I Love a Good Ruffle!

Let's make some pillows with a ruffle!

I received my first sewing machine from my parents when I was around 7 years old. It was my Christmas gift and I couldn't have been more excited. I did what most beginner sewers did... made PILLOWS! I would take my allowance, go to the fabric store, buy adorable fabric, come home, sew for hours and make as many pillows as my heart desired. There came a point that I made so many pillows that there was no more room on my bed. That little Singer sewing machine could only handle so much and hundreds of pillows later it no longer worked. I haven't sewed much since those pillow making days.

Abi & Eve Christmas 2012

This past Christmas my mother-in-law, Cynthia, gave Eve and me our very own sewing machine! It's been years but for my first project I decided to go back to my roots of pillow making and make a few 20" throw pillow covers for our bed. Here's what I did below with some help and sewing tips from sweet Cynthia.

 

I bought 4 1/2 yards of ruffle to go all the way around 4 sides of each pillow.

I bought 2 yards of fabric which is more than enough for two pillows.

To make an envelope backing I cut a 21" square for the front of the pillow which gives me a 1/2" seem allowance. I also cut a rectangle for the back at 21" by 25" - I cut the 25" rectangle in half and sewed a seem on the edges in the middle. When matched up with the 21" front side there is an overlap. The overlap makes an envelope opening for the pillow form to go in. *If I do this again I would add a few more inches and make it 27" to provide more of an overlap and room for extra fluffy pillow forms.

An envelope backing is great - no zippers or buttons needed!

To add the ruffle I pinned the ruffle facing in on the front side of the 21" square.

Ruffles are secured and complete!

Then I matched up (inside out) the 25" back side to the ruffled 21" front side
and sewed along the ruffle seem... ultimately, sewing the pillow together.

I flipped it inside out and added my 20" down pillow form! DONE!

Little Boo wanted to make a quick appearance. :)

Well, it's true. I do love a good ruffle... on duvets, table runners, scarves, little girl dresses and big girl dresses too! But more than anything, I love a good ruffle on a throw pillow.

Who would've thunk... I'm in Better Homes & Gardens!

That's right! Our holiday crafting last season made the cut and now we are in Better Homes & Garden's Christmas Ideas 2012 on newsstands now!
 
I work for a company named Salt Harbor Designs & Harborside Event Rentals. We specialize in full event planning, directing, floral, paper design and specialty rentals for weddings around the Southeastern North Carolina area. We never thought our Christmas decorating and crafting would be a hit to other people. We just enjoy being creative and acting on an idea that one of us has. In this case it was, "let's get together and do holiday crafts one night, want to?" "Yes, and let's bring food!"

What we first thought was a basic holiday crafting night with our local friends and coworkers of Salt Harbor Designs, Harborside Event Rentals, The Atrium & Millie Holloman Photography became a fully decorated event, photo shoot, crafting and potluck dinner! Millie of Millie Holloman Photography and Jen, owner of Salt Harbor Designs, later submitted our photos for the holiday issue of Better Homes & Gardens and they loved it. And here we are...

We are excited to announce that in December this year we will be crafting and wrapping several days a week at The Atrium. We will teach you everything we know about holiday crafting and you too can make paper trees, book page wreaths, moss tress and tree-band napkin rings!

More details on sign up for our holiday crafting on our facebook pages and e-newsletter soon!

Annie Sloan's Chalk Paint

A few months ago, my good friend Tessa invited me to come to a Girls' Nite Out event she put together for the magazine Focus on the Coast here in Wilmington. This was not a typical night out on the town with the girls... it was better! We were going to DISTRESS and PAINT furniture. We met at a local business called, Budget ReDesign, that specializes in distressing furniture with the key product, Chalk Paint by Annie Sloan.

About Chalk Paint:

Annie Sloan developed her now famous Chalk Paint to answer the need she had for a paint which would have many uses from acting like limewash to looking like old painted furniture and that had a good range of colour that could be extended by the user. This paint is very easy to work with and allows people to be creative as one doesn't get involved with the technicalities of preparation and it also allows you to change your mind without hassle.

Add a little water to it to make it smooth, thicken it up by leaving the lid off if you want to make it thicker, make it into a wash by adding even more water to it. Use flat brushes for a smooth look or bristle brushes for a more textured aged look. Chalk paint is water based and comes in 29 fantastic colors that you can mix and adapt to your project.

 We were told to bring in a piece of furniture that needed to be brought back to life. I brought a little end table that I got from my company who was finished with it after a few photo shoots. It was originally a red table and now had several coats of paint on it, light blue, white, then black. My friend Tessa, also brought in her entry way table that was rustic black and brown.

Wiping down the piece before painting

Tessa painting from the bottom to the top

There are so many great things about Chalk Paint but to me the best part about it is that you don't have to sand it down or prime it before you paint! You can also paint on any surface... metal, wood, or plastic. It's very flexible so you can be creative and change your mind half way through to another color. You can also use this paint outdoors, on your kitchen cabinets or on your walls!

STEP by STEP:

1. Wiped our piece of furniture down

2. Added our first color of paint (that would be seen through after sanding)

3. Added our second color painted on all parts

4. Added dark wax in corners and on edges

5. Rubbed back with fine sand paper 

6. Finished off with a coat of wax 

Here's my finished piece at home.

The entire GNO group at Budget ReDesign

 

To bring a group to Budget ReDesign or buy Chalk Paint you can go to www.budgetredesign.com

Tooling Leather

My husband, Michael and his dad Steve, turned me on to this fun art. Tooling leather! We have had a great time making different leather items for friends and a few for ourselves. Michael and I got married just over a month ago and we gave presents to our groomsmen and bridesmaids that we tooled. I will let Michael put up some pictures on his blog to show you some of those. Below, I will show you what we did a few months before we got serious about this awesome leather cutting/tooling business. We did a few simple things like cutting and tooling some bracelets. Michael also made me a bible cover with my new initials as an engagement present. I've just done a few leather items but Michael is getting very good at this!!! Here are a few of the steps during the process. :)

Michael is my sweet leather cutter (which is hard work)

He taught me how to add a nice edge around the bracelets with this tool

Here are a few of the tools that when put together in a pattern can make incredible designs

We have three different dye colors: Black, Dark Brown and Tan

Here's the edge I added to my first bracelet for my sister

There are many different sets of metal letters this is a classic western style font... you can't go wrong with it

This is a "C" for my sister Caitlin

"A" for Abi

Closer view of the tooling

Tan center with Dark Brown Edges

We added some snaps and they are done!

Contact Abi if you'd like a hand tooled leather bracelet with your initial: Abilea20@aol.com

Felt Camera Creation

My sweet friend made one of these felt camera cases a few months ago and I thought I would give it a go as well for a gift for my photographer friend, Millie Holloman. I knew it would not hold one of her incredible Nikon or Canon cameras but she would get a kick out of it and use it as a change purse or to hold gift cards. I used a thicker piece of felt for the body and softer felt and buttons for the interior and embellishments. I began by measuring and cutting out a pattern for the body, tracing that onto the thicker felt and cutting it out. I added on buttons and decor to make it look like a camera. I used the blanket stitch and embroidery thread to stitch around areas and add finished edges. I sewed on buttons and added a purple handle. It was a good first attempt... :) Being crafty is fun sometimes ehh?

final front

final back