Home Decor Series - Designer Guest Post with Design Shuffle

Inspiration.............Eye Candy.............Decorating Ideas

We all love inspiration, that's why we read so many blogs, right?

And when we stumble upon great eye candy, we get excited.

And decorating ideas, well, let's get real, we're all looking for them at some point.

Don't you love it when you find a website that has all of that in one spot?

I know I do.

I'm like a kid in a candy store every time I find a new site with lots of decorating inspiration gathered in one spot. Let's me know I can hunker down for a while and browse through ONE SITE for a long time and be able to build my inspiration files.

Enter Design Shuffle.

What is Design Shuffle you ask?

It's a social networking site for interior designers, architects, home decorators, or enthusiasts that just love interior design. It's filled with lots of interior design and decorating ideas from top tier design talent around the world.

I've asked the gals behind Design Shuffle to come and share some of their handy tips on pulling together a well decorated home for yourself.

So here they are. Take it away!

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Hi there Make Mine Beautiful readers. We're glad to be here talking to you about tips to keep in mind whether you're planning a single project in your own home, or doing a complete decorating overhaul. Since Polly is a designer herself, we've asked her to chime in with a few of her own tips along the way.

The principles of interior designing can bring about a marvelous and pleasing change to your house if correctly applied. You can choose to have professional designers take care of your designing needs, or you can very well do it yourself if only you do your research to find great interior design ideas and complete your homework before you start bringing down the walls.

(Michelle Workman Interiors)

Effective Interior designing is all about knowing yourself and knowing what you actually want from your home. Since revamping and remodeling your home is a very expensive venture, you cannot adopt the hit and miss approach. You need to be very sure about your requirements, your choices, and your ultimate vision of transformation.

From choosing the colors to choosing the tiles; from designing the kitchen to revamping the bedroom; from selecting the rugs to selecting the window blinds and the lighting, you have to be sure about your choices by looking at things from an artistic as well as a practical point of view. Creativity should be accompanied with practicality, as form and function both play an equally vital role in interior design. You will need to understand the science behind interior designing, and grasp the concepts behind the art of interior decorating in order to give your home a complete makeover that will stay fresh for years to come.

(Murray Feiss)

Here are Some Interior Design Tips That Will Come In Handy:

- Before diving into revamping the house, refer to as many interior design magazines or interior design ideas on the net as possible.
Polly Tip: Start building your inspiration files as soon as you know you have a project on the horizon.

- Maintain a scrap book with ideas and pictures of things that have caught your eye so you can get inspiration and ideas from them when needed.

- Take each room one at a time and create a separate vision for each room, keeping in mind its dimensions.

Polly Tip: Keep a set of basic room measurements in your files at all times. Be sure to include all doors, windows, and closets. You never know when you'll find the perfect piece of furniture, and you need to be able to know if it fits.

- Adding good pictures to the background gives an artistic touch.
Polly Tip: Look for art that really appeals to you. If you select a subject you truly connect with that has a color palette you prefer, then you will enjoy that art for many years. Also pay particualer attention to the scale of the art vs the size of the room.

- Ensure that the space and color combinations complement each other.
Polly Tip: Consult a color wheel if you need help with understanding color combinations.

(Michelle Workman Interiors)

- A dark and dull house is uninspiring and uninviting. So, do not compromise on lighting effects. Add chandeliers or a few sconces to add that extra dimension.
Polly Tip: Lighting is everything in design! We'll cover this in depth in a future blog post.

 

(Brooks Design)

 - Try to keep your interior design project cost effective. It will not do you any good if the project is worth more than the house itself.
Polly Tip: If you know your current house is not your forever house, then put the bulk of your funds into items you can take with you when you go, such as great furniture and rugs. If you know that it is your forever house, you can be a bit more lenient about that, but still be reasonable about pricing your house out of the market for your neighborhood. In other words, put good money into your lighting, but don't spend thousands of dollars on a fabulous tile for an 8 foot strip of backsplash.

- Add simple plants and show pieces to add to the aesthetics of your house.

(Irene Bruth & Isobel Miller)-

- Antique and vintage interior décor pieces are always in style.
Polly Tip: Eclectic interiors have exploded in popularity with the expanse of decorating blogs. Try mixing antique and vintage pieces into your current decor for a fun and unique spin on your current style.


