jcaroline

New Inspiration: Painted Furniture

This Nautical Entryway Cabinet from Pottery Barn caught my eye in the last catalog and sent me on a frenzy of finding other ideas and products for making your own painted furniture. Share in my frenzy here.

My $3 Chair

I bought this chair a couple of weeks ago at Goodwill for $3.  But, when I stripped it down I found $1.40 in the cushions, along with two ink pens, a pencil and several pieces of children's toys. So I would say I'm even.  Okay, maybe I'm more than even...

I covered this chair in Alexander Henry Home's Black Veronique, which I liked on the bolt, but I LOVE on this chair.  This chair was very different than the Blue Leaflet chair I did- much less sewing, much more stapling and using special upholstery supplies.  I also didn't attempt to match anything on this chair, because I just couldn't figure out the repeat.  But, I don't think it matters.  I did match the covered buttons I put on the back, but you wouldn't know that because they blend in so well, you can't see them!  And I made a couple of boo boos on this chair, but a little Fray Check prevented further disaster.

I'll write up a pictorial essay this afternoon or evening.  I'll even point out my boo boos.

(Update 3/13/2008:  My write-up is done.)

Why did I let my mother go home?

I recently discovered Design*Sponge's Before and After feature, where they show furniture redo's.  They are fabulous and inspiring!  So, Friday I went to the Goodwill store across the parking lot from the office and picked up this little gem of a chair for $5.  The shape is great, but the fabric is...well, just gross.  So I worked today on stripping off the fabric.  Why didn't I start this project when my mother was here?  She's an upholstery wiz.  I hope the couple of times I've watched her rubbed off!  I got most of the fabric cut today.  Guess what I'm covering it in?  Leaflet from Modern Flora, of course.  Yes, that's part of the deal- every project for awhile is going to be out of Modern Flora.

The chair is resting on a dresser that I picked up for $7 and two nightstands for $5 each.  I told you I was inspired.  I have visions of a paint/ fabric/ paper/ mod podge redo on those.  I'll report back on the progress of all three.

I May Have Outdone Myself...

Well, Mother and I did have a sewing session on Saturday.  I recovered this darling Poang children's chair from Ikea and Mother worked on huge floor pillows.  And we praised each other's work constantly, which helps a lot.  However, she cut the first pillow cover thinking the pillow was 24" square.  She had sewn on the cording when I realized what she had done and told her, no, the pillow is 28" square.  She said a dirty word.  Then she told me to buy a 24" pillow.  This is her sewing her second pillow-- 28" square. I think she cranked out almost three large pillows that day.  I'll shoot pics this week.

Well, enough about her, let's get back to this darling chair.  I am quite proud of it and I think it shows off the Sprig fabric very well.  I plan to do an adult version of the chair and footstool.  I did take pictures at some points along the way, so I can construct a general how-to on this.  I'm awfully proud of the back.  The seat is actually a Tyvek-like material that literally slips over a frame.  So I just made a canvas "bag" the same size as the Tyvek one to cover all that stuff up.   The cushy part of the seat just slips over the frame on the top and the bottom.  I reused the fiberfill cushion of the cushion, and just restitched the "channels" on the front.  Then I essentially sewed it up like it was a pillow, with an opening on the side to turn it right side out.  Voila!  It really wasn't terribly hard and I think the same technique could be used on lots of chairs-  just use the original materials as your pattern.

(Update 2/6/08:  I did write up a general overview of what I did here.)

Modern Flora Projects

My mother has been here this week and I have kept her locked in the project room.  Well, not literally, but she has been in there all day every day but today.  She came in Monday morning and insisted that we clean it up, because she apparently can't work in the same environment I can.  We did get some things organized and picked up off the floor and then she went about sewing.  I had started the larger storage basket, but fortunately she finished it and made another smaller one.  I will write a how-to on it sometime in the future.  (Update- your lovely comments motivated me to get them done!  A detailed how-to is available here.)

