In my humble opinion, upholstered furniture looks better without the anchoring wall of fabric known as the skirt. More often than not, skirts are cut and hemmed too short anyway. Unless the legs are downright hideous, their presence adds an element which becomes a part of the overall design, rather than something attached to it.

Complete removal of a skirt can get tricky, but ReadyMade happened across a chair update project on The Brick House blog that opens up all sorts of vintage chair possibilities.

The blogger transformed this unimpressive gold 1970s chair into a retro gem by altering the skirt in order to show off those modern legs. Find out more after the break.

The Brick House writer photographed and explained her skirt alteration technique wonderfully. Her idea to cut off part of the skirt, pull the remaining length underneath, and attach it to the chair frame makes this look like a professional upholstery project.

Also, she did quite a nifty job of removing the chair legs, cutting out a section of fabric, and then screwing the the legs back on. Legs don't always screw off and on so easily, but this one did.

I'm going to add this technique to my repertoire of tricks of the trade. Skirt removal won't work so well on every style of chair and upholstery, but it was a valuable restyling solution for this vintage chair.

(via ReadyMade)

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Moxie, over on Craftster, came up with a clever and functional use for an old 1950s-style TV cabinet. Read more about it after the break.

After she carefully removed the innards, she constructed a shelf to hold the litter box, gave the cabinet a refreshing coat of green paint, and added a curtain over the front.

Be aware that she took safety precautions, since old TVs are loaded with lead. It's highly recommended that you take old electronics to a community or private reycling center, so they can dispose of the hazardous components properly.

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I often wonder: when everyone is making LP bowls, LP coasters and now, LP bookends out of our adolescent artifacts, what is the world coming to? However, after seeing HRG's clever bookends idea over on Craftster, I willingly rifled through many worn album covers, feeling a few pangs of nostalgia, and finally settled on a Diana Ross (the later years) album and a generic Christmas album.

With hot water bubbling on the stove, and steamy water pouring from the faucet, I fumbled around trying to dip, pour and bend the albums at a right angle using a giant wooden spoon as my tool.

Now come on, a wooden spoon? The result was not so good. Read on to see what happened on my second attempt, and how to get it right the first time.

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Needless to say, I took another trip down memory lane. This time I yanked two unmemorable Christmas albums from their covers without batting an eye, and raced back up to my boiling, album-bending cauldron.

Timing, utensils and plenty of boiling water in a huge sink were all I needed to make two lovely Christmas bookends to hold all my valuable Christmas(?) books. I would recommend giving it a test run with some unloved albums first.

What you need:

• Two vinyl albums
• Enough hot water to fill the sink or a container and cover the bottom half of the album
• Felt (or other fabric) to glue onto the base, to avoid scratching furniture
• Glue
• Rubber gloves (for safety's sake! I didn't wear these, but you might want to.)

What you do:

1. Boil lots of water to pour into the sink or the giant pan.
2. Dip the album into the water up to the bottom of the label, making sure your outside label is straight.
3. Start bending the album as it softens.
4. Take a utensil, and flatten the edges that are in the water as they start to ripple.
5. Remove the right angle album from the hot water and continue to flatten and smooth the bent end.
6. Cut a piece of felt to fit on the bottom of the album, and glue it to the bottom.
7. Add these unusual bookends to your shelf, and enjoy the immortal life of the once dominant vinyl LP!

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Look adorable -- and express your patriotism at the picnic! -- with this easy and stylish no-sew red, white, and blue hair sash.

If you dread donning predictable holiday attire, you can whip up your own originally designed homage to the Fourth of July in about an hour. You'll get full credit for being patriotic and part of the gang, but you'll have the satisifaction of doing it your own way.

You could even make these for the kids, the dog, and grandma, and turn out a matching do-rag for the hubby and anyone else who shares your distaste for manufactured stars and stripes garb; after the Fourth, you can still use these instructions to make yourself a great headband. You'll find complete instructions after the break, and a demonstration in the gallery below!

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The sash is made from recycled cafe curtain trim (red cherries, no less) and a red and white pinstriped men's oxford cloth shirt. If you want to make this more durable, I would suggest doing a few rows of straight stitching around the edges to ensure washability.

You'll need:

• 45" x 6" fabric strip
• A roll of Stitch Witchery fusible tape
• Iron
• Trim or ribbon to fuse on and snazz it up

What you do:

1. Fold the strip of fabric in two, lengthwise.
2. Press and mark the center.
3. You'll want to taper the back side of the sash from the 6" width to approximately 3 1/2 ".
4. Measure 10" out from the center point in both directions, and draw a curved line tapering to a 31/2" width to both ends.
5. Cut each end of the sash at a 45-degree angle.
6. Press 1/2" under all the way around the fabric strip.
7. With the sash open, place Stitch Witchery tape all around one side of the pressed-under edges of the sash, cutting and piecing where necessary. This will act as the closure, so you don't want any gaps.
8. Now fold the sash lengthwise on the lengthwise fold line, matching edges, and press with a hot iron until the edges are fused together.
9. To add your own touch of patriotic trim, center trim or ribbon on your sash, and fuse it in place with Stitch Witchery.
10. Make sure everything is pressed and fused together, and if you feel like it, run some straight stitching around the edges to hold it all together, just in case you get thrown in the lake.

There won't be any question about your patriotism.

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Nothing says Happy Father's Day like a new tie, right? You can surprise the special dad in your life by presenting him with an artistically created necktie cake. A skinny necktie cake is a lot more fun to bake, frost, and embellish than shopping for the perfect tie. Everyone will enjoy this necktie -- with a little dip of ice cream -- and there will be no sense of disappointment from Dad.

MailJust4me provides simple Father's Day projects, including directions for making a necktie cake. I took liberties with their pan recommendations and used two 9 x4 bread pans. When thinking of a design, I checked out some Armani ties to see what's new.

What you need:

• 2 9x4 baked cakes or 1 large rectangular cake cut lengthwise in half
• white frosting
• food coloring
• ziplock bag
• scissors
• M & M's or other candy
• Large tray or platter to hold finished cake

What you do:

1. Bake the cake(s).

2. Place one rectangular piece on the waxed paper or foil.

3. Cut a trapezoid shape from the second cake piece, and place it at the top for the knot.

4. Cut the end of the long cake piece in a "V" shape for the end of the tie.

5. Mix the food coloring with the icing for the "tie" color.

6. Mix another color, and place it in the corner of a ziplock bag. Snip off the end of the corner for a piping bag

7. Use the piping bag to decorate the cake.

8. Add M&M's or candies to the top, and more piping, if desired.

9. Refrigerate the cake for 30 minutes.

10. Transfer the cake to prepared plate or tray. Just for fun, I cut up a man's shirt I had purchased at Goodwill and covered the large baking sheet with it, taping it underneath to hold it in place. The cake was placed on waxed paper.

Give Dad this delicious necktie to show your appreciation for all he does for you!

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