SLIPCOVERED CHAIR IN BLUE DENIM THAT REALLY ISN'T

I did this chair a while back, but never got around to posting it.  This fabric was one of the oddest I've ever worked with.  It looks like denim, but it is mostly, if not all, polyester and the reverse side is a black fleece; a faux-denim, if you will.  Very strange.  It is very soft, though, not even a little rough like real denim can be until it has been washed many times.  

My clients had just moved into the house, and I slipcovered it before the rest of the new furniture had arrived, so I was taking pictures of just the chair, trying not to show how much empty space there still was.

Side view

And the back, with the ever-popular covered buttons.  You can not tell from the photo, but the buttons are actually a stripe that is the sofa fabric (the sofa that had yet to be delivered at the time of the slipcover delivery.)

With a throw pillow, to add a bit of color.

Then, today, I was at my client's house measuring for something else and was able to get a shot of it, moved to its new 'home' on the other side of the room so that the buttons would actually show.

Along side the other chair that came with the (not pictured) new sofa.

A TRAILER NAMED DELPHINE

My friend, Laura Petersen from Seaside Cottage Style, bought an old trailer and has spent the last year fixing her up.  Before the renovation, she had thought to name her Pearl.  After deciding on a decorating theme, kind of a mix of Marie Antoinette and beach, and a color for the outside, she changed her name to Delphine.  Delphine is French for dolphin, and Marie Antoinette's crest is a dolphin.

A view of the dining area, which is to the right just inside the door.

The sleeping area, which is to the left.

I made the coverlet, and so that it is reversible, used a very soft 'fur' on the back side.

Close up of the furry lining.

Standing in the sleeping area, looking towards the front of the trailer.  

I made the cushions for the dining area.  The fabric is a tweed in blue and khaki, with a solid khaki welting.  And if the cushion are flipped over, the other other is the solid khaki linen.

Throw pillow in a blue cherry blossom print with a pleated ruffle.

On the reverse side of the pillow, I used a creamy moire satin, which I washed to remove the water marks.  It actually came out very nicely, and makes a great back for pillows and welting.

Mademoiselle Delphine from the outside.

AN OCCASIONAL CHAIR UPDATE

This small, occasional chair was in need of a make-over.  There was nothing really wrong with the upholstery; it just was tired, and my client wanted more color in the room.

The solution?  A blue and white ticking stripe.  My client ordered this fabric from fabric.com.  It was a great weight and it washed very nicely.

As with any barrel chair, it is always more challenging to do a slipcover.  There has to be lots of darts and seams that a less rounded chair would not require.  Still, the stripe helps hide those seams and darts.

In this case, the buttons were a necessity to get the slipcover on and off the chair.  We kept the skirt short so as to not weigh down the look. 

(I also made arm covers out of the same fabric for a chair in the bedroom of my client's son, though I did not take a picture of that.)  

A HIGH RISE RE-DO

Here in Coronado we have high rise buildings just to the south of the Hotel Del, called the Shores.

Part of my job was to make new covers for the sofa throw pillows.  

I came very close to making the pillows and the new seat cushions with the wrong side of the fabric.  Luckily, I was out walking and ran into the designer on this job and asked, in passing, if the blue side of the fabric was the right side.  She said, no, the black side.  That could have been a disaster had I not asked! The funny thing is either side would have worked.

The 'new' bar stools.

This job was more of an upholstery job, and even though I am NOT an upholsterer, they turned out really well.

The 4 chairs around the glass-top table.

From the back

The renovation is still in progress, but the new pillows and cushions have gone along way to make the condo look fresher and more up-to-date.  Of course, the view of the Pacific Ocean never gets old!

AN OUTDOOR SEATING OASIS

I delivered these large, very large, cushions to my client's home in Rancho Santa Fe the day before Thanksgiving.  We were having temperatures in the eighties at that time, so they needed to be done so my client and her family could take advantage of the gorgeous weather.

When I say they were large, I'm talking the two side cushions were 94" long!  It's not so much that making cushion covers that long is the problem.  No, it's more that when you have batting wrapped foam that long, it gets unruly, to say the least.

My client chose a brown Sunbrella to more or less blend in with the brown wood of the trellis that covers the seating area.  We used a light aqua for contrast welting and throw pillows to mimic the color of the pool water.

