I’ve shared a few pillow tutorials on my blog over the years, but it’s been a while, so I decided to take some pictures as I was making a couple of pillows today and share a tutorial for how to sew a simple pillow with a piping edge.  There is a video tutorial towards the bottom of this post if that’s helpful. Since I shuffled things around in my family room a few months ago, I’ve needed (well, wanted) to make a couple of pillows.  I finally got the push I needed when a sweet reader sent me a beautiful antique woven coverlet.  I just about squealed when I opened the package. It’s sort of an odd-sized, pieced together and has some repairs, so I decided I would get more use out of it if I turned it into pillows.  Don’t get me wrong, I love it with all of

I had several questions on how to make the ruffled bed skirt I had on the antique iron bed frame, so I thought I would make a tutorial.  In addition to sharing a tutorial on how to make a ruffled bed skirt, I am sharing a no-sew option for those who either don’t have a sewing machine (or sewing skills) or simply don’t want to bother.  Really, no one will ever know! Bed skirts are the kind of thing I’ve always preferred to make myself.  I feel like most store-bought versions are skimpy on fabric and are rarely exactly the right “drop” or length, so I’ve opted to make my own for years.  Even before I was sewing with any amount of proficiency. This is the kind of thing you can no-sew your way through and no one will ever know.  I’ll let you know the no-sew steps when we

As I’ve shared, I’ve been in a major cleaning and purging mood.  It’s been happening at home and at the studio.  The more I get rid of, the better it feels and I want to get rid of more, so I’m running with it.  Before we took a break for Christmas, Kriste and I cleaned out the fabric stash at the studio and I’m selling or pitching over half of the fabric I’ve been hanging onto. We’re selling antique pieces… …new and antique fabric remnants and some lots of scraps that can be used for small projects.  If you’ve wanted to have some antique hemp sheets or grain sacks to work with, but they are out of your budget, this is your chance to get some for a bargain! I also just got in a huge order of antique hemp sheets from Europe and decided to kick off the new year

Welcome to part three in this updated version of my slipcover series. In part one, I covered how to make custom piping and in part two, I show how I cut my fabric pieces to get ready for pinning and sewing. And now we’re going to start pinning and sewing.  This is where people start getting nervous, but we’re going to take it section-by-section and you’ll be surprised how it all comes together to make a slipcover. Really.  If you can sew a reasonably straight line, you can do this. Pin fitting is the best way for me to make a slipcover.  Basically, I use the chair as my model, my dress form, and I pin the slipcover to it, inside out.  There’s no templates or patterns, so it’s a lot more straight forward.  This makes for a nice, tight fitting slipcover. Here’s how… Up next, we’ll start pinning and sewing

Hello, all!  I hope you had a great holiday weekend.  We just got back from visiting Jeff’s family in Raleigh, which is always a fun trip.  I had the chance to meet up with some readers for a day of flea-ing and antiquing and I’ll share all about that in another post. Today, I am continuing the new slipcover series.  You can see part one, the introduction and a tutorial on making custom piping, HERE.  This series is a remake of one I did a few years ago, but my equipment, filming & editing skills and sewing know-how have improved a lot since then, so it was time for an update. In this segment, I show how I cut and lay out the fabric for the slipcover.  I have found it’s helpful to do this all at the same time, so I don’t run out of fabric mid-project, which has