Sewing and Home Decor by Margie Nance

The Sands of Time

2010-08-30T08:33:00.000-07:00

Last week I was catching up on some of my favorite blogs and found this entry on the Everyday Artist blog - www.lesliefehling.com Leslie posted a photo of a jar of sand collected on one of her vacations to the coast.

It sparked an idea for collecting and storing souvenirs from nature while taking family vacations. I searched the internet for glass spice jars and found some really cool ones like this one from www.gadgetskitchen.com :

What a unique wall piece this would make to display collected sand, colorful soil, small pebbles, tiny twigs or dried versions of leaves and flowers from travels around the country. To label the bottles, purchase small return address labels and write down the location as Leslie did in her photo above. This collection will remind you of all the great memories of your trips, and will also become a unique conversation piece too.

Cool Cubes

2010-07-23T12:33:00.000-07:00

I was asked to slipcover a cube the other day

I decided to do a little research on cubes. One of the first items of instruction I found was from my favorite sewing industry supplier, Rowley Company. Located on their How-To Page I found instructions on how to build and cover an 18"x18"x18" cube.

I am pretty sure my friend Laurie Medford of Rowley Company constructed the cubes as seen above. When you are a sewing instructor, you start to recognize other instructors by their hands in photographed instructions.

When you go to the Rowley Company how-to page, you'll be able to download, for free, lots of instructions on many different topics. They also sell supplies used by sewing professionals in the home decor industry.

Cubes are great for extra seating or small coffee tables. You can place four of them in the middle of a den to use as a larger coffee table and split them apart when company comes and you need extra seats for them to sit and chat. They can be covered to match any home decor.

So to fill you in on my project, yes I did slipcover the $59.00 leather cube but you'll have to wait to see the final project. It will be used in an upcoming episode of the TV show For Your Home and I will be writing up the instructions after the show airs.

Sew nice of you to stop by,

Creative Judy Peters

2010-07-12T06:27:00.000-07:00

My friend Judy Peters owns a drapery workroom in South Carolina www.palmettodrapery.com and just shared an idea on facebook for a really cool embellishment to add to a valance. Here are her notes:

Judy: the beaded dragonflies were cut with wire cutters from metal napkin rings. I touched up the wires with the Sharpie, and attached them with pink ribbon and hot glue.

Judy loves adding details on her window treatments and she is SEW creative!

Redecorating? Hold on to those paint lids

2010-07-02T08:19:00.000-07:00

With a new paint color on your walls, new home decor accessories will usually soon follow. Instead of walking around decorating stores with the tiny paint chip picked up when the paint was purchased, how about holding on to the lids of the empty cans?

When the paint dries completely, put the lids in a Ziploc bag and carry them with you while shopping. They stack thin and take up very little room. You also get the most accurate mixed color as a looks in your home.

Okay so now I have MORE projects to do. Looks like a shopping trip for window treatment fabric and accessories for the top of the kitchen cabinets will be in my future. Glad I have my paint sample lids!!

I'm SEW glad you stopped by. I'll be on vacation all next week and hope to post something creative from the beach.

Repurpose votive candle holders and create a table-scape.

2010-06-30T08:44:00.000-07:00

While cleaning out some old boxes I came across several assorted votive candle holders, a few glass blocks and an old mirror. I took some epoxy and began gluing the mismatch pieces together to make some interesting shapes.

While these were drying I sewed up some leftover drapery fabric into a large rectangle and placed it on the middle of the table. Laid the mirror on top of that and stacked the glass blocks on the mirror. I then grabbed my new multi height candle holders and arranged them around the centerpiece.

Next step was to add a couple of vases I purchased at Kirklands and some greenery. To finish it all off, I scrunched the fabric all around the edges of the mirror. Quick, easy, recycled and cheep! My 4 favorite crafting words.

I'm SEW glad you stopped by,

Meet Vicki Payne

2010-06-26T05:35:00.000-07:00

Vicki is the owner of Cutters Production and is the hostess of For Your Home tv show. She is also a talented fabric designer. I had the honor - and lots of fun - to be asked to appeared on her show 2 seasons ago. My husband Andy is the real star of the family since Vicki likes to feature him on the show as her window treatment installer. I have to admit, he is very good.

I've made a few treatments for Vicki using her fabrics and found they were easy to work with. The fabrics have a wonderful hand and the colors are fun and vibrant. Here are just a few:

Check out Vicki's show and maybe you'll catch us in a rerun.

I'm SEW happy you stopped by.

Drapery Workroom Blog gets a facelift.

2010-06-25T18:12:00.000-07:00

I can not believe it's been over 2 years since I looked at this blog. Some of you who received an email stating that there was a new post, probably don't even remember signing up for it a long time ago. This blog looked so old and outdated when I began playing around with it this morning that I decided to give it a face-lift.

I am now ready to have fun with this blog. It is written for those that love sewing home decor for themselves and others. I plan to sprinkle in a few quick and easy decorating and craft ideas and maybe even a recipe or two.

I would like to share a photo of a really pretty bulletin board my friend Cathy Stitch posted on her facebook page. It's like others that I've seen over the years but I really like the detail in the covered buttons.

I thought about an idea for a "bling" version by using bright colored beads or rhinestones in place of the buttons!

Stop by cathy's website at www.cathyscurtains.net to see her work. I LOVE her valances on this page: http://www.cathyscurtains.net/Valances.html Check out the circle window treatment. Very cool!

That's it for today. My plan is to give you something new every week so I hope you'll join me.
Thanks for stopping by.

Margie Nance

Oil those machines

2008-04-17T04:30:00.000-07:00

We get so busy sometimes that we forget to do the simplest things, like keeping the sewing machines oiled. It only takes a minute or so to do and can eliminate a big problem like a machine breakdown while working at 3am. Been there, seen that!

Sewing machines are no different than automobiles. It takes oil to keep the parts moving along smoothly. The best way to do this is to make a habit of oiling them on friday afternoon. Place a piece of scrap fabric under the presser foot and put the presser foot in the down position. This will allow the oil to drain all weekend and capture any excess on to the piece of fabric. By monday, you simply wipe down the bed of the machine and off you go for the week.

If you are lucky enough to have self oiled machines, check the oil levels on Friday. Make sure the oil is still clear and run the machine at full speed to check the "perk" bubble for oil flow. If you always run the machine on lower speeds, it doesn't give the pump enough fuel to feed the oil through the tubes and so the oil will just sit in the pan and not do it's job to lubricate the machine.

Does your customer suffer from decision paralysis?

2007-11-25T09:12:00.000-08:00

A recent issue of Fast Company November 2007 had a great article by Dan and Chip Heath, authors of the book Made to Stick. The article discussed a phenomena that I often talk about in my seminars and classes but never found the right term for it until I read this article. It's called decision paralysis.

A Window Treatment Consultant can easily create decision paralysis for their customers when they try to get the customer involved in the design process. The reason a customer has called in a professional to advise them of the best window treatment is because they don't know what's best for their home and want to pay someone to tell them what they need. If you walk in there and give them dozens of choices, they are back to square one and will have a hard time deciding on the BEST treatment.

The solution is for the consultant to come up with no more than three designs that will meet their needs and their budget. It's ok to offer a few additional options that will add quality and value to the window treatments such as premium lining or the addition of trim but keep the fabric and overall design making process simple for the customer.

There was a great line in the article that sums it all up:

Simplicity allows people to act.

By following this principal, both parties will find the decision making easier and the end result will be completed quicker which is to sell the customer a beautiful new window treatment.