I apologize that the pictures are not better.  I was shooting in the middle of the day, with not a cloud in the sky and bright sunshine.  The shadows were quite challenging.

A close-up of the welting and throw pillow in aqua Sunbrella.

HAPPY 2015 TO ME

I never make anything for myself.  That is partly because I don't pay myself to make things for me, but mostly it's because I sew most every day, for most of the day.  So when I don't have to work, I simply cannot sew.  I was sick at the end of 2014/ beginning of 2015 and decided that I was going to make myself a present.

I got this adorable hot pink polka dot fabric at Home Fabrics for just $8 per yard.  I washed it to pre-shrink it so that I can just throw it in the washing machine when it gets dirty.  

I have had this Parsons chair for, well, ever, and had never taken the time to make a slipcover for it.  Since it is upholstered in white duck cloth, it has gotten really grubby.  I got tired of looking at it and decided to, finally, do something about it.

The slipcover has a button-back, though it is really difficult to see.  The buttons are solid pink.

Now, when I walk into my sewing room/office each morning and throughout the day,  I am greeted with a bright, pretty new gift to myself.  

And I deserved it!

LEE JOFA SLIPCOVER

This slipcover was a hurry-up-and-get-it-finished-before-Christmas job.  The fabric is from Lee Jofa and the pattern is Jacobean Tree.

I made it from the existing slipcover, which style was exactly what my client wanted.  Besides, the day I went to measure and cut, my client was talking to me and I could not concentrate, so I chose to take apart the current one to use as the pattern.

Whoever made the one I took apart did not do it like I do...that is, I cut half and flip it over since it is a mirror image.  This one, not so much.  I had to cut it exactly as the taken apart pieces were so it would go back together properly.

My client insisted I take this shot as it shows the other two pieces I've done in the room, the white denim chair and ottoman in the center and the light blue denim chair at the top of the picture.

I got a little nervous that the slipcover might not fit even though I was using the slipcover I took off, so I pinned the entire thing together and took it over to make sure.  It seemed to fit fine, but the original slipcover had just a 1/2" turned up hem and the new one looked like it might be just a tad short.  The solution was to add a 2" ruffle at the bottom, which, in the end, was the icing on the cake, so to speak.

My client loved it!  She kept saying it looked it should be in an English cottage with a low-beamed ceiling.  I was also very happy with how it turned out.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

May the coming year bring you Health, Happiness and Prosperity!

(Photo by Laura Petersen in London, England.)

EURO SHAMS AND DOUBLE FLANGED THROW PILLOWS

More pillows for the master bedroom...

The same fabric as the balloon shades was used on these Euro squares.  Because the fabric is not an even pattern, there is no way to center the stripe so that it is a mirror image.

But they can be turned so that either the black stripe is in the center as in the previous shot, or the white/silver is.

The double flanged pillows in the front add color to the room.

In the wider view of the bed, the roman shade is visible.  Both of these fabrics are Designers Guild.

BOXED PILLOWS AND MATCHING ROMAN SHADE

The job with Cara Clancy continues...

These boxed pillows turned out great, but as with most everything else on this particular job, they were a big, fat pain to make.

What made them difficult was the pleated linen welting.  The linen was much too heavy to pleat.  As always, though, I did it anyway.

I like to tell myself that I get the jobs I do because I CAN to them, even when they are not simple or easy.  (Sounds good and makes me feel better.)

This is the guest room.

And in the guest bathroom, a roman shade made of the same fabric.  It is always a challenge to photograph shades when it is really sunny outside.  And since I do not normally deliver items at night, I frequently run into this problem.  This is sunny Southern California, after all!

The shade pulled up.

BEDROOM WING CHAIR GETS NEW LIFE

The client to whom this chair belongs was my very first client in Coronado way back in 2002.  She likes her slipcovers VERY fitted, and requested a zipper instead of the usual buttons-down-the-back.

This fabric proved to be a bit of a challenge because of the pattern, which had to be matched everywhere.  Also, she had bought all Calico Corners had, and, really, I thought it probably wasn't going to be enough.  Luckily, I was able to railroad the fabric, which meant I could make the entire slipcover out of it without having to use another for the welting and/or deck.

The zipper is on the other side, but I did such a good job that my client didn't realize I had put one in.

The skirt has gathered corners.

I was especially happy with how it turned out, given that the wings made it that much harder to make sure it all matched.  My client was happy, too, and that's what really counts!