She also whipped up this little outfit for Olivia off of my idea and pieces of other Olivia patterns.  It is so cute, I made Olivia go outside this morning (it was 40 degrees) to take pictures in it.  The top needs to be longer, which Mother suggested I make the straps an inch or two longer to drop the whole thing, but it still might need another inch or two added to the length as well.  She also did a cute little vent at the hem of the pants, faced with a solid green fabric.  I'll write a how-to on that too, once I figure out exactly how she did it.

Then tomorrow we have crazy plans to sew up floor pillows, recover some chair cushions and various other Modern Flora projects.  There is no way we'll get them all done tomorrow, but if she can get me started on the tricky parts, surely I can (and will?) finish them.  In the meantime, Jessica and I started a Flickr group for Modern Flora projects and I contributed what I have so far.  Jessica also made me a cute little button for it on the sidebar.  So make something and upload a picture!

Shoe Redo

This pair of shoes I bought from Lands End last year.  I like them, but I made a crucial mistake when I first got them.  I assumed that the leather lace was more than decorative and if I untied the carefully tied and sewn bow, I could actually tighten up the shoe a bit.  Ooops.  The laces on the side and the top are in no way connected and now the top laces just come untied all the time and never look right.

So Friday I decided it was time to redo them a bit and turn them into some weird mix of practical moccasin with decorative ribbons.  And voila!

I pulled the laces out of the top and actually cut the holes just slightly larger so I could slip a 5/8" ribbon through them.  I used long tweezers to push the ribbon through the holes.  I then tied the ribbon, put fray check on the ends and placed a little tacky glue in the knot hoping to keep it from untying.

Of course, then the laces on the sides looked out of place.  I used a hobby knife to cut the lace out of the first grommet on each side.  (I used a hobby knife versus scissors as it let me cut it down in the grommet so it wouldn't stick out.)  After much fiddling, I discovered two things.  First, I should use two ribbons, one for each side of the shoe (to avoid trying to pass the ribbon through the heel).  Second, I just needed to tuck the ends of the ribbon back towards where I laced it to avoid conflicting with the piece of leather lace I just cut off.  I stuck a little Tacky Glue in the beginning and ending grommet and tucked the ribbon back under and held it with a clip until it dried.  I used a 3/8" ribbon on the sides.

However, after I finished, I thought of another idea.  Since you can't tell if the side is one continuous piece of ribbon or not, next time I might try treating each pair of grommets separately.  For example, I would run a short ribbon through the first and second grommet, stitch it together and then slide the ribbon until the seam was buried within the shoe.  Then you could repeat the same trick for each pair of grommets and you wouldn't have to worry about the ribbon ever coming undone.  That method would also make it easier to change out the ribbons if you got tired of the old.  I may have trouble getting the glue/ribbon mass out of mine.

I'm excited about my new ribbon mocs.  Admittedly, I wouldn't have had the nerve to start cutting on them if they were brand new.  But I didn't have much to lose since I had owned them a year and not worn them a lot because of the untying laces.

Squirrel Feeder Project

Emily at What's That Gonna Be? has posted a crafty tutorial for a squirrel feeder.  She warns you "There are a lot of steps, but don’t let that fool you! They are all easy and involve little or no effort on your part."  Sounds like my kind of project.  You might find it your kind of project too.

Trimming the Tree, Literally

First, I should probably admit that I don't put up a tree at home.  No, I don't have a hang up about traditions or the meaning of Christmas.  We are usually out of town for Christmas and I really don't want to bother with putting one up and taking it down.  (You know how I dislike a mess.)  I'm sure in the coming years a certain little girl will insist on a tree.  I have on occasion decorated with a bowl full of ornaments or a poinsettia or two.

I did buy a fake tree for the office this year.  I take pictures of my employees' children in their Christmas finery and I thought it would be a nice prop.  So I experimented with some decorations using trims and ribbons.  Check out my tree experiments here.

Other decorating ideas around the web:

How About Orange shows you how to make cool retro ornaments out of craft foam.

Design Sponge shows you how to make some modern paper ornaments.

