Your Patio Party guests will stay longer if they have somewhere soft and pretty to sit. Give your chairs comfort and style with a set of custom seat cushions. Outdoor furniture often comes with a set of basic cushions, but the standard colors are pretty bland and boring. It’s much more fun to mix and match colorful fabrics to create a unique seating experience.
Colorway is a textile industry term used to describe versions of the same design produced in different colors.
Crazy patch quilting incorporates small scraps of many different fabrics into one block. It came into vogue in Victorian times as a way for ladies to show off their needlework skills whilst passing the time in their parlors. The parlor went out of style along with the bustle (and the word “whilst”), but crazy patch quilting remains a terrific way to use lots of different fabric scraps in one project. This is a great project for incorporating old silk ties or bits of worn-out corduroy pants.
WOF is an abbreviation for Width of Fabric. This means that you would cut pieces of fabric as long as the width of the fabric, or the width from selvedge to selvedge. For much cotton fabric, this would be 45″. Home Dec fabric will come in 54″ and 60″ widths as well.
I can’t even begin to guess how many different fabrics there are in the world. Of course, any fabric can be used by itself, but fantastic results can be achieved by mixing different patterns and colors together. Now, if that seems out of your comfort zone, here’s a tip: the easiest way to start mixing patterns is to choose from a fabric designer’s collection made specifically for mixing. You’ll look like a pro on day one!
Itโs tempting to skip it, but itโs a lot like the difference between a nicely toned body and one that isnโt. Just like you can skip exercising, you can skip interfacing. But, it wonโt be a secret. Which reminds me… I need to go for a jog!
Interfacing is a textile that is either sewn in or fused on using a steam iron, between layers of fabric, to give it structure and body. Interfacing in itself is not very exciting, but it is one of the keys to achieving a professional look to your project. If you are new to sewing, you may never have run across interfacing because itโs not something that shows when your project is done. Most familiar to people is the way a dress shirt has a more substantial collar, placket and cuff. That smooth crispness comes from the interfacing hidden inside. Without interfacing, collars and cuffs would be limp and buttons and buttonholes would rip.
Do you keep every scrap of fabric youโve ever had, even the small pieces you think youโll never use? You may want to consider therapy. Or perhaps you could just make a couple of these cute pillow pincushions.
I love fabric. I never seem to come home from the fabric store with just the fabric I need for my project. It eventually became an organizational disaster… couldn’t remember what I had, couldn’t find it if I did. Something had to change.
You probably have something in your house right now with potential to become a pressing cloth. A section of an old white cotton bed sheet works fine. The older the better. Just cut it to size and, voila! It’s a brand new pressing cloth.
Choose an adjustable height board with a padded cover and a cotton or muslin cover. Avoid the outer-space-suit reflective covers
The best irons hold a consistent temperature, produce plenty of steam and don’t constantly tip over when upright.ย
What’s the diff between pressing and ironing? Both can be done with your steam iron, but pressing and ironing are as different as jumping rope and roller skating.
Pins are an indispensableย sewing tool. They’ll eventually poke you, but you’ll have to forgive and move on because they keep your pattern pieces in place, hold your seams together as you sew, anchor trims, and more.
Like any job or hobby, using the right tools makes your project go more smoothly and quickly, and usually yields a more professional finished product. Sewing is no exception, and one of the most important tools we have are the various machine feet. Sewing machine feet come in a wide array of applications. Sewing machine feet do not wear shoes. But, they do make common techniques so much easier.ย
Ask ten different experts the difference between piping and cording and you might get ten different answers. however, you can be sure it does NOT have anything to do with bagpipes or comfortable pants.
If only there were a tool that did the opposite of scissors… a handy tool that would uncut fabric after a mistake. How great would that be! Until this future sewing essential is on the market, a simple checklist will have to do.
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A generously proportioned “quarter yard” of fabric that measures 18″ x 22″.ย To understand this you need to do a little math. Fabric is measured in yards. A yard is 36″. When you ask your fabric store to cut a yard of fabric, you get 36″ by the width of the fabric. Quilting cottons are usually 44″ wide. So, if you buy a yard of quilting cotton, you’ll have a cut piece that measures 36″ x 44″. Now, if you’d stepped up to the counter and ordered a quarter yard of fabric, you’d get a piece that is 9″ (36″ divided by 4) by 44″. But a Fat Quarter is actually a full quarter of that original piece we got when we ordered our single yard of fabric (36″ x 44″). If I divide that original piece (36″ x 44″) into four equal pieces, each one will be 18″ x 22″. A Fat Quarter.
