Custom Slipcovers by Shelley

Gray Couch

2012-02-02T19:29:00.000-08:00

This client decided she needed something washable....she just had her 3rd boy (I know how she feels). Her cream chenille couch wasn't cutting it anymore. Also the piping was all squiggly on her back cushions, I think the previous owner washed the covers.

Anyhow she decided to go with a gray canvas.

Couch-- BEFORE...not bad, but showing some wear with her three little boys.

Couch--AFTER.....I love the mix of the colors on the pillows!

Front of the arm.

Another after shot....love the turquoise lamp.

She decided to keep the same look and not have a skirt. I like the contemporary look with the legs showing.

I've said it before and I'll say it again....it's all about the PILLOWS! Pillows finish off your room!

No more squiggly piping on the back cushions.

She got her gray fabric from http://www.fabric.com/.
I love fabric.com because....
1) it's free shipping if you spend more than $35
2) you can always google and find a coupon code for at least 15% off
3)there's no sales tax if you live outside of Florida
4)if you don't like the fabric when it shows up...there's free return shipping too!

Side Note#1--- We got to go night skiing at Sundance last weekend. The kids were super excited to go. We didn't get to ski last year because of Heber's knee surgery.

It was that warm fuzzy family time, everyone was happy and no one whined! Good times...I love it when everyone gets along and is happy to do the same thing at the same exact moment. Luke got to use poles for the first time! Then we stopped for dessert on the way home.

Side note#2--- can't believe Maui was only 3 weeks ago....I want to go back already.

Couch and Chair redo...plus DVD Giveaway and sale!

2012-01-30T08:13:00.000-08:00

Heidi over at HoneyBear Lane is hosting a giveaway for my "How to Slipcover" DVD....head on over and check it out. It goes through Saturday.

I was featured a few times over the weekend! I was feautured over at Craptastic and Pink and Polka Dot! Now on to my post....

COUCH--- Before...good lines, but a little tired and old looking.

CHAIR--- Before

Couch-- After. My client decided to replace the cushions along the back with five Euro sized pillows. She got two different fabrics for pillows, so she can switch them out and change her look. THIS IS LOOK #1

Front of couch--- she opted for no skirt.

Here is her couch with her second set of pillows. LOOK #2.

She went with a white denim for the slipcovers.

Here is her couch and chairs together! On the wingbacks, she decided to do a skirt....just to mix it up a bit. Actually her 19 yr old son decided, she couldn't decide...so she asked him what he thought. Skirt it was.

Love these wingbacks...super comfy and large.

Side Note---My cousin got married this past weekend, so my sister, Charice flew up from California...all of us sisters got to be together this weekend! It was quick, but we got to hangout and go to lunch together in between the wedding ceremony and the reception. LOVE my girls!

My Bedroom

2012-01-23T18:33:00.000-08:00

Right before Christmas, I met up with Camille to walk around IKEA...just for fun with no kids. OF course I saw these blue chunky weave curtains that I fell in love with. I was in the middle of redoing my guest room, but I loved them so much I decided to use what I had for my guest room and use the beatiful blue curtains for my room.

My bedroom before looked like this.

Bedroom--- BEFORE... notice the bench, endtables and lamp.....I changed them all out.

Bedroom--- AFTER

Long story short...by the time I went back to IKEA the curtains were sold out, and I was only able to buy one panel which was the sample. My original plan was to make the set of curtains into a duvet cover. I settled on making it a footwarmer instead.

I ordered the green bird fabric from http://www.fabric.com/ It's called Aviary Moss by Thomaspaul. I ordered another fabric that had turquoise and green together....but it didn't work out, the green was way too bright! It was almost fluorescent.

I had to come up with a pillow that tied all my colors together. I sifted through my stash and found a small piece of turquoise velvet, green stripe, green linen, and some gray solid. It was perfect...and on the first try too. I love it when it comes together and I am not second guessing myself and changing my mind.

I also found some scraps of some gray/white damask fabric that I used to slipcover my lamp shades.

I also ordered this blue chevron for my chair from http://www.fabric.com/. I don't like being super matchy, so I put together this bolster pillow out of some more scraps and some gray ribbon. I decided to not use piping on the pillows...just to give it a different feel than I normally do.

I picked up this amazing coffee table at the thrift store for $30. I loved the dark wood and the detail of the carving and the little finial things on the feet. It was perfect for a bench at the end of the bed.

I picked up the magazine basket and turquoise suit case at the thrift store as well, another $5 well spent.

I bought this turquoise artichoke votive holder at Hobby Lobby. I set it in the white bowl that Logan made me for Mother's Day a few years ago.

I kept my white duvet and bedskirt....that's why I like to do neutral duvets and slipcovers. That way you only have to switch out your pillows for a quick change.

I switched out my lamps for ones that were in the front room....a little bit more weighty and substanial.

I kept my tan curtains.... They bring warmth and they worked with the wood tones.

I ditched my black end tables that were too big and showed off all my junk underneath on the shelf. I picked up a few sewing machine cabinets at the thrift store for $15 each and used them as my new end tables. The height and scale was perfect. I also loved the dark wood. They are a little scuffed up...but like my dad used to say, "it adds character"

I kept the gray Euro pillows...they still worked with the new lamp shade covers. I also painted my armoir gray too.

Close up of the footwarmer...How beautiful is that fabric! This is what started it all......

Menswear Dining Room

2012-01-19T11:13:00.000-08:00

INSPIRATION

This was the inspiration picture that my client had for her dining room.... beautiful!

BEFORE

I was able to get the host and hostess chairs done before Christmas for her...so she kept the red parson slipcovers on and played up the holiday theme. She wanted to go more contemporary.....

AFTER

Here is her dining room now, with the finished parson chair covers, new modern light fixture and bamboo shades replaced her previous swag window treatments.

She had been holding onto the damask fabric for a few years and found the blue chenille textured menswear looking fabric on clearance at Joanns. It was amazingly soft!

I love the eclectic look of all the fabrics, and the boldness of the damask print. In this setting the damask has a different vibe than it normally does...Funky and bold!

She has had her table for 20 years! She said she's painted it with every trend including the crackle paint....love that it's black and the chair legs are brown wood. I love mixing woods, metals, and different finishes. I don't like when things are super matchy...you know bed-in-a-bag doesn't work for me. I don't want my comforter to match my shams,curtains, bedskirt, and lamp shades.

I loved the texture of the blue fabric...I could pet it for hours!

I did have to do zippers down the right outside back...the chairs tapered in toward the bottom, and the slipcovers wouldn't be able to come off without zippers.

I also made sure all the repeats in the black damask were in the same spot on the inside back/outside back/seat. To do this I put a pin in the chair I was fitting on the center backs and center seat and centered the pattern over that pin each time.