Visit Heather Bailey's tutorial on making yo-yos which you can hang from your tree or sew together into a garland.  (Don't forget, you can cheat and use a yo-yo maker.)

My friend, Rhonda, suggested making ornaments out of holiday themed heavy paper, using your Christmas cookie cutters as a stencil.  Then you can punch a hole in the top and string ribbon or string through to hang.  Great idea!  (Too bad she or I didn't make some and show you a picture.)

On a related note, Mommy Poppins posted on not spoiling your children at Christmas.  Downplaying the gift thing a bit.  I'm going to keep Olivia's Christmas small-- a new potty seat and a serrated bread knife.

Wall Treatments

This room was done by Jessica Jones over at How About Orange.  The before picture is a study in beige.  She did a few simple and inexpensive things and made it look fabulous.  I love the idea of stretched fabric on the walls.  What a great way to adore your favorite print.  (She added a tutorial for stretching your fabric on a frame.)

She painted the tree on the wall and then hung leaf pictures.  How cool and 3D is that?  However, if you are terrified of trying to paint the wall yourself, I keep seeing wall decals on design blogs lately.  Elly Nelly offers self-adhesive decals on their Etsy shop .  They are a mother/daughter team and I like their designs a lot.  They range from $25 to $65.  It appears that you can choose from one of 14 colors for each design.  And don't forget you can hang things with your wall decals to add more interest.

Go forth and decorate!

Inspired by Tory Burch

The picture on the right is from Time Magazine's Style & Design article entitled "Tory's Turn" about designer Tory Burch.  First  off, I was inspired by how cute she is, but I loved this straight dress in a big pattern.  The picture on the left is my rendition in Amy Butler's Silver Wood Fern from the Nigella home dec collection.  The collection is full of big prints (I also think this could be darling in any of the Grandiflora prints) and the sheen and weight make it fun for apparel (heavier than quilting cottons, lighter and softer than canvas).

I have no idea what is around the neck and sleeves of the Tory Burch dress, but it looked complicated.  I settled with a strip of Gray Floral Sequins around the neck only.

The pattern is another matter entirely.  I used Simplicity's New Look #6086.  But wait, that's a slipover tunic.  How did that metamorphosis into this dress?  Hummm... not easily.  I couldn't find a pattern that had a one piece front with just darts (I didn't want to break up the design on the fabric with princess seams or other nonsense).  So I took about 2" out of the center of the front and back of the tunic, lengthened it, added a zipper in back and shortened the sleeves.  Oh, and added a facing to the neck, since the pattern just called for a hem.  Would another pattern have been better?  Absolutely.  If you find one, use it instead.  The front of the dress worked out great (though I think the shoulders are a little narrow- maybe 2" was too much?), but the back is still under construction.  It needs darts above the waist, but I haven't quite gotten the right size in the right place.  So this dress will be gorgeous for entering a party, but not yet great for leaving.  I'm going to let Mona party in it while I ignore it for a few days to approach it with fresh eyes (and attitude).

In an earlier post, I railed on invisible zippers, but I feel better about them now.  I did figure out how to get the invisible zipper foot on my machine (the instructions on the package are non-existent).  The zipper went in fairly easily, but do follow the zipper package instructions about not sewing up ANY PART of the seam before installing the zipper.  (I tend to take those instructions as helpful suggestions only.)  Allows you to compensate for the zipper being a little higher or lower on one side.  Now I need to work on getting the zipper and fabric to feed evenly, so I don't get ripples in my fabric.

Perhaps this will inspire you to make some apparel from Nigella or any other home dec fabric and to completely butcher a pattern to get the look you want!

Skull and Bones

I made a pair of pants for my favorite model this week just in time for Halloween.  The fabric is Black Jolly Roger from Alexander Henry.  I then ironed the Skull Applique on a plain white T-shirt.  A pants pattern is here if you are so inspired.  I did figure out a new trick for pants adjustment that is really helpful.  I needed to expand her pants pattern a bit and rather than rework the whole thing, I just cut it in half length-wise and taped another 1 1/2" of paper in between.  The crotch then stayed the same, the pant length is easily adjusted and I have bigger pants. If the crotch needs adjusting, I'll just cut the pattern widthwise and insert paper as needed.  It's not that profound, but I had never approached it that way before.  Much easier.

