers together, making sure that I kept one unpeeled on the top (or outside, for the arms),

then glued the pieces together, and measured and cut the squab pieces out of my roll of foam (flattening them under a pile of books to straighten them out after I was done).

While I waited for glue to dry and foam to flatten, I pulled out a selection of miniature 'sofa feet' I have tucked away to try and decide which will work best (I prefer the square ones as they are most similar to what I have, but they're too tall, so it may have to be the short domed ones. No need to decide just yet...)

Then I cut the fabric pieces to size, and pulled out the ironing board and iron and steamed the wrinkles out of the pieces,

before switching to my Clover mini iron to fuse the edges (alas I have no idea where my sheets of fusible webbing ended up in the shift, and again wasn't going to head out just to get some. Instead I remembered I has some dodgy IKEA stuff that I'd used to take up my curtains when I moved in and used that instead. Which was a pain in the butt, but free).

The double-sided tape situation was a bit dire as the only decent stuff I have on hand is 3 mm wide. So I got creative and used a mix of that, and glue to hold the edging down on top of it.

By this stage it was becoming clear that there wasn't going to be a completed sofa in my scene today, even if I stayed up until just before midnight to get it done (which I wasn't prepared to do as that would lead to dumb mistakes).

So in the spirit of Day 2, I'm going with the 'here's a photo of the accessories I've picked out for the Who lives here game (easy because it's me!) and I'll finish the rest some other day...' approach.

And now I have to go and put the lounge back together before I make dinner...