Also the blue had a nap (color looks different if upside down) to it. The standard is to pet the fabric down, so when you slide/get off the chair's seat you want the nap to be brushing down. Then make sure the nap is running down on the rest of the chair.

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Host and Hostess chairs

2012-01-13T23:08:00.000-08:00

This client was in the middle of remodeling and trying to finish by Christmas. She had me slipcover the Host and Hostess chairs (chairs at the head of the table) in a gray menswear type fabric. First of all I love gray and I love menswear! She decided to keep the red parson chair slipcovers for Christmas.

I just finished the new covers for the red chairs today and will be taking them back next week.....I am so excited to take them back and see it all put together. She's doing an eclectic menswear type theme. Some of the parsons are going to be black/cream damask and some of them are going to be this awesome navy blue chenille design fabric. So watch next week for some more pics with her new parson slipcovers.

Hostess chair before...great lines and beautiful legs. She bought the chairs from DownEast Home. I believe they are from Pottery Barn.

After in the gray menswear fabric.

I did a band around the front with piping along the top edge.

This fabric was great, it shaped really well to all the curves of this chair.

Side view.

Another side view.

The whole room....I was able to miss all the construction in this shot, her whole kitchen was being worked on. She's planning on changing out the valances for the new menswear look, once I get her other chairs back.

I love the look with the host and hostess chairs being a different fabric.

Another shot of the room.

Here is my clients inspiration picture for her room....how BEAUTIFUL is this room???!!! I love all the menswear influence and all the eclectic fabrics. The chandelier is awesome too!

SIDE NOTES

Here is my little guy (our little elf) on Christmas Day. He put this old costume on a few days before Christmas and was dancing around in it....Heber's mom made this clown outfit for Halloween when Heber was about a year old...so it's 37 yrs. old! A bit snug on a 7 yr. old.....hahahaha. Anyhow we had him put it on and carry in the gifts to Heber's family. We thought it was hilllarious!

Maui was great! The boys loved going there for their first time...we snorkeled, whale watched, went to a Luau, surf lessons, and went on a blue water rafting tour.

Here we are on a drive around the north end of the island...we got out to check out all the surfers on the huge waves! The call that area "Jaws"

Here are my two oldest boys heading out to their surf lesson.

We rented snorekling gear for the week for all the boys....they loved it! By the end of the week, the older two were snorkeling out in the ocean without their noodles. They loved seeing all the fish and turtles.

Drop Cloth Wingback Chair

2012-01-10T09:31:00.000-08:00

Hey Ladies....this project is for week 2 of the "So You Think You Can Sew" Contest. This week's theme is "repurpose"--- so turn something into something else.

Voting starts tomorrow...Wednesday at 8am EST and ends Thursday 8pm EST. So head on over and vote!

Click the following link to vote....Mommy by Day and Crafter by Night

I had lots of ideas, but when it came down to it....I had to stick to my slipcovers. Also the fact that I had to write up this post before I even knew if I made it to week 2...we will be in Maui when this post is due. So I decided to stick to a project that I had already finished.

Painter's drop cloth's have gotten to be pretty popular to use for slipcovers. The texture and nubbiness is great....but if you are planning on washing it a TON, you should go with the oatmeal/cream duck cloth...which you get from Joanns or Walmart. Dropcloths usually have thinner spots and flaws/runs that you'll need to work around, and they don't hold up as well as duck cloth to numerous washings.

My client's wingback chair...great shape, but the fabric wasn't working so well for her. The original cushion was 3" thick (typical for older chairs) and flat and hard looking. She had seen the down envelope cushion I had done on Jenn's chairs, and wanted to do the same for hers.

Before of the arm....not the typical wingback arm. I kind of liked it. I decided to run piping down the outside wing around the front of the curve and back into the inside wing.

So my piping went around one arm up and over the wing across the upper back and then down the other wing and around the front of the other arm.

Then I ran the vertical piping on the front of the arm to connect in the inside and outside arm. My client wanted the legs to show as much as possible, but still wanted a skirt. I self lined the skirt. The skirt was 8" tall... I cut strips 17" tall and folded them in half and ironed the fold (8"+8"+.5"+.5") (.5" is seam allowance).

Check out the new down cushion!!! I ordered a down envelope cushion with 5" boxing and reused the existing cushion's 3" foam.

Down envelope cushions have a zipper in the back and you slide in your foam (usually 2" less in thickness than your finished box height). That way you have a down cushion with a foam core.

Another After

Here you can see the piping on the top of the arm....ending in the inside wing tuck-in. I did do a small seam attatching the inside wing to the top of the arm.

Outside wing.

Side note---- here was our darling Christmas tree at the cabin. The boys had a great time decorating it. My running partner, Camille made me these awesome homemade ornaments out of old books. Notice the cinder block stand and the trunk is wrapped in a towel to help it to stand up.

This tree reminds me of a tree one year when I was probably in 5th grade. One day while driving to church my dad and brothers saw a HUGE (6-7 ft tall) tumbleweed next to the road. My dad is frugal like me and joked that we should take it home as our christmas tree. 3 hours later we were driving home from church and the tumbleweed was still "available". They threw it on top of the car and drove it home.

My mom got some white snow flocking spray and sprayed the whole tumble weed white and shaped it a little bit at the top. It was great all the ornaments without strings would just stick to the tree. All six of us kids still talk about that tree to this day...good memories and good times.

Linking up to Addicted to Decorating Party

Jenn's Parson Chairs

2012-01-02T15:37:00.000-08:00

I was chosen as one of the top 12 in the "Sew You Think You Can Sew" Contest at Mommy by Day Crafter by Night Blog out of 175 projects!!! Voting starts Wednesday (Jan 4th) 8am EST and ends Thursday (Jan 5th) night at 8pm....so head on over and vote for your favorite project (bottom 3 get eliminated every week). One vote per computer, phone, or ipad.

Week One theme for the contest is for "the Home".

Here is the project I decided to share. My client Jenn picked up 8 Hendricksal Ikea parson chairs for her dining room. She also picked up some cream muslin and a couple sets of tan linen curtains from Ikea as well.

Here is the before....I loved the dark legs on the parson chairs.

Here is the after.....

Jenn wanted to use the muslin on the main body...but it was too thin. SoI doubled it up (lined it) to make it a better weight so you couldn't see the pinkish hue from the underneath chair.

We used the 2 sets of tan linen curtains as the outside back of the chairs and the top ruffle of the skirt. The tan linen ruffle was 4" tall and the muslin ruffle was 6" tall.

I gathered on the two sets of ruffles separately to ensure a tighter gather.