Here is the angry model walking off of the shoot.  She has her agent on her Barbie cell phone, I'm sure.

I'm in Print (if you look really close)

Better Homes and Gardens Storage magazine just came out and look at the goodness on page 56.  That's a duvet cover I made out of Fantasia Sherbert (if you have Superman vision, you can see how I beautifully matched the seams where it falls over the bed- thank you).  The awning I made out of the Michael Miller Turquoise Ta Dot (now discontinued) and the pillow bolsters are the Michael Miller Turquoise Snuggle Up (discontinued).  I can only take credit for those items- the concept and room was put together by Pamela Porter, an interior designer whose work you will often see in Better Homes & Gardens publications.  This is actually her daughter's room.  She produced this piece for BH&G's Kids Room magazine to be published last January, but Kids Room was axed before that issue came out.  So I made this stuff over a year ago and didn't think I'd ever see it again.

This is the closet in that room complete with Fantasia Sherbert curtains by moi bordered with Michael Miller's Pink Ta Dot (which was discontinued, but came back).  The same Pink Ta Dot is on the french doors.  That's a patchwork of various Michael Miller fabrics and Fantasia Sherbert on the window seat cover (my fabric, not my sewing).

It's so fun to see the room in print because Pamela literally emails me with what fabrics she wants and what she wants made and I have only a basic idea of how it is going to be used.  She is so good at putting fabrics together and really comes up with combos I would never have imagined. 

Check out the other room she designed on page 84 of the same mag- a guest/work/bonus room that she decorates with Amy Butler fabrics.  You'll be intrigued and inspired by how she puts the fabrics together.

It's "Storage" magazine, a Better Homes & Gardens Special Interest Publication and will be on the newstand until December 25.

Inspired by Pink Lemonade

You know when you see something that catches your eye and you can't forget about it?  That's the way I feel about Pink Lemonade Boutique and her divine bags.  Lisa is the artist behind Pink Lemonade and I found her blog and website a couple of months ago and was really intrigued with her use of fabrics (mostly Girlfriends, Freshcut, Flea Market Fancy, some Alexander Henry) with natural linen.  She has a great eye for colors and patterns.  She also uses a lot of quilting in her bags and her sewing looks meticulous.

Thus the dress for Olivia, my daughter, (oh, have I mentioned her before?) from Freshcut by Heather Bailey with natural linen.  She has a little knit dress that has three panels, so I just copied that.  However, I should remember to cut a non-stretch dress just a tad bigger- it is a bit of a struggle to get it over her booty!  Once it's on it fits very well.  I love the way the linen really makes the fabrics pop.  And I can't resist a flower button.  My sewing, on the other hand, is not meticulous but I think the dress is darling and she is always in motion, so no one will know.

Then I was so inspired, I decided I wanted to make a matching jacket and quilt it.  Quilters everywhere are snickering, but I just realized that quilting fabrics gives them body without the stiffness of interfacing.  Okay-- some of us are slower to catch on than others.  So I layered some linen, low-loft batting and another Freshcut pattern and starting quilting away.  I did a diamond quilting pattern made much easier by the quilting guide that came with my machine (you put the guide foot on a parallel stitching line so you can follow it for the current stitching line).  Someday when I'm more confident I'll do a more modern freehand design. I am binding it in a Freshcut stripe and used my Bias Tape Maker and I love it.  We got those in about a month ago and I hadn't used it yet, but it is fabulous.  It produces a perfectly folded tape and it really didn't take any special talent.

The jacket needs the sleeves put in, which I'm dreading, so I worked around them as long as I could. The sleeve holes need to be adjusted, but I'm so scared to start cutting.  The jacket may rest for a few days but it must be done by Thursday.  More on that little bit of excitement later!

