Beneath the Magnolias: October 2012

Double Your Pleasure, Double Your Fun

No, I'm not selling gum. I'm talking about double ruffles or self-lining ruffles. I would rather line anything than to have to hem or finish an edge. I guess you could call it lazy sewing. I made a runner with ruffles on both ends to place on the dresser I have for sale in my booth. I'm sure this isn't the proper way to do things but I think it should be the new standard for sewing. First, determine the size you want your runner and double the width. For instance, if you wanted a runner 80 in. in length and 14 in. wide you would cut a piece 80 in. (plus your seam allowance) by 28 in. wide (plus seam allowance). Here is my piece of fabric

Now pay close attention...take your fabric and fold it in half. Got that? That's my secret.

Now do the same thing for the ruffles that you will sew to each end. Cut the length you want (plus allowance) by double the width that you want (plus allowance).

Remember the secret...fold in half.

Now take each of your rectangle pieces and place them right sides together and stitch around 3 sides, turn right side out and stitch the fourth side closed. I just top-stitch it at the very edge. Then, make ruffles out of your fabric for the ruffles. Sorry, I don' teach those kind of tutorials. I only teach let's cheat and be lazy kind of tutorials. I don't have pics of all of this. I get excited when I get past the cutting stage and just start sewing really fast.

Then take your ruffle pieces and lay each on top of one edge of your runner, overlapping a quarter of an inch or more and stitch together. This is what it will look like. See how the all of the edges are on the inside. Also having the extra fabric makes it look more full and more custom-made.

Of course, the runner is self-lined with all of the raw edges on the inside as well. It only cost just a little more to self-line and it's so worth the time and trouble it saves and of course, the nice clean edges.

So who else doubles everything they possibly can when they sew? Next on the sewing agenda is slip-covers. I can't get them out of my mind. I am on the look-out for the perfect furniture specimen to experiment with.

Burlap Upholstered Headboard

I sold the dining room table and chairs which left a gaping hole in my booth. I never expected it to sell so quickly! I have two more sets of tables and chairs that I need to get done! When Hartlex called and said it sold I knew I needed to take something to the booth to make it not feel so empty. I had this headboard that was ready to be upholstered. It was just a plain dark stained headboard but what sold me on it was the curvy top.

Before...dark and blah

After...light and dreamy

The top curvy part is painted in a soft creamy white. I added two thick layers of batting then fabric lining and the burlap. The burlap is the linen-like kind so it doesn't smell or shed like normal burlap. I love the texture and color of the wood and burlap together. This is a queen sized headboard 63 in. wide.

The lighting in my booth is terrible! It is making everything I have painted blue look purple. I am going to put some lamps in there and see if it helps. I still have to do something about the turquoise walls as well. I'm trying to redo my daughter's room and work on the rest of the house too. One day when I get a whole room clean I will take a pic and share.

I Moved into a Full Booth!

Finally! I thought the day would never come. I have a large booth now. Harlex is full and it's been difficult to get into a large booth. There is still a lot of work that needs to be done to make it look nice. I was able to move in the dining room set that I bought a few weeks ago.

I was so relieved to finally have the dining room table and china cabinet done and out of my house! It is really difficult to fit 2 dining room sets and a china cabinet in one room! We are constantly crawling over furniture here. It's always good when we are able to move some out.

Before

After

My biggest fan doing a ta-da! I didn't take a before pic of the china cabinet for some odd reason but it was the same color as the table. All of it was in near perfect condition.

It was so dark and gloomy outside it was difficult to get any good pics. I am determined to work more on my photography, especially on white balance and getting crisp pics. But that's a whole different post.

I lined the drawers with linen in my favorite toile pattern. Such an unexpected surprise. Love!

Both the dining room set and china cabinet are done in a creamy antique white and are lightly distressed. The pictures make it appear lighter than it is. It's a very pretty warm white.

I have a lot of work to do in my booth to make it look good. The walls are a terrible bright blue color. It does not go with my stuff at all! I am thinking of covering them with drop cloth this time to hide the blue. I would rather cover them with something instead of paint because I want to cover the peg holes too. I'll be sharing a picture of my booth and asking for advice very soon!

No Sew Pumpkin Applique Tutorial

I was in Pottery Barn a few weeks ago looking at all of their pretty fall decor. One of my favorite things I found was a pillow with a pumpkin applique on it. Of course, every single time I see something I think I can even remotely make I don't buy it and say I'm going to make it. 95% of the time I end up not making it. But I was determined I was going to make a pumpkin applique. This is my version of the Pottery Barn inspired pillow.

Supplies

Pumpkin Applique Pattern (you can draw your own or click HERE for pattern)

Burlap in two different colors (or any fabric of your choice)

Fabric for the stem

Jute

Fabric Glue

Pins (to hold jute vines in place while drying)

Pillow Cover (make your own, buy one, or use cover you already have)

First step is to decide on what kind of pillow cover you want to attach your applique to. I made a very quick and easy envelope pillow cover out of Osnaburg fabric. It's not a very thick fabric but I already had it so I decided to use it. Drop cloth fabric would work perfectly for this project. The easiest route of course, would be to use a pillow cover already made. There are so many pretty fall pillows out there in lots of pretty colors.

Trace or draw any pumpkin pattern you like or you can click HERE for mine and print it out.

Place piece of paper over pumpkin and trace three overlay pieces.

Place pumpkin pattern piece on dark-colored burlap and cut one.

Cut the other 3 pattern pieces out of the lighter-colored burlap.

Gluing jute around the applique pieces gives it a finished look and helps it to not unravel.

Arrange the jute to make vines and run glue underneath and pin down the string while it dries. Glue down your stem as well. I cut the edge off of a kitchen towel for the stem.