ORANGE IS THE HOT NEW COLOR THIS SPRING

 According to all the magazines, orange is the new hot color this season.  What better way to use it than as welting for this white duck cloth slipcover?

 My client is an artist in La Jolla and loves color as much as I do.

 Although the room is large and airy, using the orange as just a contrast does not overwhelm anything else in the room, including her art.

The original pillows were round, but I updated them with rectangular ones.

And this lovely piece of furniture is what's under the new slipcover!  My client's husband's comment when he walked in and saw the 'new' sofa was, "What an improvement!  Now that's something I can live with."

A KITCHEN BANQUETTE

 Talk about HUGE cushions!  

 This seating area in my client's kitchen is 12' long, which means each cushion and bolster is 6' long.  It's not really much different sewing a very long cushion or a short one, it just takes a lot more fabric!

And because they are so long, getting the covers on and off the back cushions was very difficult.  Since the ends do not show, I made the end caps part of the zipper box to alleviate that problem.

This is the 'before.'  Let's just say that it was incredibly ugly before and now it looks way better!

CHAIR PADS AND THROW PILLOWS

 Chair pads

 A lot of wooden chairs are very uncomfortable to sit on.  These stools at my client's kitchen bar were no exception.

 From another job I did for her, we discovered that making double ties makes the cushion more secure.  It also looks kinda cute!

 The leather sofa also got some throw pillows from the same fabric.  I used a red welting to frame the fabric.  That red caused a near-disaster when I washed the fabrics.  Knowing better than to wash the fabrics together, I did it anyway.  When I opened the washing machine, the white areas on the fabric  and the selvage were completely PINK.  Rats!  So I took the red fabric out and filled the machine with water and oxi-clean and let the newly 'pinked' fabric soak for a couple hours.  I then washed it again.  Luckily, the pink came out.  I then soaked the red fabric in vinegar to set the color.  In the end, I was able to avoid having to buy new fabric and you better believe I won't be making that mistake again.  Never a dull moment here!

The 'new' chairs at the bar.

SHEER BED SKIRT

When my client asked me to make a bed skirt for her, I said, "Sure."  When she brought me this sheer fabric, I nearly had a heart attack.  I HATE sewing on sheer fabric.  It is so unstable.  I call it slimy fabric. Did I mention I HATE it?  Well, I do and as this is a very good client that I've done lots of work for and with in the past, I didn't feel like I could actually turn her down, especially after I said I'd do it. 

At first she said she wanted it to be a double layer of the fabric.  This stressed me out beyond belief.  I couldn't figure out how to do it without all the seams showing, not to mention the bed frame.  I finally told her that I didn't think she's really like it if I did it that way and suggested using lining fabric for the back layer.  Basically, she wanted a ballet-ish look to the skirt.  

I know it is very hard to tell from these pictures, but it turned out really nice.  It was still an incredible pain to work with, but the lining fabric at least gave me the stability I needed to counteract the sliminess of the sheer.  It is also hard to tell, but the skirt doesn't go all the way to the floor and the sheer layer is about 3/4" shorter, which gives it kind of a petticoat look.  I was never so happy to finish a job and when I took it to her house and we put it on, she was thrilled!  That, in turn, made me happy.  If I never get asked to do another sheer bed skirt, it will be too soon.

IT'S THAT TIME OF THE YEAR

At least it's the time of year in Southern California that people are thinking their outdoor furniture/cushions need updating.

The patchwork pillow is a favorite of mine.  

My client loved this Tommy Bahama fabric.

The bench cushion and ottoman (not pictured) got a contrast welting so that everything tied together.  And what you cannot see is that all the pillows are reversible, so my client can change the look whenever she wishes.

The 'back' sides of two of the larger pillows.

The way I see it is, by making both sides of the pillows different, you get twice as many pillows for your money.

BRIGHT, NEW SPRING 'CLOTHES'

My client was having a going away party for her son (into the Navy) and wanted some updating and brightening of her patio cushions.

She chose a crisp navy and white stripe and I used red for the welting.

She already had the red bench cushion, but the new pillows pop on it!

We only did the cushion and pillows that you see.  What you do not see are the other seat cushions and pillows that didn't get re-done and how tired and faded they look next to the bright new stuff.  They are next on the to-do list, which often happens when I do a job for someone!