Beauty of Fabric

A sweet client in Richmond finished a beautiful remodel on their kitchen. It's a great blend of traditional and modern finishes and style. The finishes consist of anything from soap stone countertops (which my husband loves and wants to replicate in our kitchen---I don't think I can stand another remodel in our house right now!) to white bead board ceilings. But, for me, a room just isn't complete without a touch of fabric. She saw some neutral, simple fabric with an elegant pattern and decided roman shades were the best treatment in keeping with the look of the kitchen. Below are the pictures from our installation and I think the shades are a perfect compliment and a great finishing touch. So glad she loved them!

I LOVE corduroy

I'm so addicted to fabric. I could buy it all the time. It's a problem. As you can see from the picture, I got the fabrics listed here. This new corduroy(just in time for fall!) by designer, Sandi Henderson, has been catching my eye as I browse my favorite online fabric stores. I loved it so much I bought some for a new dress I'm making for the girls (and anyone else that wants to buy).

I loved this one, too. Also by Sandi Henderson. So this will trim the bottom of the dress and I might use some as a great accent on a hair clip. Who knows.

I love birds. Kinda over the top right now so I need to back off. But, this light pink fabric is so cute and now that I have purchased it and can see it in person, it's even cuter! So this will be the material for the sleeve. Add a little yellow velvet trim and it will be so cute. Can't wait... and as soon as it's finished, I'll post for you to see as well. And then you can tell your friends to order one for their cutie, too.

In Knots!

I enjoy making window treatments and home decor. No doubt. But there is something so fun about piecing together fabric and patterns to make a fun outfit for my daughter. This is an adaptation of the knot dress (first seen by Matilda Jane clothing line) with a little apron attached to the front. It's fun and airy and as you can see, my model loves it. The ruffled pants just complete the look but it can be worn alone. And I've got the cutest little shirt for her to wear as well so she can take this outfit in to her fall wardrobe (not that she has one yet!).

This outfit is sized from 6 months up to size 10. If you would like to talk about one for your cutie, email me for sizing, color choices and pricing.

Double the Blessing

A sweet friend of mine is having twins, double the blessing, right? Well that also means double the bibs and burp cloths at feeding time. So for her recent shower I gave her a set of handmade burp cloths and bibs with a coordinating blanket (thanks to my sis) in a bag of filled with wipes and diapers (major necessity!). I was so thrilled with how they all turned out and wanted to share.

I took a bib of my baby's that I really love because of the size and amount of shirt it covers when she is eating and used that as my template. I then bought several pieces of cotton material that coordinated and pieced them together to make the whole bib. I used the same fabrics or coordinating ones to form strips down the center of the bib and my sis used a large piece for the blanket. All in all, this is such a practical gift but with a personal and unique twist. If you have a baby or a shower gift to purchase email me at jenny_sew@yahoo.com for ordering info. You can't go wrong with this set.

I Don't Prefer Pink

It's true. Even though I consider myself a girly-girl I don't prefer pink. But, my three year old, Cora, loves it and wanted it to be all over her walls. Her daddy told her she could have pink walls if she wanted them, so the battle was over before it begun. :) She even chose her fabrics at the store that she really liked. So I took the agua and pink floral and used it as the color inspiration for the room and wall art. It became the main pillow fabric and roman shade material. The stripe was perfect for fan pleat drapes and a custom bed skirt, leaving the polka dot as an accent for extra pillows and a band of trim on the drapes.

I love the way the fabrics coordinate but aren't too matchy and add more color to the room other than pink. I tied the window treatment together by adding the pink pom-pom trim to the edge of the roman shade and between the two fabrics down the side of the drapes.

The inspiration for the whole room really came from a cute baby shower invite for a stylish friend. I had a print shop copy the tree to a transparency and then I changed the flowers and accents to my liking. A talented friend added butterflies (at Cora's request) and birds with a Bible verse I picked out for Cora: "Consider the birds of the air, they neither sow or reap, they have no storeroom nor barn, and yet God feeds them all. How much more valuable you are than the birds. Luke 12:24" I used the colors from the floral fabric as the accent colors on the wall art.

I added her name on a ledge using wooden letters covered with different patterned papers and a precious chandelier. I bought white shades at a local home store, painted them the aqua color I used throughout the room and added ribbon and ric rac trim to dress them up. Cora could not be happier in her girly pink room and that makes this mommy happy, too.

Memo Board turned Bow Holder

So, I realize memo boards aren't that big of a deal. You can get them at any store and some are even pretty cute. But, if you want one to match your child's room or even your home decor, take a tip from me and just use scrap fabric and ribbon from your original project. I had scrap fabric from my nursery and decided to make her a memo board for bows, pictures, etc. I painted flowers on her wall (pictures of that to come) so I put a paper flower from my scrapbook supplies in each nail head that I used to tuft the memo board. I just used the various colors of the room for accent on the memo board.

Then for my other daughter's room I used one scrap piece of fabric, solid colored ribbon and then used different colored buttons to secure the ribbon in each spot. Her bows clip easily to the ribbon and there is tons of room to add more.

My son doesn't need a bow holder! But he still got a scaled down version and I hung this on his wall for pictures and art work.
This can be done in one night (I just worked on them while watching TV and hanging with my hubby) and cost less than a generic one you can buy at a discount store. Cora's hangs behind her door above her coat/hat rack so it looks really cute together. Just get creative and work one in to your kids room for function and decor. I'll have some to sell on my etsy site, whenever I get around to starting that. ha

Angles Don't Have to Be Awkward

A client recently wanted some window treatments for the windows over her large corner whirlpool tub in her master bath. She really like the Eleanor valance but knew she wanted to accentuate the corner and angles of her ceiling. So, I altered the valance to make each section hang down a little lower until it came to a point on each side. Because the windows were different widths, it was necessary to make each swag a different width and also alter the pleated parts. I also wanted to put the end points at the same length for each to give some continuity to the look. Originally there were only supposed to be two buttons so I also added buttons in the same increments down the middle to connect the swags as necessary. The finished look was perfect for the shape and look of this bathroom. Adding a little scotchguard to the fabric also helped to maintain the beauty of the fabric despite the steam, hair spray and other various things in the air of a bathroom.