The muslin 6" finished ruffle is self lined, I cut 13" strips and folded them in half....(6"+6"+.5"+.5") (.5 is seam allowance at top).

To reduce bulk, the tan linen 4" ruffle has a 1.5" blind hem along the bottom edge. I cut strips 6" tall (4"skirt +1.5" for hem +.5" seam allowance at top)

Of course I had Jenn prewash all her fabric, so that she can wash her slipcovers and they won't shrink in the wash. Tip--- Wash in hot with double liquid fabric softener to help with the wrinkles, and dry on High to ensure maximum shrinkage. Depending on your washer size, you can wash 7-10 yds in a load.

After the skirts were sewn on, they seemed a little "fluffy", so I took a hot iron and steamed and ironed the ruffles flat. I also made sure to iron the edges good to make them look crisp...especially the cream muslin layer since it was self lined.

I loved the contrast of having the outside back in a different fabric.

Jenn is tons of fun and is awesome at decorating and does event planning in the Utah area...if you are interested in her services, her site is http://www.jpieperdesign.com/ .
Since September she has had me slipcover her wingbacks, ottoman, and oversized chair. Love this girl!

How BEAUTIFUL is her new dining room??!!!!! We got it done in time for her Christmas Party.

Side Note--- Heading to Maui on Thursday!!!! The kids are super excited!

linking up to Addicted to Decorating Party

Blue Paisley Swivel Rocker Chairs

2011-12-29T17:12:00.000-08:00

This was for a client's son. She called me from Texas and shipped me the fabric. Her son lived locally, and she wanted to redo these chairs for his new place that he'd just bought a few months before.

Here are the chairs before....cream velvet from the seventies.... But they were comfortable, swiveled and rocked.

Here are the chairs after in a great blue paisley....manly enough for a bachelor pad right? Did I mention his mom is a designer?

Another after shot of the front of the chairs together. He also had this great modern oval shaped coffee table, I loved it with the chairs. I also did a little bit of matching along the front.

We raised the skirt height to update the chairs a bit.

Matching along the front cushion and skirt.

I also ran piping down the inside arms, just to polish it off a bit.

Side Note----

Hope everyone had a great time this holiday season. I've enjoyed having the past two weeks off work. I cleaned out a junk room and turned it into a guest bedroom...I'll post pics later. I ordered fabric to change things up in my bedroom...the fabric should be here tomorrow!!! I even ended up pulling off a Christmas card last minute with my sisters help...I literally mailed them off 2 days before Christmas.

Best part of all....Heber ended up getting Christmas off this year (a guy called him a week before Christmas and needed him to work a trade for him for the next day, and he said if he worked for him, he'd work Christmas for Heber!!!!). Heber is a fireman and has worked the last 3-4 years on Christmas day. So I was SUPER excited that he could have it off.

So with the change in plans....we decided to do CHRISTMAS at our Cabin! We wrapped up all the gifts and packed up the kids and headed to the cabin. It was the best Christmas ever.... we chopped down a tree and decorated it, watched Christmas movies, drank hot chocolate, ate cookies, sledded, and the boys were all so good and nice to eachother! We also surprised the boys...their main gift was a trip to Maui as a family....we leave Jan 5th! Despite the frozen drains and 15 degrees when we arrived and Luke's huge bloody nose episode in the middle of the night.....WE had a great time at the cabin!

Here is the picture I used for our Christmas Card. Luke didn't want his picture taken. No stress picture, I didn't even pick outfits out...."lower my expectations" has been my theme for the past few months...trying to get through my busy peak season work time.

Red/ white striped chair

2011-12-08T19:59:00.000-08:00

This client recieved this chair from her mother-in-law and loved the petite shape of it for a bedroom chair.

Before....a little bit dated.

She chose a red/white stripe for the slipcover....perfect for holiday time too.

Front of arm

Kiss pleat on the upper back.

Since the scale of the chair was smaller and petite, I kept the original skirt height...so that it stayed in scale with the size of the chair.

Front of chair.

Side note--- I am pushing through my list and trying to finish all my work by the end of next week, then I can get ready for the holidays....or at least clean out my work room and organize it, and redo the guest bedroom.

Gray couch and chair

2011-12-06T09:15:00.000-08:00

This client had white slipcovers for her couch and chair, and she had really wanted gray. She attempted using rit dye on one of them, and it turned purple, so she decided to just start over and buy gray fabric.

Couch and chair before....muslin covered furniture. Her original white slipcovers had a skirt to the floor, so she decided for a change to let the legs show and not do a skirt.

Chair before.

Chair after in the charcoal gray fabric. I loved her yellow curtains!

Chair after, I also liked her eclectic pillows...they worked great.

Couch after.

Front of the arm.

Chair front.

Couch cushions.

Couch after.

Front of chair.

Side note- Thanksgiving was lots of fun...we spent it in Reno with most of my family. Five out of the six siblings and 18 grandkids. Lots of food, shopping, indoor swimming, and paintball shooting. Then our car broke down in Wendover, NV on the way home about midnight and 27 degrees outside. It ended up being the transmission, and we had to stay the night in a hotel and rent a car to get the rest of the way home. Then four days later Heber got to drive the rental car back to pick up our car. I love renting smoke smelling and dog hair covered cars for $60/ day. They didn't offer one way rentals, so we had to rent it for 4 days till our car was done. AWESOME!

Erin's couch and chairs and booked till January

2011-11-30T08:13:00.000-08:00

Erin was ready to change it up.... she was ready for a new look, she was tired of her floral slipcover. She wanted a tan neutral linen type fabric and couldn't find it at Home Fabrics, so she got creative and saw some Ikat and Southwestern fabric that was neutral tan on the wrong side and had the texture she wanted. She bought that and we used the wrong side of the fabric.

Couch before....

Chair before....worn and the fabric was torn in a few places. I was so excited about the shape of the chair though....BEATIFUL!!! I loved the lines of where the piping was, down the inside back and horizontal at the top of the arm

I knew the way these chairs were shaped, the slipcover would tend to pull and slide forward. So I stapled some velcro on the upper outside back and sewed the other side to the seam allowance on the top back.

Couch after....tan solid, we went with no skirt to show the nice turned dark legs.

I loved the legs.

Front of the arm

The scale of these chairs were perfect for the room, they replaced some lower smaller chairs.

We decided to do skirts on the chairs to hide the blonde wood legs, since they were quite different from the couch legs. Sorry about wrinkles...the fabric was prewashed and I bag everything up and deliver, so wrinkles happen and they tend to fall out later.