- The kitchen is the heart of any home. Design your kitchen with the help of kitchen design ideas from several sources while keeping both comfort and practicality in mind. Here are a few different kitchen ideas fresh off the press to get you started.
Polly Tip: Schedule at least one consultation with a kitchen designer in your home. They are trained to help you get the most use of your space, and many times they will give you ideas that may otherwise have never occured to you. You have no obligation to complete your project with them, and in many cases, they will sell you the plans they drew up for your project.

(Brooks Design)

(Granada Tile Melanie Stephens)

- Large patterned tiles are proving to be popular, or if you are more into rugs, hand knotted or wool area rugs with large patterns are a good idea for maximum impact for your floors.
Polly: Couldn't agree more!


- Colors can be used with great effect to change the tone and ambiance of any room in the home. So, study the effects of colors in your home before finalizing them.
Polly Tip: Test items and paints in your home whenever possible. You would be amazed at how different something may look when you take it from the store into your own lighting situation.

(Thomas F. Fallon Architect)

The trendiest colors of 2011 are: Honeysuckle, Coffee, Vintage Wine, Citrus Yellow, Black Pearl, Spicy Brown, Teal, and Indigo.
Polly Tip: Infuse a few of these into your decor for added spunk. All fun colors, and I can't wait to see rooms start exploding with them this year!

 

- Going green is in. Eco-friendly cloth fabrics, furniture, flooring materials, and energy lighting alternatives are the latest addition to interior décor fashions.

- As with any other branch of art, interior decorating and designing knows no limits.

You have the choice to follow trends or create something of your own that could turn into a trend.

Stop by Design Shuffle today to find some great inspiration for every room in your home.

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Thank you so much for the great tips!

I hope you've gotten some good pointers from the Design Shuffle gals.

What questions do you have about your next design project?

Im taking on new cases to discuss on the blog for Designer Fridays, so let me know.

Home Decor Series - Sewing - Is Hand Sewing KeepinYou All Twisted Up?

Do you do a lot of hand sewing?

Hemming pants, closing up pillows, sewing on buttons?


If you do, then I'm guessing you spend a fair amount of time frustrated with your thread twisting up, or one thread suddenly becoming 'longer' than the other one. Am I right?

Are you constantly having to stop and unwind your thread to keep it from knotting up?

Well, if you're having this problem, I have a very quick fix. I promise, you'll never lose control of your thread again!

All you need to do is tie a knot in your thread directly at the end of the eye of the needle.

Here we go:

1. Thread your needle.

2. Bring both threads together and wrap around your needle.

3. Bring the end of your threads across your needle and through the loop you just formed.

 (Don't pay any attention to my grown out nails. I told you I've been busy. In fact, this picture is so old now that those nails aren't even there anymore! I'm aunatural at this point!)

4. Pull your knot tight on the needle.

5. Slide the knot down the needle until you're just off the edge of it a bit.
Pull tight. See how that knot is directly at the edge of the needle? That's important.
It'll keep your knot from catching in the fabric.

6. Also important is that your knot needs to be no larger than the thread layers.
If you make a big knot, it will catch in your fabric and break off.

7. See how you can barely tell there's a knot in the threads? That's how yours should look.

And there you have it - hassle free hand sewing!

Try it and see how much easier your hand sewn projects become. You'll thank me, I guarantee it!

And if you're still hand sewing with a single thread and wonder what the heck I'm talking about.......shame on you. :)

Home Decor Series - Wednesday in the Workroom - Zippered, Corded Pillow

Home Decor Series:

Wednesday in the Workroom

Make a Zippered, Corded Pillow Like a Pro!

In the Wednesday in the Workroom portion of the Home Decor Series, I'm going to teach you how to sew like a pro! If you can sew a straight line and follow directions, then you can make these:

You can do it. I know you can.

We're going to make one pillow with two different looks. I do this often for my clients because you can get two looks for the price of one.

At the end of this post you'll know how to make fabric cording, insert a zipper, add tassels, apply a trim, and make a pillow. That word "zipper" sounds intimidating, huh?, Don't worry, I'm going to make it pain free for you.

Let's gather some supplies.

Decide on the size pillow you want to make. I've decided on 18" for this project, so I only needed 1/2 yard per fabric.

I used 1 fabric for the front, 1 fabric for the back, 1 fabric for the cording, 2 tassels, a zipper, and 2 1/4 yards of cotton cord per pillow.

ADDING TRIM

We're going to add trim to one side of the pillow, so before we sew anything together, let's get that out of the way.