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A Slip Stitch is a stitch created with a hand sewing needle rather than your sewing machine. It joins two folded edges (or a folded edge and a flat edge) together in such a way that the stitches are not visible. This stitch is commonly used in pillows to close seams after stuffing. It is also good for bindings, to close a lining, or to hand-appliquรฉ invisibly.
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A miter is a corner seam that comes together at a precise 45ห angle, like a picture frame.
Pattern notches are the marks (usually triangle shaped) printed on a pattern’s cutting edge. They are used to line up two or more pieces of fabric that you will be joining together.
This project started with a plain beige table runner and place mat set from Target. A little boring all on their own, they made the perfect background for my own custom table linens, which I embellished with fabric appliquรฉs and sparkly trim.
Nap refers to the short raised fibers on the surface of certain fabrics such as corduroy, velvet and velour. Fabric with a nap looks different from different angles, and therefore pattern pieces must be cut with nap going the same direction.
My assignment was to write about window treatment hardware. You’ll notice that’s not the title of this article. Windows are a BIGย subject and the more I dug, the less I knew. And, I’d thought I was well-versed in the ways of windows. It reminded me of another dig long ago…
A ready-made cushion in one of a variety of standard shapes and sizes; the filling may be down, feather/down, polyester fiberfill, or bamboo.
Sewing over pins is faster than removing them, but itโs a gamble. Often, the machine needle misses the pin, but when it doesnโt it can break your needle, thread and worst of all, seriously damage your machine. Itโs not unheard of for a piece of the broken pin or needle to end up embedded in your eye. So, NO, donโt sew over pins.
Dining every night with a cloth napkin isn’t just for landed gentry and restaurant critics. It can be a fun and practical tradition for your family. At the same time you’ll save a few bucks and reduce the amount of paper products headed for the landfill. It’s something European families have been doing for decades.
This is a super versatile pillow that will work any room. Simple choose your fabric patterns and colors to create the appropriate “look”: novelty fabrics for the nursery, soft florals for a porch or sunroom, warm naturals for a bedroom or den.
The very first pillows were likely just heaps of moss or grass in our ancestors’ cozy caves. However, even the more recognizable fabric-stuffed pillow reaches far back into history. Wealthy Greeks slept with their heads and feet resting on ornately embroidered cushions. Ancient Egyptians, who believed the head to be the seat of life, not only spent heavily on lavish pillows for themselves, they also placed them in the tombs of their honored dead. The Chinese thought soft pillows robbed the body of its vitality and therefore made their pillows from wood, leather or even ceramic.
Today, our cushy lifestyles demand comfortable and beautiful pillows of all shapes and sizes. If you want to impress your friends and family, throw out a few of these definitions at your next holiday gathering. Everyone will be impressed… or, they’ll all just ignore you like they always do.
Take an off-the-shelf sheet set, stitch a series of vertical buttonholes along the top of the sheet and the open edge of the pillowcase(s), then weave designer ribbon through the buttonholes. Easy yet elegant.
Shopping for fabric can be overwhelming. There are so many different colors and types of fabrics available, and the prices can range from a few dollars a yard to over one hundred. Home decor fabrics tend to be more expensive, so you want to be happy with what you select. Following a few basic guidelines will help you in your selection process.
Whoever discovered you could use cheap spring clamps to hold your fabric for measuring and cutting is a genius. For me, they’re one of the Nine Essential Measuring & Marking Tools that make home decor sewing so much easier.
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Sew4Home is a daily website dedicated to stylish home dรฉcor sewing โ we believe anyone canย and should make their own home dรฉcor. S4H offers beginner-friendly sewing projects by making instructions clear and simple. At the same time, our creations are designed to appeal to all levels of capability for their to-die-for results.
Since launching in early 2009, S4H has attracted a rapidly increasing core group of devoted readers. Our step-by-step tutorials, tips & tricks, and inspiration are all free to the user. We feature today’s easy-to-use sewing machines, beautiful and readily available fabrics, plus clever notions and tools. The S4H team is an experienced group with long ties to the sewing and design industry. We hope you’ll be inspired by our tutorials to transform your space.
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A sewing machine needle designed to work with most types of woven fabrics. The needle tip has a slight ballpoint.
A decorative treatment that covers the top of a window. A valance can be made from draped fabric, a wooden or styrofoam box covered in fabric, or other materials.
A special sewing foot used to move multiple layers of fabric under the needle. This foot adds pressure from above and “walks” the fabric along in unison with the feed dogs below.
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