Front of the arm on the chairs. It's like a mini english rolled arm. LOVE these arms

Whole room. Erin is working hard on finding some blue fabrics for pillows and a new rug. She showed me bunches of pictures and it's going to look awesome, once it's all done. But for now at least she has the bases done. She promised to send pics once it's all together.

I followed the original chair and kept the piping where it was.

This is what the right side of her fabrics looked like...

Chair.

Side Note #1--- I am booked till January, email me if you want on my list.
Side Note #2-- Reminder....my how to slipcover dvd is 15% off till midnight MST tonight (11/30/11)...that makes it $41.75 instead of $48.50 including shipping.

Slipcover DVD giveaway at Handmade Home

2011-11-29T05:44:00.000-08:00

Today Jamin at The Handmade Home is hosting a feature and giveaway for my slipcover DVD.

Upholstered Rocking chair

2011-11-19T12:43:00.000-08:00

This client found my blog as her husband was hauling this chair off to the curb...it was in a little rough shape. The yellow fabric was worn, stained, and shredding, but besides that it was great!

Here is the rocker before...

The arm was torn and her kids kept picking at the foam.

She chose a great random stripe from Home Fabrics in Salt Lake and prewashed it for me. I chose the large grey stripe as my center and went from there.

Ran piping along the bottom up and over the rockers.

I also ran piping on the inside arm seam...that way when the stripes run into eachother it looks more finished.

Outside arm

She'd putting it in her home office, so she can rock her baby in it.

I loved the fun colors in the stripe...and welcomed the matching of them after a really hard day of matching the day before on a 15" stripe that waved back and forth.

Side Note--- Yesterday I was featured on Addicted to Decorating Blog and Miss Mustard Seed Blog! Go and check it out!

Armless Chair and "How to Slipcover" DVD Giveaway

2011-11-16T07:54:00.000-08:00

My client got this chair from Home Goods...she loved the lines and knew she could have it slipcovered for her little boys room. I thought the chair was beautiful...I loved the lines and the tan fabric and the detail seaming on the inside back, but once it was slipcovered it was even more amazing! The blue fabric she used was from Joanns, and we used 3 yards. It was a 45" wide home decor print.

Chair before.

Chair after

I ran piping up along the back, top edge of the front (made band along the front edge)and followed the original seams going down the inside back .

Here is the front showing the "band" that I matched up.

I loved the dark legs on this chair with the blue fabric.

You can see the piping that I ran down the inside back...I just followed the original stitching on the chair. When in doubt, follow the original lines.

Another after.
Side Note #1-- Sew Can Do is hosting a giveaway for my "How to Slipcover" DVD. Head on over and check it out. To enter, she's having people leave a comment about one of your first projects.

This wasn't my first project, but it was one of my earlier ones.

When I was in highschool, I decided to make something for my little sister, Angie. I bought some towels (hunter green) and made her a pair of shorts and a shirt....to be worn after she got out of the shower...kind of like a robe. hahahaha!

Tan Jaguard Couch and Chairs

2011-11-11T19:52:00.000-08:00

This client needed a new slipcover for her couch that had worn through on the arms and cushions...she decided to do her chairs as well out of the same fabric to unify the whole room. She chose a tan jaguard fabric that washed up beautifully.

The room had a floor to ceiling wall of windows, so I had a hard time with my pics because of the sun.

Chair before....

Couch before

The arms had were done...time for something new. While I was fitting her couch Jen's 6 yr old son came home and brought his friends with him. When I came out from behind the couch I caught three of them unraveling my large roll of piping and trying to cut off a piece of "rope". I helped them cut off a piece...too funny, my boys at home are always stealing my piping and using it for various projects. My boys have tied all the cardboard fabric tubes together to form a teepee. Then they drape every blanket/sheet that we own over the top of it for a fort.

Here is the room finished with all new matching slipcovers on. Sorry about the sunlight.

Front of the arm on the couch.

Couch...she had these great hand painted pillows

Couch after.

Couch cushions

After of chair.

The chairs had english rolled arms, which are my favorite. She wanted to let the dark wood legs show, so I ended the slipcover with piping.

Chairs had the scroll back....so I piped up and around the scroll and down the inside arm. I also piped the outside edge of the arm.

Chair after

Another shot of couch.

Drop off story----

This client was leaving out of town and said she'd leave the door open for me and she'd leave a check on the table. I got there and the door was locked, and I could see my check through the window on the entry table.

I live about an hour from her...I didn't want to make another trip, so I went around back and luckily the back door was open. I let myself in, unlocked the front door and somehow managed to carry that heavy chair all by myself into the house. I think it was bigger than me. I was only panting a little bit by the time I got it in place. hahahha. I could only imagine what someone would say if they watched that whole saga.

Side Note--- I am booked till January...email me if you want on my list for January.

Ida's Loveseat

2011-11-07T10:44:00.000-08:00

This was Ida's loveseat that went in the same room as the striped setee. She had 11 yds of this off white linen from her store after she closed it, so she wanted to put it to good use and reslipcover her loveseat that was showing wear and tear.

We knew it was going to be tight, orginally she wanted to let the legs show...so I did my fitting , marked the bottom and went home. Then the next day she called and wanted to see if we could do a little skirt on the bottom. I cut out everything else first to see what we had left. I was able to do the skirt and had 4" left of fabric to spare!

Her loveseat before was muslin covered with honey colored straight legs. Sorry forgot to take the pic.

Here is the after! I love her coffee table...it's kind of a half moon shape.

Pillows always finish it off. Her daughter made the middle one...layered some ribbon and lace and sewed it all on.

Front of the arm

The pillow on the left is a work in progress...she has pinned everything on. I love all the ribbon, lace, and doilies.

The pillow on the right she picked up from TJMAXX.

I ran piping on the inside arm along the back to add some more detail for her.

Cushions

The skirt we were able to add. She wanted some variety since the settee had dark legs showing. Ida was darling and completely thrilled with the outcome of both pieces...she was so excited she was texting pics to her daughter in AZ while I was taking pictures.

Funny thing is we had the appointment fitting scheduled, and she called my home phone to cancel because she didn't think the 11 yards were going to be enough...I was already out and about doing all my other appointments and never got the message. I could tell on her face when I showed up she wasn't expecting me, she had me come in anyway to just look at what she had.

I thought we'd have enough for the loveseat, so she changed her mind and had me get started...she wanted to hold off on the setee though. But by the end of the fitting she decided she wanted me to take the setee too. She helped me load it up. I am so glad it all panned out...her room looks AMAZING!!!

Side Note#1--- Here are some pics from the Vegas Ragnar Relay Race.

Here I am waiting to run my last (3rd) leg. I was running 6.1 miles into the finish line. 85-90 degrees out 3pm.