New Duvet Cover

I know.. two posts in one day!   However, I feel a little badly because the pants post is really boring if you don't want to make pants.  Okay, it's boring if you do want to make pants, but at least then serves a purpose!  As I was writing that post, my sister emailed me pictures of the duvet cover and pillows she just finished for her daughter out of the black & white flower fabric from the Follow Your Imagination collection.  I think it's super cute!

Another project finished!

When I last showed you this skirt, it had no zipper, facing or hem.  Voila!  I finished it Tuesday.  If you remember, I tried an invisible zipper which was an utter failure (don't know if it's mine or the zippers).  I even bought the invisible zipper foot suggested on the package- couldn't even figure out how to put it on my machine.  So, I just went back to the tried and true 7" regular old zipper.  The zipper doesn't look bad- once I stuff my body into the skirt, it doesn't dip in like it does on the picture (sigh).

Of course, since I hadn't worked on the skirt for several weeks, I first had to clean up my project room to find the facings that I had somehow lost.  Fortunately, I found them and I had not cut them into something else.  Also, I had only basted the side seam for fitting, but forgot that when I picked it back up.  Ooops- I noticed when the skirt was almost finished, but I did go back and correct that as I don't want the side seam ripping open when I sit down!

I also used my new serger, a Janome MyLock 204D, and I like it.  Now the inside of my skirt looks as good as the outside!  I had put off using it because I dreaded threading it, but it arrived already threaded!  Hurray! 

Anyway, the skirt is from Sew What! Skirts that I've written about earlier (though I think I already admitted that I cheated and took the measurements from a skirt I had).  The fabric is Anna Griffin's Pink Closter, part of her Grace collection.

The skirt fit and is a success (I think it will look darling with a white polo shirt and sandals).  So... I immediately traced a pattern from a pair of pants that I liked and started on some linen pants.  Hot tip:  skirts are easier to fit than pants.  Another hot tip:  the crotch shape and inseam control a lot of the fit.  Yet another hot tip:  don't clip your seams too early.  The pants are not a success (and will never be finished- at least that version), but have led to two days of a pant pattern frenzy.  I will learn to fit pants and I have some resources that can help you.  I'll share those in another post- I'm still debating whether I prefer taking a purchased pattern and altering the fit (which I did for years), tracing from an existing pant, or starting from scratch.  I'm trying the last two today and will share my results.

I'll also add that Mona (my trusty dress form) is now naked again.  She got to wear the half-finished skirt for weeks, but now that it's done, I took it from her.  Maybe she can wear the linen pants that are too tight in the rear with no waistband.

Someone is turning 1!

We had a little birthday party at the office today for my daughter Olivia.  She really turns one on Saturday, but Thursday is pizza day here so today made the most sense.  (I also thought it was too early for the pony-ride, 3-ring circus birthday.  Rationalization?  Perhaps.)

I realized Tuesday I needed to provide, if not make, a cake for the occasion but really didn't think I would get it done.  So I had the genius idea of ordering cupcakes from the grocery store (the best money I've ever spent) and making paper flowers that I taped to straws to stick in the cupcakes.  If I may say so myself, they came out super cute! 

I used some American Crafts "The Goods"  Papers, their plastic  and foam flowers, brads,  colored straws and 5/8" lime juice grosgrain  as the leaves.  I will admit, I have a die cutter (an AccuCut GrandeMark) but you can also use the smaller personal die cutters or cut them by hand.  I will say the die cutter speeded things up a bit.

And I can't resist showing pictures of the little cutie in her birthday hat.  This one is from Target, but it would be easy to make your own from some felt and ball fringe.  Okay, the second picture is just to show her cute face and that she doesn't always look concerned with a face covered with food.  Enough silliness-- momma and baby are tired.

Fun Projects from Others

Anna Maria Horner, mother of five and designer of Chocolate Lollipop fabric, just posted a clever project for summer.  You know when you go to the pool and you drag your towel either around your neck, under your arm, somewhere that never quite works?  (I can only imagine with five children in tow.)  She sewed a handle to a beach towel to create a towel bag. You can even slip your suit and sunscreen inside.  Genius.