First, lay out your fabric against a straight edge. Mark the lines on your pillow where your trim will go, and then add a tiny bead of glue on that line. Note "tiny".

After the glue dries, sew the trim down on each edge.

When you're finished with that, your fabric should look like this. (I did two pillows)

CORDING

Ok, now set those aside and let's make some cording. A little tip about making fabric cording - you do not have to be exact with your cuts because you can trim it in the end. For teaching purposes here, I did measure it though.

Lay your fabric out face down. Take a straight edge and mark your first line. You'll want to have some degree of bias, but if your fabric is fairly flexible, a true bias is not necessary. In this picture, you'll see my bias is very leinient. My cord is 3/8" of an inch, and I'm cutting my fabric at 3".

After you've marked your lines, you're going to stagger them and sew them together. The reason for staggering the lines is so that you can create one continous strip.

This keeps you from having to sew several pieces together.

Once you've sewn your seam, press it out, and then cut along the lines.

CORDING TRICK:

Now, put your regular sewing foot (not your cording foot) on your machine, set your stitch width at about 4-5, and sew the fabric around the cord. Do NOT try to sew it too tight against the cord. I'll explain why in a bit, but for now, just sew loosely. Notice my needle placement against the cord.

After you've done that, cut the excess fabric off about 1/4" from the stitch line. Leave a little empty cord.

For those of you with a serger, just wrap the fabric around the cord and zip it through to trim off the excess.

Your finished cord should look like this. (I ran mine through the serger which is why my edge looks different from what you'll be making.)

CONSTRUCTING THE PILLOW:

Now you're ready to begin sewing all of the parts together.

Because this is a reversible pillow, you need to decide which side you'll be using the most, and we'll call that the front.

First, let's sew the cord to the front.

This is a good tip for beginners. There is no need to pin the pillow together and try to sew the cord into the seam. The way I'm showing you will make sure that your cord is tight and professional looking. No need to pin your cord down too much. Every few inches will be fine.

Be sure NOT to pull your cord too tight when sewing it on.

When you sew it to the front side, I'm going to have you sew it at a stitch length of 5, and do NOT ride too close to the cord. You simply want to get the cord attached right now. We'll tighten it up once we put the layers together. Doing it this way will keep you from having to try to cover your first stitch when you're finishing the pillow. Start in the center of the bottom, and leave about 2" of the cord unattached at the beginning.

When you get to the corners, put a few little nicks in the cord with your scissors so that you can round the corners perfectly.  (A lot of people just put one snip in the corner and turn the fabric, but that creates puckering in the cord.) You'll be surprised how perfect your corner is going to look by doing it this way.

Here's the easy way to join the cord at the end.

It's easier to show you the pictures than to describe it, so if you look closely, you'll get it.

Stop about an inch and a half short of where you began.

Tuck the beginning of the cord into the end of the cord, and cut the white cord so that it joins the other.

You'll need to take out a few stitches at the end so that you can wrap your fabric around the first part you sewed on.

Hold it down really tight and then sew it all down until it's all attached.

INSERTING THE ZIPPER:

Now, remember that zipper I told you you were going to insert? It goes on this side. Because of that, you'll need to tighten the cord down on this side right now. Put your zipper foot on the machine now. You'll use it to finish the pillow out. To get it tight, sew to the inside of the first stitch line on the cord. Get it as close to the foot as you can. Notice my needle placement.

 

Ok ladies, pull out that zipper.

Follow my pictures closely to see how to insert the zipper properly. You'll sew it to the front side of your fabric first, right on top of the cord.

On your back fabric, go ahead and iron the edge over about a half inch and set it aside. Pin only the ends of the zipper, like this:

On the side you turned over, be sure to sew it about 1/8" from the edge. This will be the lip that overlaps your zipper to hide it.

On the cording side, sew it about the same length from the edge. This will give you a tight fit on the closure.

Sew both sides of the zipper down. Stop about 1 1/2" short of the ends.

SEW THE PILLOW TOGETHER:

It's time to sew it together. Grab your tassels.

Before you sew the sides together, you need to sew the tassels down in the corners. Clip a couple of stitches where you sewed down the cord to the top corners.

Push the tassel cord UNDER the fabric cord and sew over it.

Don't sew over the zipper.

Now zip the zipper and flip the pillow so that you have the face of each fabric together. Pin the corners down, and put a pin the corners of the sides without the zipper.