Here I am running into the finish line....averaged 9:02 per mile on this leg...not too bad for the heat and last run. My first run was 6.5 miles on a trail and I average 8:46/mile. My second run was 4.1 miles in the middle of the night with a view of the lights from the strip...averaged 8:25/mile.

My uncle Dewaine and Aunt Judy that live in Vegas came to cheer for me at the finish line! They brought a huge baggie of cut up apples for us! Craziest thing they'd seen...made their weekend. We ended up staying the night at their house after the race before we drove back to Utah.

Side Note #2...

Making some progress on the bathroom at the cabin. Ceiling is up... I finished painting all the walls cream. Heber got the light fixtures back up and a little bit of trim. We got the chandelier hung above the sink....highlight of the weekend for me! It was beautiful. Can't wait to finish getting all the trim up and hang my shower curtain. I don't think Heber is as excited as me though.

In this pic you can see the turquoise ceiling, cream walls and dark trim (walnut stain on 1x2 boards)

Striped Settee

2011-11-03T15:10:00.000-07:00

Ida used to own a store in Salt Lake City, Ut and brought home some of the pieces of furniture. She had this great settee that had a yellow cotton slipcover on it with no piping.

She got this great neutral (oatmeal) heavy weight burlap/canvas fabric with a stripe in it. She wanted it prewashed of course because her grandkids come over a lot.

Here is the settee before....check out those great legs. We decided to show them off with the new slipcover as well.

Here is the after...she got her throw pillow from TJ MAXX...looks great with it!

I ran piping down the inside arm, and I did tuck-in around the seat because there was no cushion.

Here is the upper curved back.

Side view.

Another side shot.

Side Note--- http://www.fabricguru.com/is offering 20% off till Nov. 14th....use promo code fall3

Gray Oval Oversized Chair

2011-10-27T18:56:00.000-07:00

This chair was for one of my designer clients for one of her jobs. The client wanted to redo this chair for her nursery. She is due in a couple of weeks.

Chair before....red slipcover (muslin underneath)

Chair after....gray embroidered ovals! This fabric was BEAUTIFUL and a little on the stiff side.

Front of arm...I ended all the ovals at the same spot, so I could match the skirt to the main body.

There was velcro underneath the arms on the original chair, so I sewed a strip on the slipcover. I like the way it keeps the fabric tight up under the arm.

Front of the chair.

I have heard gray is the new tan....I think I have to agree after all my past few posts....

Side note #1--- I just received this email the other day about my dvd... I love to hear back from people.
Hi Shelley!
I wanted to send you a picture of the loveseat I slipcovered. I am a one person home based drapery workroom. I have been part time(emphasis on “part”) since my kids were in preschool! Now my daughter is a freshman in college and my son a freshman in high school. Your DVD helped me conquer some trouble spots...zippers...pleated skirt... I really enjoyed watching your DVD! Your relaxed style of teaching is just what a over thinker like me needs...and I loved the music. The other day my son was humming a song and I said “ Hey...I know that from my slipcover DVD!”. Please excuse the bumpy back cushions...they old ones were stuffed and I had to pull it out to transfer the stuffing to the new forms...they still need to smooth out.The fabric was a small diamond patterned chenille..definitely needed my industrial to get thru all the thickness. Also, thank you for your resource list. I already contacted Joe and he sent me samples of linen!

Thanks Again...and great blog!

Rose Pagel

Here is a picture that she sent me of her loveseat that she slipcovered. I am thinking she did a wonderful job!!!!
Side note #2--- just got back from running Vegas Ragnar, and have worked everyday since then. The fall gets really busy. Everyone is getting their houses put together for their company to come.

I also had a design client that called and needs 2 couches and 9 chairs done by Nov. 11th for a store that's opening in Fashion Place Mall. So Ladies, I am now booked until Dec. 7th. and then I will be taking Dec. 15-31st off for the holidays. SO I have a few spots left, email me if you want on my list.

April's Master Bedroom

2011-10-24T21:29:00.000-07:00

About a week and a half ago, Camille and I came up with the idea of redoing our friends bedroom, who was going through some hard times. Conviently she was going on a cruise with some of her family and was going to be gone for 5 days. For the past few weeks she kept mentioning that she wanted to redo her room in yellow and gray.

Now or never was our thought....so we put a facebook message to some other neighbors and April's family to see if they'd be willing to chip in $10-$20 to our makeover fund. We got a great reponse, so I got online and ordered some fabric. Let's just say I had about 20-25 girls from our neighborhood and April's family that wanted to help or contribute!

Here is her bedroom before.....

Here is her room AFTER...... I made myself jealous! I wanted it to be my new room!

About a week before we decided to do this makeover, Camille and I were running laps around our neighborhood and saw these two beaten up end tables on the curb. We talked...oh those could be cute, but we don't need them.

A week later.....now we need end tables for April's room! In my mind I was thinking they would be the perfect scale for her bed, which sits pretty low. So I called my other running partner that lives on the north end of the neighborhood to see if by chance they were still sitting out on the curb. She ran out to check...they are still there, but someone put them in the trash can.

I swung by and picked up Camille and we rescued the ugly end tables from the trash.

Some of the girls came to help sand, primer and paint the end tables yellow.

They have spray can primer! It worked out great!

Then we painted them a mustard yellow color.

Of course we needed some "Man work" done, so I recruited Heber (my husband) and Camille's husband. They were awesome...they hung our old door that we were going to use as a headboard, reinstalled the curtain rod, which was pulling out of the wall, and hung the old window above the headboard. I know they hate doing this type of stuff...but they didn't complain at all.

The curtain rod needed to be fixed...I had them extend the right bracket further outside the window, so the curtains hang more on the side of the window and make the window look bigger.

After we got everything installed and the bed made...we had lots of neighbors that came to help clean, to make it look nice for when April got home from her cruise.

Lots of cars out front!

Cariann even showed up with a carpet cleaner!

As a finishing touch, we needed something to hang over the dresser. I had an old frame that was pulling apart on the bottom corner because the boys knocked it off my wall a few years ago.

Andrea from poppies at play blog lives in our neighborhood and is awesome with wood, so she came and grabbed the frame and fixed it for us. A bunch of the girls cut out magazine words that described April and we made a collage for the frame.

Here is another shot of the bed. I ordered the gray zigzag (chevron fabric) from http://www.fabricguru.com/ for $8/yd and made it into king size pillow shams. I decided no piping to make them feel more modern.

I made the gray duvet from two flat sheets from Walmart ($17 each). The bird fabric and all the footwarmer fabrics were generously donated by one of my clients...she had already made what she needed to and gave me all her scraps and extras.

