Quick Home Dec Project: Cloth Napkins

I don't use paper towels or paper napkins in my house.  Instead, I use of cloth napkins made from quilter's cotton.  I made a set of eight five or six years ago and use them regularly.  Unfortunately, I only have seven now because I think I accidentally threw one away and the remaining ones are starting to show their age.

I've had the these two prints in my stash for at least three or four years - maybe even longer. 

I bought them with the intention of making napkins and even cut them out to size.  Why it has taken me this long to finish the edges is a mystery.  Anyway, they're done and I'm quite pleased!

Fabric & Notions

• 2 yards of 100% cotton (1 for each print)
• serger and thread

Construction

The napkins are ridiculously easy to make.  Cut 18" squares and use a rolled hem to finish the edges.  Done!  One yard of 44"-wide fabric yields four napkins.

For the colorful print, I used a rainbow-colored variegated cotton thread.  I love how it looks on the edges.  For the dog print, I used some cream-colored serger thread.

This is a quick and easy project that can add spunk and a pop of color (or crazy) to any place setting.  Give it a try!

L

Quick Home Dec Project

One of my former students recently crossed Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc.  As a gift, I made him some appliqued pillowcases.  Now I've made pillowcases before, but I've never appliqued anything.  Sure I could have scoured the interwebs for Greek letter patches, but then that would have required me to...um...scour the interwebs.  It's funny how laziness works.  I didn't feel like searching the net, so I made my own letters - which took far more work and a subsequent scouring of said webs for information on how to applique.  Hah.  I amuse me.  

I actually found this whole process kinda fun.  I learned how to use fusible web and freezer paper to create the letters as well as attach them to the hem band using a satin stitch. 

First I fused the web to the back of the fabric out of which the letters were to be cut.
 

After printing and  then tracing the letters onto freezer paper, I pressed the freezer paper onto the fabric.  Sidebar:  why has no one ever told me about freezer paper??  This stuff is amazing!  It is so easy to work with and does not damage the fabric.  I am in applique heaven.  Well, not really.  But you get the point.

The photo below shows a couple of letters already cut out and re-fused to the fabric.  Yes.  You can reuse the freezer paper!  Genius!

Here are the letters ready for fusing to the hem band.

Next, I peeled away the paper backing and pressed the letters onto the hem band.

 

I included both the letters and his line number.  Aww...  I'm so proud of the little runt.

So that was the "easy" part.  Next up was to apply the satin stitch around the edges.  This was brand new to me so I just winged it.  The best piece of advice I read online involved where to stop the needle when pivoting at an inside or outside edge.  If it's an outside edge, stop the needle on the right.  If it's an inside edge, stop the needle on the left.  By the time I got to the second pillow case, I had this down to a science.

Each pillow case has the letters and line numbers on both sides.  This way, the pillowcase body can experience even wear.  Also, the fabric is 100% cotton and should wash well.

I gave him the gift on Friday and he was quite hyped!  He is confident that he is the only Que with Omega pillowcases.  I told him it better stay that way, too!

Does this mean I'm getting into the Greek letter pillowcase business?  Probably not.  I rarely  sew for anyone else.  But he was a good student and always comes back to say hi, so I thought it would be a nice gesture to do this for him. 

Admittedly, this is why it took me longer to finish the jeans.  I stopped working on them after the semester ended to whip up this project.  Now that both the jeans and pillowcases are finished, I can move (and have moved) onto something else.

I have one more post to complete the jeans #9 series.  The post is written, I just need to snap some photos.  Until next time, peace!

L

I Think I Know What Tanked My Sewjo

Early last year, I cut out yards upon yards of fabric to make some tab-topped panels for my bedroom. Using this really nice creme-coloured cotton drapery-weight fabric, I began construction sometime last year. Fast forward to now, I decided to finish the curtains and hang them up.

Hold up. Wait. Not all cremes are the same. This creme has a LOT of red in it - so much so that when I hung the first curtain, an eerie (read ugly) pink hue came through from the bright sunlight. Yuck. I stared at it and tried to like it. I did not and still do not. I'm not a pink person. I can take shades of pink in small quantities and that is all. Having this hue in my place of rest is not going to work. Sigh.

So, that's it. These stupid curtains tanked my sewjo. I was so disappointed because I spent a lot of time finishing and sewing these long (and I mean long) ass seams. I spent even more time measuring, cutting, and sewing the tab tops and finishing the hems.