Jessica Jones at How about Orange, graphic designer and crafty person, posted a project on tiny pin cushions.  She makes hers from 2-liter bottle tops, but I remember my mother having similar pin cushions made from mason jar lids.  Same concept, different era.  You can never have too many pin cushions- especially if they are decorative!  I've seen a similar concept in a beading book where they added seed beads and created a "sea urchin". 

Amy Karol, crafter and author, at Angry Chicken is making felt covered barrettes for her children.  Clever idea and pretty fast and easy.  (Don't be frightened by the blog's name- she doesn't appear to be at all angry.)  She just published a sewing book, which I'll share with you in another post.

If you've found a clever project on the web you want to share, please post it!  There are so many talented  crafts people out there creating clever ideas.  Even if they have different tastes than I do, I rarely find a project that I can't learn something from or take a concept from to brighten up my ideas a bit!

Now Hiring a Project Finisher

So much started- so little being finished.  I need someone who comes along behind me and finishes projects that have run into hurdles or have been abandoned in pursuit of something new.   Qualifications include: no complaining about the project or how I have proceeded up to this point and the ability to finish the project beautifully regardless of the state it is in.  Did I mention that the pay for this position is the sense of fulfillment from a job well done?

I've got three projects in the works at the moment in various states of unfinished.  The oldest and most complete is my Dick & Jane twin-size quilt from Michael Miller's fabrics. Actually, the quilt is complete- I had it quilted for me and I got it back today.  Love it!  I'll get the pattern on the web.  The only thing lacking from this project is the matching dust ruffle so I can photograph it on a bed.

Next unfinished project is a duvet cover for a queen size bed from Heather Bailey's Freshcut fabric.  I was inspired by a comforter I saw in Crate & Barrel and thought the green and brown fabrics from Freshcut would make a great earth theme.

I really expanded my horizons on this one- I am normally a very finished edge kind of person, but I was drawn in by the "earthiness" and left raw edges.  I also didn't worry about puckers in the appliques or perfect stitching.  I wanted the duvet cover to be ready to use out of the dryer- no pressing needed.

I went out on a limb for the back too- I knew I would have to piece it, so I decided to go for a huge quilt block kind of look.  The finished seams looked too neat compared to the "earthy" front, so I used bias cut fabric to create borders around the blocks.  This project needs to be assembled and again, I want to make a matching dust ruffle and photograph it on a bed.

Lastly, I started a skirt out of Anna Griffin's Pink Closter fabric from the Grace collection.  I kind of followed the Sew What! Skirts instructions, but I cheated a bit- I traced a ready-made skirt that fit to make my pattern.  The skirt thus far had been easy and I thought successful.   However, today's hiccup was putting in an "invisible" zipper, which unfortunately, was very visible.  I clearly don't know how to use them, so I will probably go back to a plain old zipper tomorrow.

Mona has come in very handy for my first-in-a-long-time apparel project.  Oh, but what happened to that skinny little dress form that appeared three weeks ago?  She has expanded to the edge of her capacity in the waist and rear.  I do hope she'll focus this summer on trimming down a bit.  Perhaps that is something the Project Finisher can help her with.

Post-Wedding Post

My niece's wedding that my family has talked about for 18 months finally occurred last weekend and it was fabulous!  My sister did a fabulous job putting together a great wedding and even a little rain didn't dampen the fun.  All 10,000 of our extended family members were there (I exaggerate a bit, but not much.  I'll spare you all the photos).  I even got a mention in the program for the centerpieces.  A little praise and recognition goes a long way. 

From top left to bottom right: 1.  The bride and groom cakes were decorated with plain icing and wrapped in ribbons.  The bride's cake had a teacup with flowers on top.  2.  I made a wreath from the left-over silk flowers from the centerpieces and accented it with a white satin bow.  I couldn't find a wreath form big enough, so I cut one out of styrofoam that was 18" across.  3. The bride and her two sisters (my nieces) and the groom.  Oh, to be that cute (and young and skinny)!  4.  Of course, my darling baby and one-half of her daddy.  5.  The tent was decorated with white chinese lanterns, which created great ambiance for not much money.  My niece found them on the web.  6.  The famous topiary centerpieces.  The tables were decorated with white tulle, ribbon and votives.  The white centerpieces really showed up well.  7.  My sister had the brilliant idea of reprinting family wedding pictures and placing them around the buffet and cake tables.  It included parents, grandparents and great-grandparents of the bride and groom.