My neighbor Becky donated the lamp bases (she didn't need them anymore) and I found the BEAUTIFUL lamp shades at Target ($25 each)...dark gray rouched fabric.

I left the original hardware on the endtables.

I found the door on KSL.com for $40. I loved the hardware on the door and decided to show it off. The window was hanging in her daughters room, we decided we needed it more than she did.

Andrea from poppies at play also does vinyl... she surprised us when she showed up to help clean and gave us this gray sign that she made! We set it on the end table ("Be still and know that I am God")

Close up of end table... We were thinking of rubbing some stain on it, or antiquing it...but after we painted it and saw how beautiful it was we change our minds and left it alone.

Loving all the fabrics together!

Pillows

For the end of the bed, I wanted a bench of some sort. I scoured http://www.ksl.com/ classifieds and found these two identical matching ottomans for $20 each. I slipcovered them in some gray chenille fabric, and left the legs alone. I liked the wood color on the legs to tie in the headboard, window, and dresser.

Footwarmer....my son Carter helped me lay out all the fabric squares and made the pattern random. He even helped me sew the squares together.

Another after

Here is the collage we put together.

This picture was taken with my phone right after we set up... not the best quality but you can see everything. My camera lens is a really tight lens and I couldn't get far enough away to show everything in the same pic. We were still trying to locate another lightbulb for the second lamp.

We pulled this together in 6 days! Camille, Teresa and I had to leave early Friday morning and drive to Vegas to run in the Ragnar Relay and April wasn't getting home till late Friday night. We were going to miss the big surprise reveal.

A few of the other girls showed up and hid behind the bed and in the closet, waiting for April's arrival. They even video taped her reaction for us, since we couldn't be there.

While we were on the race chilling in the van waiting for our turn to run our night leg, they texted us this picture of April on her new bed! Love this girl and all the girls that chipped in and helped! Eagle Mountain, UT is an awesome place to live!

Gray Wingbacks with Damask Back

2011-10-20T23:10:00.000-07:00

Last time when I dropped off Jen's Oversized chair and Orange Damask Ottoman , she loaded me up with a pair of wingback chairs that she picked up at a consignment store. Another set of "telephone arms"..... darling shape, but a little more time consuming than a regular arm.

Before....notice the flat dated seat cushion. I was in the middle of ordering a down cushion for another client while I was staring at Jen's cushion on my workroom table. I told my cushion guy that I might need a few more, so to hold off while I contacted Jen. She texted back in 30 seconds...."YES"

She did the chair in a gray cotton, linen look a like (grain lines like linen). She bought all they had and knew it wouldn't be enough, so she decided to do the outside back in something fun. I was super excited to work on these....

I know that slipcovers tend to shift a little (back pulls forward when sat in alot) and I didn't want the back to ride up and show the underneath. Especially since we were showing off the outside back and there wasn't a skirt, so I staple gunned some velcro to the outside back of the top of the chair and sewed the other side of the velcro to my seam allowance.

I put a pin in the center outside back of the chair...to make sure the repeat was the same on both chairs.

Check out that new down envelope cushion! 100% worth the $. Don't you think? Completely updates the chair and makes it look plush.

After...

My favorite...."telephone arms". I also ran a band around the front with piping at the top...it helps it to shaped around the curve better.

Vertical seam joining the inside arm and outside arm....with piping of course.

Jen loves color and isn't afraid of mixing patterns...I love it!

Another set of slipcovers that I wanted to keep for myself!

Linking up to Miss Mustard Seed furniture party!

My Ottoman

2011-10-19T15:39:00.000-07:00

Well, I finally got around to finishing some of my stuff. Here is my ottoman that I just finished with my fabric that I bought on my trip to North Carolina. I only bought 3 yards, so I matched the best I could.

I am loving the gray and yellow right now.

I made it a point to match up the large yellow flowers and not worry about the rest. I only had a few small scraps left.

Here it is all together.

I made a few new pillows to pull it all together. The bottom half of my walls are painted light blue, and I am lazy (busy) and don't want to repaint, so I put a blue chevron pillow on the couch to make it look like it's on purpose.

I also made a turquoise bias ruffled pillow...not sure if it's too much with everything else, so I took it out to see if I like it better without. We'll see.

Side Note--- running Vegas Ragnar Relay in two days!

Pinstripe Wingbacks

2011-10-13T20:45:00.000-07:00

This pair of wingback chairs were for my friend Paula...who I met on a race. I ended up running on her team for Del Sol Ragnar earlier this year. I had a small problem at the cabin...no stove. Well the "REAL PROBLEM" was we didn't have wiring to plug in the stove that I bought.

On the race when I found out Paula's husband was an electrician I was super excited, and we decided to do trade.

Her princess chairs before...

After... she got this great pinstripe (brown/blue)...kind of like a menswear for $2/yd on clearance. Sorry the front is a bit wrinkled, I had them folded up in bags to bring back for a few weeks until our schedules worked out.

Another set of wingbacks with "telephone arms"...at least that's what I call them. They look like the old school telephones.

We did a mini knife pleat on the skirt to feminine them up a bit. Paula is very girly, but was trying to please her husband too...since he did all the work for the trade. So that's why she decided to go with the pinstripe rather than a green cheetah print.

Inside arm

Front...I did a row of piping along the front edge of the seat.

Here's the pair of them in her bedroom.

I love the way they turned out. My favorite masculine fabric on a feminine shaped chair.

Side Note---
I am sure most of you are aware...I have 3 boys and no girls. I don't make hair bows...I make "bullet belts". Check out my latest creation!

An old cotton belt that I had kicking around plus some 1/2" ribbon.

My youngest loves it! It holds all his dart gun bullets

I just stitched the end of the ribbon, then laid a bullet down to measure, slid the bullet out of the slot and backstitched a few times and kept doing it till it was full of bullet slots.

Great for birthday party gifts or Christmas gifts!

Green Chevron Ottoman

2011-10-10T17:18:00.000-07:00

My sister has been wanting to change things up for awhile in her family room...we spent many a times on facebook messaging links from http://www.fabric.com/ of fabrics that we liked. She finally decided on doing Navy blue/ bright green...I call is "shelley green", I got tired of saying, "you know the green I like".

Anyhow...Nikki decided to do the green chevron on this LARGE ottoman that my mother-in-law gave to her. Then we found a great print that pulls in the colors together on her pillows.

Last weekend I headed up to Nik's house to watch conference with the family. In between sessions, I made her ottoman and 3 pillows.

Here is the Before.... Large and Dated, but comfy and great scale for her room.

After...Green Chevron that pops off her brown slipcovered sectional.

I matched up the Chevron on the sides... I missed my industrial machines and cutting table during this project.

Look how great the print is on the pillows that pull it all together! And you can see the matching better in this photo.

