Amazing Customer Project!

Our customers are by far the most creative people I have ever met. Nothing fascinates me more than to see what customers do with our fabrics and this project does not disappoint!

Sue came in the store a few weeks ago looking for a fabric to use on her walls as a border. Now I am used to people looking for fabrics for clothing and for chairs but for walls? Never thought of that! Needless to say I was entranced. Looking for something with an Asian inspiration, she found this great fabric that had a floral stripe that ran parallel to the selvage. Since she was making a border this was perfect.

Check it out!


See the border on the walls? That's the fabric cut into strips, tacked on to thin pieces of wood and attached to the wall! How cool is that? I can imagine this process used for so many different things in your home. Headboard? Check! Wainscoting? Check! You know attaching the fabric right to the wall as wallpaper would be fun too!

Here are some more photos,


I am simply amazed. This is a great example how fabric can be used to enhance your home in so many different ways. Using the fabric instead of wallpaper gave the border so much depth and texture while bringing all the colors of the room together.

Thank you so much Sue for letting us share your amazing home with everyone. It just goes to show you that even if you don't sew, fabric can be used for a variety of projects! It's all about having fun. :)

Look what I found!

Being the complete narcissist that I am, I plugged in Sew What's New into YouTube to see if our videos came up. They didn't but thanks to YouTube user ShawnQuinlan we are introduced to the amazing George W. Trippon and his show Sew What's New! If you sew or want to learn to sew than you just have to watch these!

Check this out and learn how to make a neck tie at the same time..







Really neat huh? I am totally buying his books on Amazon. So since we learned how to make a tie, check out some of our amazing vintage tie silks! They come in a variety of patterns and we have a lot of different kinds. For now though, I am going to watch more videos!

Shopping for a cause!

One of our customers is having a spectacular event tomorrow Sunday, December 19, 2010 and if you are in the area you must come!

GIVE

SHOP

LOVE

A little luxury has never felt so good.

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 19, 12pm – 8pm at The Nyack Center (58 Depew Avenue)

NYC celebrity stylists, fashion publicists, designers and event planners have cleared their personal closets for a very special cause.

Fashionistas can shop to their heart’s content and 100% guilt free at sample sale prices with a portion of sales going to Rockland County native Angelo Lucrezia and his family in their brave fight against Myelodysplastic Syndrome (Blood Cancer). Angelo is in need of blood transfusions and a stem cell transplant and we hope the monies raised at our event will help make their holiday a very special one.

A $5.00 donation is requested to enter and drinks and light fare will be served as well.

Men’s and women’s designer apparel, shoes, accessories and jewelry – suitings, dresses, gowns, denim, cashmere, leathers, sheirlings, car coats, blazers, shirtings, scarves, hand bags, and of course shoes! CASH ONLY PLEASE

Prices range from $1.00 to $500.00 and the assortment will take your breath away…

Prada, Gucci, Fendi, Christian Louboutin, Dolce & Gabanna, Marc Jacobs, YSL, DKNY, Chanel, Donna Karan, Calvin Klein, Cartier, Tory Burch, Theory, Vince, Ralph Lauren, Max Mara, APC, Miu Miu, Theory, Stella McCartney, Halston, Paul Smith, Hugo Boss, DVF, Armani, Derek Lam, Alice & Olivia, Alexander McQueen, Vivienne Westwood, Burburry, Cynthia Vincent, Vera Wang, La Rok, Roberto Cavalli, Anya Hindmarch, Jill Stuart, Giorgia Armani, Isabel Marant, Moschino, Calypso, Jill Sander, Seven for all Mankind, Earnest Sewn, AG, Rag & Bone, Nicole Farhi, Stuart Weitzman, Jimmy Choo, James Pearce, John Varvatos, Gary Graham, etc., etc., etc.

Easy Peasy Placemats and Table Runner - 1 Yard Project!

A family member had redone their bedroom and had extraordinarily expensive furniture put in. I am more of an Ikea gal myself but alas he wanted to cover the night tables as well as put a runner on the dresser to keep his rouge and mentally unstable cats from scratching the extraordinarily expensive furniture. (As it is now known.)

Of course he painted the room in an odd shade of lavender/copper so it was tough to get a match but at this store, we can find fabric to match anything. Lime green and white boudoir? Yeah we got something to match.

Anyway.

I found a great tapestry fabric to match. Tapestry is not only beautiful but it frays beautifully so I used that to give the mats and runner a carpet look. This project is also great for placemats and a table runner in your kitchen as well.

Here is how you do it...

What you need...

- 1 Yard of Woven Fabric (Tapestries work great for this, most woven will fray so ask your handy dandy fabric store employee for fabrics that will fray. )

- Thread that will hide in the fabric, I used a cream for this fabric. For fun you can use a coordinating thread.

- Sewing machine or thread and needle. (..and the patience that is required for a hand sewer.)

- Cutting tools

- Ruler

- Seam Ripper

- Paper and Scotch Tape

Directions -

♦ Start out my measuring what size you would want for mat. I needed 14"x19" mat so that's the size I went with.

♦ Put your rulers in an L shape (or cutting mat like I used) and use the paper to fill in the measurement. Tape paper together and it becomes your pattern for the mats!



♦ Lay out your fabric. I was dealing with a stripe and since it ran parallel to the selvage, I folded my fabric right sides together and lay the pattern butting up against the selvage. Make sure your pattern meets up evenly with the stripes, if you are using striped fabric.


♦ Cut evenly using a sharp scissors or rotary cutter. Try to get your cuts as evenly as possible.


♦ Get thee to the machine! There is no hard fast rule about this but we are sewing not to hem per say but to keep the fabric from fraying more than we want it to. I used my sewing machine foot as a guide and then placed a seam guide to keep me there. Sew all the way around with a shorter stitch.


♦ Once both mats are sewn all the way around find your seam ripper. (Mine was in my purse.) Starting on one side start pulling single strands of the fabric to create the fringe.



You have now created placemats! There seems to be a lot of steps but in truth it is very easy. I think any project without hemming is a dream. This is a great way to bring color and design into a room.


Voila!

Now with the runner that was even easier. Remember when we folded the fabric wrong sides together? Well when we opened that fold we had a long run of fabric which I just sewed up and fringed like the mats! It was the perfect size for the dresser.



So get out there and have fun. Sewing sometimes can get regimented with patterns and whatnot. I although have more fun when I just wing it.