Man, why can't creme be a universal colour?? Sigh.

One panel is from a pair of curtains I bought many years ago. The other is one I made. Can you spot the pink panel?

My solution? I went shopping. I was NOT going to start over. Nope. Not even. I know I can make curtains. I've made the curtains in every room in my house. I don't have to make these. I went to IKEA and found what I was looking for: four super long CREME tab-topped panels. Aaah, joy. I have to admit thatwhen I first looked at the package, I was miffed that the hem wasn't finished. I thought for &*$%'s sake, can't they FINISH the freakin' edges?! Then, upon further inspection I noticed that there was a package of hem tape and instructions on how to customize the finished length. Heh. Sweet. Now I have some extra hem tape too. I will hang one curtain, measure the length and topstitch it.

I feel motivated to do some sewing. I spent some time with my friend Melody yesterday and I cut out the fabric, lining, and interfacing for my vest. I hope to get that finished this weekend.

L~

Draperies for my Den

I am remodeling my den and want to get started on the painting. But, I wanted to finish the panels so that I can choose the right paint colour.

When I thought of the idea to make the panels, I knew I wanted them to be two-toned. I wanted a chocolate brown on top and a cream on the bottom. To jazz it up a bit, I thought I would topstitch some ribbon to cover the seam joining the two colours. So, I went to Michaels and raided their dollar ribbon bin. In it, I found two spools of ribbon: one solid and one printed. When I held the solid ribbon up to the panel fabrics, the name Raph Lauren popped into my mind. To me, the solid ribbon accompanying the other fabrics suggested calm, relaxed sophistication. When I held the printed ribbon up to the panel fabrics, I immediately thought of Donna Karan and the words urban, hip chic. I mulled over the choices for a long time and settled with the RL look. I will probably use the other ribbon to accent pillows (or something) for the room.

The plan:

Four panels for windows approximately 32" wide with each panel having a finished size of about 25 x 90" (including tabs).

Material used: 5 yards of 54" chocolate-brown drapery fabric, 1 yard of 54" beige drapery fabric, 4 yards of rust/copper satin ribbon, 5 yards of lining fabric.

Construction:

I divided 2 yards of the 54" drapery fabric in half so that each panel measures 27 x 72". I did the same with the beige fabric with each piece measuring 27 x 18". I also cut four lining pieces measuring the finished size of a panel (~25 x 85"). All seam allowances are 1/2".

I then seamed the brown and beige together (beige at bottom) and covered the seam with a an eyeballed 26" strip of ribbon. To finish the raw edges, I folded and pressed the sides under 1/2" two times. Before completing the side edges, I inserted the lining piece by sandwiching it between the first and second fold of the edge of the fabric.

For the tabs, I cut strips of brown fabric measing 6 x 6". This way, I will have a finished size of 3" x 2.5." I started out with much longer tabs, but it was too dramatic for my taste. In fact, the first finished panel has the much longer tabs. To rectify this, I will just use some hem tape to shorten them. It is going to take muuuuch more effort to undo the sewing, shorten the tabs, and put them back. Besides, who's going to know except me and well whoever reads this. =)

Attaching the tabs took a bit of thought. I made panels before for my living room.

For those, I just topstithced the tabs to the top band For the RL panels, I did not want the bottom of the tabs to be seen on the outside. So, I lopped off 3 or 3.5" (I can't remember) from the top of the panel. Then, I sandwiched the finished tabs evenly across the top of the panel and serged all of the pieces together - including the newly cut strip. Afterwards, I pressed the seam down so that I could fold the strip to the back of the panel and topstitched it in place.

To finish the hem, I employed the same techniques used in finishing the side edges. I folded and pressed under 1" two times. I did not want a large hem because the bottom edge will be on the floor and no one will really notice it anyway.

The completed panels:

The paint job is 90% done (lower wood trim left to be painted). I still have to assemble and organize the furniture.

Updates:

The paint job is complete! One piece of furniture (TV stand) is almost assembled. I have to take the doors to the stand back to Ikea because the hardware doesn't quite fit as it should. Once I do that, all I have left to do is assemble the bookshelves, hang some artwork, and tidy the futon.

Some background history:

The room and colour that started it all: my kitchen. I wanted a bold colour for the kitchen so I chose a dark red/rust. It is this colour that I am picking up as accents in every other room. The accents in the kitchen are comprised of woods and colours from other rooms in the house.