Close up of pillow print... bit blurry sorry.

Loving it altogether!

Another after....

Side Note #1--- Yesterday was my Birthday, and Heber was at work all day...so my darling boys made me a cake from scratch! Frosting and all. I think it was to make up for being so naughty at church. Either way, I'll take it.

Here's my oldest.

Double stacked round chocolate cake...my favorite. A little crumbly, it didn't come out of the pan so well.

My youngest helped clean the bowl...

They couldn't find candles...so they used matches after they already served up a few pieces....better late than never, right!

Side Note--#2
I got on a team to run Vegas....YEAH!!! I am taking two of my running partners with me to join in the fun. About 11 days till the race!

Shabby Chic Wingbacks

2011-10-06T19:35:00.000-07:00

I did these pair of wingbacks for a past client. She loves white and Shabby Chic. She was given a pair of wingbacks from her mother-in-law. She loved them, but they were starting to show wear and tear. So she got some white duck cloth and a Rachel Ashwell blue/cream stripe fabric and lots of lining. She wanted both chairs lined to help cover the embroidery and to make them wear longer with her kids.

Here is the before...

Here is the after on one of them...white duck cloth lined with "telephone arms"...at least that's what I call them. The skirt is raw silk. I did a 1.5" blind hem on the skirt to give it some weight.

Front...showing part of the arms and the cushion.

I love the blue skirt on the bottom.

Side view.

Second chair after...blue/cream stipe with no skirt and lined of course.

Telephone arms.....I run the vertical seam on the front of the arm to connect the outside arm and the inside arm.

Another after....

Shot of the room...with cream loveseat.

I love all her dark woods and antiques with the white and light blue.

Close up of front of chair.

Front of cushion.

After.

Close up of first chair skirt. I liked that she did each chair different and made the room look more eclectic.

Side note--- I think I am going through race withdrawls, Vegas Ragnar is in two weeks from tomorrow and I am not on a team....yet. I really think I want to run. So if any of you need a runner, let me know.

Side note #2--- I now have a "Slipcovers by Shelley" Facebook Page. Come "like" my page if you want to follow me on facebook.

Linking up to Miss Mustard Seed

Striped Oversized Chair

2011-10-03T13:39:00.000-07:00

This client had this large oversized chair that she wanted to use in the seating area right off her master bedroom. She loves the soft colors of shabby chic decor, so she went with a large stripe of cream/brown/turquoise.

Here is the chair before..

Here it is after...alot more fun and interesting than the cream solid fabric of the before.

After...

Front of arm....of course all the stripes are matched up.

Outside arm

Here's what it looks like in the room!

Side note- This past weekend Heber took the boys up to the cabin to put up the gutter on the back of our newly laid roof, I had finished painting the bathroom at the cabin the day before and decided to stay home to clean out the boys room and the basement family room. Took me 6 hours! I threw out 3 bags of crap, and organized.

Much to my surprise, when the boys got home...Logan (11 yr old) informed me they hung the turquoise beadboard on the ceiling in the bathroom at the cabin!!! I was super excited, now I can't wait to go up and see it and finish putting up the trim. Heber took a few pics...but they were blurry and not blog worthy.

Gray Diamond Ottoman

2011-09-30T06:44:00.000-07:00

This is the OTTOMAN THAT I COVET!!! My client ordered her fabric from Serena and Lily. I think I might NEED some of it. It would be beautiful on pillows in my front room.

Here is her ottoman before....Dark Leather, she wanted to add more fabric to the room. Since I love gray, I agreed.

She wanted to leave the dark legs exposed and just cover the top with piping along the top and bottom.

Of course there was matching involved.

Close up

We took pics in her garage, because she was in a hurry and needed to put her little one down for a nap. I wish I could've seen it in the room! This was the same client that had me do the Gray Hexagon Ottoman as seen below.

Here is the yellow and gray fabric I bought on my trip in North Carolina....I am going to redo my ottoman in this. So yellow and gray with a pop of turquoise on my pillows. I've been doing all these fun ottomans for everyone else, and I decided I need one too!
See don't you think this gray diamond fabric will work well with it?

Tan Linen Wingbacks

2011-09-26T08:29:00.000-07:00

This client was ready for a change...she was tired of her "gold" wingback chairs, so she bought some heavyweight tan linen. She wanted to keep the lines the same and let the legs show.

Wingback before...gold chenille.

After tan linen...she wanted more of the relaxed slipcover look rather than the formal look of the gold chenille.

Pair of wingbacks after.

They had interesting curved arms that I don't see too often. I wasn't sure how they were going to work out, but the linen shaped beautifully and worked well.

I did add the seam with piping on the front of the arms....it added a little detail, plus was functional for me. I think it would've been hard to wrap the same piece of fabric around from the inside arm to the outside arm and make it look right. So the inside arm is one piece and the outside arm is another piece, doing this also saved on fabric.

Band going down the wing.

After

Orange Damask Ottoman

2011-09-23T20:55:00.000-07:00

Ottoman Before...

Ottoman after....orange damask with a boxpleat skirt.

She had two different pieces of fabric out of the same print...one was a heavier upholstry weight cotton and the other was quilt fabric weight. SO....to make it work I used the heavier weight fabric on the top and band and piping, and I used the lighter weight fabric for the skirt. I self lined the skirt to give it more weight.

Close up of skirt

Of course there was some matching involved from the top to the band on the side.

Another after shot.

I love how much it added to the room! It seems like Ottomans are the new throw pillows. I have always brought color into my rooms through the pillows and have kept my couch bases neutral....Now I think Ottomans are taking over that job!

Side Note#1--- I Spent last weekend in North Carolina with my sister Angie...and we stayed with Gina from Slipcover Chic.

About a year and a half ago, Gina called me from my blog and had some questions about doing a slipcover business. We chatted and she offered up her guest room, if I ever wanted to come stay. Little did she know, I love to take trips and would most likely take her up on the offer.

We shopped, ate pecan pie, and met Kristi from Pink and Polka Dot for dinner. Kristi lives two hours from Gina! She drove to meet both of us for the first time! We tried to talk Kristi into coming to Gina's to stay over, but she decided she need to head home. So Gina and I stayed up and started slipcovering her couch... we got it all pinfitted!

The next day the sun finally came out....Gina took my sister and I to the beach. Somehow I sunburned the back of my legs pretty bad, they felt like they were on fire for my 6 hour flight home in jeans.

Me Gina Kristi

Slipcover DVD giveaway at Tatertots and Jello Blog

2011-09-20T16:14:00.000-07:00

Hey Ladies---- Jen at Tatertots and Jello is hosting a giveway for my ""How to Slipcover" DVD.

