Saturday Night Slipcovers

Donna over at Funky Junk Interiors is having a slipcover feature for her Saturday Night Special party.  Since I love to slipcover anything and everything, I wanted to do a post that showed all my slipcovers.

This is a very simple slipcover for a chair in my dining room.  For a before and after, go here.

This chair was my first slipcover.  I actually remade it not long ago.  My daughter would lay on one arm while watching tv and the arm was practically threadbare.  The back wasn't much better.  I had extra fabric, so I took it apart and replaced the worn peices.

A view from the back.

I call this a table slipcover.  You can see the tutorial here.

And I slipcovered a stool to go with the chair.  Tutorial here.

This chair was a dumpster find.  The back is upholstered and the seat is slipcovered.

Love to slipcover lampshades. 

Lampshade tutorial here.

And finally, a blue and white slipcover for my blue and white guest rooom shown here.

It was fun looking back at all my slipcovers.  Now I'm off to see what everyone else has made.

Janet

How To Make A Rosette Neckline Accent

I wanted to show you how I  made the rosettes for the dress form bodice. If you missed it, you can see how I made the dress form here.

The rosette neckline was made from five rosettes in graduated sizes.  The center rosette being the largest. 

I start with a strip of fabric and round the edges.  I left the edges raw.  I wanted an aged, ragged look.  The strip for the center rose was 2 inches wide and 21 inches long. The rosettes on either side of the center were 1 1/2 inches wide and the smallest rosettes on the end were 1 1/4 inches wide.

I hand gather the straight edge....

And then roll up, stitching the bottom as I go.

The leaf is just a triangle, about 2 inches on the short sides and 4 inches on the long side.

Again, I just hand gather the long side...

And you have a leaf.

I sewed the leaves onto the rosettes, and then sewed the rosettes onto the bodice.

I used this same method for the rosette on my hanging lamp shade.

The only difference was that I did not want a raw edge. I cut out a strip of fabric twice as wide as I wanted the rosette and folded it in half.

I rounded the edges and with right sides together and sewed them on my machine.

I then turned it right side out and followed the same steps as for the other rosettes.

One of the comments on my dress form post was that the rosette neckline would make a good necklace.  I thought that was a great idea.

I hope you try making some rosettes, if you haven't already.  I'm always looking for a place to add another one. And go visit the link parties on my sidebar for more ideas.

Janet

Are You A Pinkster?

I know I am. I dream in pink. I had to contain a little squeal of delight when I saw the cover of the latest issue of House Beautiful magazine.

Don't you just love the affirmation of seeing your favorite decorating color on the cover of a magazine?  Of course all the pink rooms are very sophisticated and beautiful, not at all Barbie-like.

Just look at all those pinks.  I could never pick a favorite.

There was a wonderful article called confessions of a born-again pinkster by Carol Prisant.

"Pink is expressive.  Pink is eccentric.  Pink is witty.  Pink is wonky.  Pink is good for the heart.  Pink is so...pink!!"

She also says that "Pink takes guts".

I wish I had the "guts" to do pink walls.  I know I would love them.

Don't worry if you're not a pinkster.  There was something for just about everyone in the magazine.

All red and white and weathered.

Soothing whites.  Love that dress form.

So tell me.  What is your favorite color to decorate with?  Do you use it with "guts" or are you a little bashful, like me?

Dress Form Made From Recycled Paper Grocery Bags

I was so excited when the store where I work decided to get rid of these forms and I was allowed to take them home.  There were two of them. Not really my style, but I could see the possibilities,  unlike my ever encouraging family that exclaimed, "What are you going to do with those?"  and what they really meant was, "Oh no,  more junk."

Speaking of junk, I have a lot of unused things hanging around.  I've had this coat rack for years, used it here and there, but never loved it anywhere.  I thought it would make the perfect base for my dress form.

I cut off the top and added this plumbing hardware to fit into the metal tube of the form base.

Perfect!

Now I needed to make it a "dress" form.  I added a hardware cloth shaped skirt and duct tape to make a smooth transition. 

Finally, the fun part.  I used paper grocery bags torn into sheets and tea stained  like I did here with sheet music.  Here they are, hanging by the fireplace to dry.

After drying I crumpled the paper (actually I talked my family into crumpling the paper while watching TV, so I guess they can be supportive after all).  I took dark brown Briwax and lightly rubbed it on the paper, highlighting the crinkles.

The paper was then torn into smaller pieces and applied to the form with decoupage medium.

Layer after layer after layer...until

Ta Da!

I have to say, I really loved the way this turned out, but...after I looked at her for a while, her shape was just too realistic and "naked". A little clothing was in order.

I made this top to resemble an old dress bodice.  It is tea stained of course, and embellished with a rosette neckline.  I'll share how I made this in another post. 

I didn't want to cover too much of  my hard work, so I kept it simple.

 

Oh! And did you notice the Paris address at the neck?

I used an address I found at the Graphic Fairy.  I just printed it on to the brown paper, and applied with the decoupage medium.

This whole project cost about $15 in supplies.  Not bad for an antique Parisian dress form. (I can pretend, right?) Now I just need to finish the corner of my bedroom that is going to be her permanent home.

Please visit all the link parties on my sidebar and come back for the next project. 

Janet