I'm sure my family will continue to talk about the wedding for several more weeks, but for those that weren't there, that's just plain boring.  Back to real life!

Cutie in Pants

 

Two Fridays ago I was able to crank out a pair of capri pants for my darling baby!  Getting a picture of them was another matter, as she cannot stand by herself yet and she is never still.  Of course, it would have been great to photograph her in a field of daisies or something similar, but I didn't have that available at the time, so the cutting table will have to do. 

The fabric is Robert Kaufman's Blossom Ice Cream Cones.   The pants pattern is one I made up from a pair of pants she had that fits.  (I tried a purchased children's pattern for pants and they were 20 inches too long.  I'm not kidding.)  It's a basic one piece pattern (the legs have no outer side seam) with an elastic waist.  I added a little ruffle to the pant, which helped their look immensely.  Just remember that this fabric is one-way and you don't want your ice cream cones upside down.

I then took a ready-made shirt and appliqued an ice cream cone from the fabric to the shirt.  The outfit was a huge hit when she saw her grandparents last week.  (We went to Missouri for my niece's wedding.)  I'll get to that event later- the previously-blogged centerpieces were awesome- if I say so myself.

(FINALLY, the pants pattern and instructions are on the site here .)
 

Wear an Apron Day

May 14th is National Wear an Apron Day.  Don't know who came up with it, but I felt compelled to participate by making an apron on Saturday.  The Anna Griffin's Calorie fabric from the Elsie collection was just made for kitchen and dining accessories. The pocket is out of the coordinating Red Double Dot fabric.  The ties in the back and the top are 7/8" Lemongrass grosgrain ribbon.

My mom made the pattern, which I will put on our how-to's this week.  The apron took about an hour to make and takes 1 yard of fabric for the apron and you can vary the pocket size based on how much fabric you have.  Great gift idea!

(5/25/07: Finally, the instructions and pattern are on the web. Click here.)

Wedding Centerpieces

My niece is getting married in three weeks and I've been working on the wedding centerpieces for a couple of months.  My sister (the bride's mother) came to pick them up last weekend, so she helped me finish them.  My niece saw the idea in a wedding shop- it's a 6" styrofoam ball with white silk gardenias glued to it. I started with a 6" clay pot, which I "washed" (paint mixed with water) with white, gold, then bronze until I got a shimmery, coppery color that I liked.  I used a 12" x 1/2" dowel rod, which I painted with gold metallic paint and stuck into the styrofoam ball.  I then filled the clay pot with plaster of paris and supported the dowel until the plaster hardened.  I wanted to ensure that the topiary wouldn't fall over in the wind. I taped "tendrils" made of various size white satin ribbons underneath the ball.  Finally, I filled the pot with spanish moss and tied a satin ribbon around the pot.

I'll be sure to take pictures of the centerpieces at the big event for the full effect.

Linen Curtains

These curtains were inspired by the new linen embroidered fabric we got in and a linen curtain panel with big grommets I had seen in West Elm catalog. 

I'll be adding the specific how-tos to the website in a few days (I hope), but in the meantime, the fabric is the Floral Embroidered Natural Linen and the grommets are the Light Gold Satin Deco Rings.  The rod is from Pottery Barn.  It is the Antique Bronze finish, 1.25" rod with ball finials.

I realized after I took the picture that I captured the ceiling molding in my bedroom that has been primed, but not painted.  It has only been up for two years, so I'm letting it acclimate to the interior environment before I paint it.  I also only made one curtain (there are two windows), so we'll see how long it takes to make the other one.

(5/21/07:  I did get the how-to's added to the web.  Click here.)