Just Sew It!

I do custom sewing for people sometimes specifically home decor. Sewing is a wonderful skill for this very reason and people love window treatments made specially for their home.

I made the following curtains for a living room in a show home in Edmonton located in Ambleside. A new division just off the Anthony Henday on the south side across from Windermere.

For this little girl’s room, I made the window treatment along with a matching throw pillow. The fabric is divine. Want to spice up a bedroom? Pick a fabric that is rich and that you absolutely love. It magically brings a room alive.

My bedroom is getting a makeover courtesy of moi. Sophisticated and whimsical is the inspiration for my bedroom. Pictures soon.

1. Use a zipper 2″ (5 cm) shorter than length of finished pillow. Pin pillow front to back with ride sides together. Position zipper along pinned seam, leaving equal distance at each edge. Mark ends of zipper coil on seam.

2. Stitch 3/4″ (2 cm) seam at each end of zipper opening; backstitch at marks. I basted the rest of the seam to help make it easier to press. Press under 3/4″ (2 cm) seam allowances.

3. Open zipper. Place one side face down on seam allowance of pillow front with zipper coil on seamline. Secure with pins, glue stick or basting tape. Using zipper foot, stitch tape to seam allowance only.

4. Close zipper. Spread pillow flat with right side up. Pin the zipper in place from right side catching the zipper tape underneath.

5. Place 1/2″ (1.3 cm) transparent tape (I only had 3/4″ tape so I moved the tape over a bit) along seamline as stitching guide. Starting at seamline, stitch across bottom of zipper. Pivot and continue stitching. At top of zipper, pivot and stitch to seamline. Pull threads to wrong side and tie.

6. Open zipper. With a seam ripper, take the basting out. Turn pillow wrong side out and pin front to back on remaining three sides. Stitch 1/2″ (1.3 cm) seam. Turn pillow right side out and insert pillow form or liner.

I hear so many people say “I don’t know how to sew but I wish I did”. Why do people not sew these days? Time. Let’s face it we just don’t have the time these days. Also, we can find nice clothes at good prices. So, why sew? Besides being fun, you can create something unique and custom made to suit you or your needs. I love to sew home decor the most as there is something special when I make something one-of-a-kind for my home. You can’t buy pleated bed-skirts without paying an arm and a leg. You can’t buy window treatments with details such as cording, etc. in the store. I like sewing dresses for special occasions as the fit is like no other. I hope my daughter will ask me to make her Grad/prom dress when she finishes high school.

Anyways, sewing is a very valuable skill and people don’t realize how valuable it is until these want something unique. You CAN have that skill. It is very easy to operate a sewing machine. If you can drive a car, you can operate a sewing machine. Join me on a weekly basis to learn how to sew. I will teach you the basics. Learn to sew it’s a lot of fun plus fabric is addicting too.

I’ve had a personal-sized Cricut cutting system for a number of months now and I’m loving it. No scrapbooker or cardmaker should be without. It has brought my scrapbooking to a whole new level. I made a cover for it but now I’d like to make a bag for it as I will sometimes take along with me to my friends house or to a retreat we go to sometimes. I found a “Cricut bag” specially made by a gal on the Cricut message boards but since I love to sew I feel I should be the one to make mine. Plus, if I were to order it from her it would cost a lot after exchange and shipping.

I’m going to post a tutorial shortly on the construction of this bag. I bought some fabric today. While I really like the fabric I cannot understand why I did not go to a quilting store instead. But Fabricland happened to be closer. By the way, I hate the land of Fabric because they sell garbage. They do sell nice fabric for special occasions but other than that it is slim pickings as far as regular fashion. When it comes to fabric, I wish I lived in New York City.

I am patiently waiting for a window treatment pattern I order from Pate-Meadows out of Birmingham, Alabama. When they shipped my order they probably thought, “where the hell is Edmonton, Alberta???” “Anyways, they have show home quality window treatment patterns. Expensive but worth it in my opinion. I can’t wait. When that pattern arrives I’m heading to Chintz and Company for fabric. They have a beautiful selection of textiles.

If you own a Cricut and/or any other die cut machine, you will love this blog. Enfys loves to scrapbook and cardmaking. She does wonderful work. I like some inspiration when doing my own work so finding this blog is definitely a good find.

GOING BUGGY