You'll sew the corners on the zipper side first. This will set your fabrics straight and give you a guide to go by when sewing the rest of the pillow together. Start sewing about 2" down from the edge that wraps around to the zipper side.

Now, remember when I had you fold the edge of your back fabric over a half inch? You'll use that as your guide for your stitch line.

Follow these couple of pictures closely.

See where you turn the corner? As you turn it, you'll run right into the fold line. Stitch directly in that fold line. This will make your seam even with the zipper you sewed in.

Then, be sure as you sew that the zipper is on the outside of your foot. You can tell by feel.

Finish it off like this:

This locks your zipper into place, Just wait till you see how perfect this will look on the finished side.

When you sew the other end, do the same. You'll need to flip the pillow over and sew it from the other side.

As long as you're sewing in that crease line, your zipper will be perfect.

Let's flip that corner right now and take a peek.

Notice how the zipper just goes away in to the corner?

Notice how smooth that cord is on the turn?

These are little tricks you learn with experience, so I just put you ahead of the beginner's game.

Ok, flip it back over and finish sewing the pillow together.

IMPORTANT: UNZIP your pillow right now. You've got the corners sewn down on that side, so now it's safe to open it.

Alright, remember a few steps back when you were sewing on the cording loosely? Here's where you'll  tighten it up, and where you'll thank me for not having you sew it tight the first go around.

Start sewing where you left off sewing the zipper on. Try to get the needle as close as you can to the cord. Do NOT pull your fabric too tight. Your machine has feed dogs on it for a reason. It pulls the fabric through at the rate the machine was designed to pull it. If you tug at it too much, you'll bend your needle.

When you're done, clip the corners like this:

This is the exciting part. Turn your pillow right side out and see what you've created! Pop a pillow insert in it and put it somewhere that you can see it everyday. Congratulate yourself. I bet it's beautiful!

Two looks in one pillow....

I added a few fabric covered buttons to mine to jazz them up a bit.

Now you've had your fisrt VERY THOROUGH sewing lesson with Polly. I hope I've taught you something you can put to use right away.

Please help me out so that I can plan future sewing instruction post by letting me know what you think.

Is this too much information in one post? Do you like being able to read/print out the full instruction all at once?

Would you prefer to have each session broken down into parts?

Let me know and I'll tailor future posts accordingly.

I don't want to scare you away with such thorough instructions, but I also don't want to leave you feeling like you have to wait to finish a project. I'll let the readers decide.

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Several weeks back I posted this as a guest post on another blog. I want to share with you an email I received afterwards.

This goes to show that, YES, you can do it even if you're a beginner.

This reader took the elements of what I taught in this tutorial and took it to the extreme for her very first real project.

Read her letter:

POLLY!!! You won't believe what I did? I mean, you don't even know me. But let me tell you, I'm so excited. I saw your pillow thingy on Donna's site.  I got so inspired. I am Miss Enthusiasm when there's something to be enthusiastic about, of course. I was going to make a pillow, with cord. I've made pillows before. Just your basic kinda pillow - complete with hot glue to close the sweety up. Nothing too fancy. I'm not a seamstress. I'm the "owner of a sewing machine". Not a sewer.

So. What did I do with all my enthusiasm and sewing knowledge? I made a slip cover!!! What?????!!!!!!!!!! I did! I did! I can't believe it. I can't believe my hands and heart sewed this wonderful pretty!!! And today, Lord willing, I am sewing a cover for the sweet otto(woman) that came with her. A find from CL! And then a pillow cover for a smallish pillow (WITH A CORD!!!!!!!!!!) to sit on my newly slipcovered chair!!!!
I had a meeting to go to last night. When I got home, I went into my studio to stand and stare at my slipcovered chair. Then my husband told me that he loved it so much while I was at my meeting he went downstairs for something and found himself looking at the chair and feeling so proud of me!
I know this was a long story. But if you knew how many piles of fabric and inserts and cords and well, no zippers, but stuff I have waiting to be made, sewn, created. You'd shout something or scratch your head. What was I waiting for? The teacher!!!
Thank you! Bottom of my heart thanks! I cannot wait to learn more!

Btw, I have a tiny blog and I know how long and arduous these posts can be. I truly appreciate you setting all these photos and instructions and taking the time for the "sewer wannabes" out here!!


~Kolein

Have a look at how she transferred what she learned to her own project.

Pop on over to Kolein's blog to see the slipcover she created! And read through it while you're there -she's a funny gal that'll keep your in stitches (no pun intended).