Here is a picture of her sectional that I did for her this summer. I love the the grey chevron pillows and the rug of course.

So head on over to Tatertots and Jello to enter my giveaway!

Red Floral Ottoman

2011-09-15T21:18:00.000-07:00

Here is the ottoman before.....

I love the bold print of this fabric! My client chose a solid red to use for the piping to frame it.

Of course there was a little bit of matching involved.

I think I am being inspired to change out my ottoman to something bold and fun. I'll have to see what I can come up with.

Side note #1--- two weekends we headed up to our cabin to work on finishing the bathroom. We needed to put up a few more pieces of beadboard on the walls and ceiling. I decided to leave the walls white and paint the ceiling turquoise. Then I am going to trim it out in wood that I stain walnut for the baseboards and window casings. Can't wait till it's done and I can put up my turquiose chevron shower curtain that I made about 8 months ago.

The boys were big helpers and wanted to paint the beadboard for the ceiling. What the heck, right? Less that I have to do, and who's going to be able to see up close on the ceiling if they don't do a great job?

Unfortunately they got bored after awhile and went off in the woods to work on their fort.

Side Note #2---- yes....I ran another race last weekend. I ran the Red Rock Relay. It started at Brianhead up Cedar City, Ut canyon and ended in Zions. Here I am on my first leg of 5.6 miles about 1pm. Halfway through it started raining and hailing and the temperature dropped to 44 degrees. It was almost all uphill. My second leg was 8.4 miles around midnight, and my third leg was 5.25 miles uphill about 9am. Then I ran an extra 2 miles for someone....so about 21.5 miles total! I think that's it for the year unless I end up running Vegas Ragnar Relay.

Stripe bedroom chair

2011-09-03T13:10:00.000-07:00

This was for a client in Park City...she had a pair of these chairs that she was using in separate bedrooms. She decided to make 3 covers total, so she could switch them out. She did a white one and a red pinstripe one that I'll show off later. The third one she did was this red/blue/white/ tan stripe.

Before....old chairs from her mother in law, but the perfect shape and size. Small and petite and can snuggle into any corner.

After....Love the way it turned out, please don't mind the wrinkles.... I have to fold them up and put them in bags while transporting, so the wrinkles will fall out over the next day or two.

Front view.

I did piping on the inside arm seam just to make it look more finished....and then I did a kiss pleat on the top corner of the chair. I do this when the corner is more rounded than square.

Side of chair

Side Note ---- I ran the Grand Teton Relay a few weekends ago...the whole family came and we stayed at my running partner's in-laws cabin in Island Park. Her whole family came too. We got there a day early and floated the river on a raft. 3-4 hours is a long time to be in a confined space with 5 kids who got bored after the first 45 minutes. Luckily we found a rope swing a few hours into it and the kids played on it for awhile.

Here's my family out in front of the raft rental place.

The next day was "race" day. The husbands and kids came to cheer for us along the course...pom poms and all. I even taught them how to yell, "GO RUNNNNNNER!" a few nights before. Luke had it down. Now when we are driving around town, they roll down their windows and cheer for random runners on the road.

The kids came to get a snuggle after my first leg was over. It was 7.4 miles and the last 2.5-3 miles were a serious uphill. I still managed to average 9:30 per mile. Logan (my oldest) even got out and ran with me for a little while....until he tripped on some gravel and skinned his knee.

Here is Camille, me, and April...my race buddies. I think we've done about 8 races together. We are at the Grand Targhee Ski resort and it's about 7 am and we are getting ready to run our third leg. We had already been on the course almost 24 hours at this point, we slept in the van, because it was too cold to get out.

Here we are...April is getting ready to run her last leg. My last leg was 3.2 miles and I managed to average 8:25 min. per mile and I passed a guy! My only roadkill for the whole race. There were only 46 teams total, because it was the first year. So we didn't see many people out on the course during our runs. Oh yes and we were 3rd to last place! Although to make ourselves feel better...some volunteers did tell us that some teams skipped some of their night runs because they were too scared to run through trees on trails.

Chenille bedspread chair slipcover

2011-08-31T14:28:00.000-07:00

This chair was for my client named Holly. It was for her daughter's room. I had done a small loveseat (all white) about 3-4 years ago for her out of this same fabric, she thought we could repurpose the slipcover and take it apart and salvage the fabric to make a new slipcover for this chair....All the pieces were going to work except the loveseat arms were more shallow than the chair. She went to get more white denim and the store was all out, but she fell in love with this mint green color.

I told her we could use if for the arms and then make the piping out of it as well, to make it all make sense. Good thing for me, that way I could cut most of the slipcover apart instead of unpicking all the seams to salvage the piping.

Here's the chair before.

Here it is after...we used white denim on the seat cushion, outside back, inside back, decking, and back cushion band. The wedding ring chenille is from a vintage bedspread. I utilized the fringe around the outside of the bedspread for the hem of the skirt.

The front of the arms were the EXACT same size as the loveseat....so I had to unpick very carefully, I needed every 1/8" possible for seam allowances. I lined the chenille to give it more strenth, it was feeling pretty thin and not very sturdy.

Side of chair.

I lined the chenille band on the seat cushion as well as the chenille on the back cushion.
I also gathered the skirt around the front corners of the chair, to give it a little fullness.

I loved the green mixed in with the white... it made it look fresh, new, and exciting again.

Wedding ring chenille pattern is my favorite.

Side Note #1-- Here are pics from our hot air balloon ride. We went for our 14th year anniversary earlier this month.

We are in the balloon at this point, waiting for it to take off.

Here's the balloon below us...he had just gotten off the ground. We launched from the Canyons Ski Resort in Park City, UT, and we landed next to a freeway on ramp in the weeds next to the Home Depot in Park City.

I guess they land wherever they can in random fields and what not. We floated over the freeway really low and all the cars and buses were waving and honking. The vans followed us around and picked us up where we landed. We were in the air for a little more than an hour.

Here they are inflating the balloons on the ground. Heber got to help hold it open while the fan and the fire blew into it. It was pretty cool and lots of fun.

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My Bedroom Bedding

2011-08-16T21:44:00.000-07:00

About 5 or 6 months ago, I made a footwarmer for my bed out of fabric samples that I bought at the Orem Restore Habitat for Humanity Store. They were 10/$1. I bought a ton...made the footwarmer and then didn't feel like it looked like "me" so I flipped it over and used the solid side instead. I think it was mostly because I couldn't figure out the pillows to go with the patchwork side.

Well I was playing around with some of my old pillows from the front room, and figured it out!

Here it is...I did the brown menswear houndstooth pillow in front of the green stripe pillows and it worked for me. I then used a pea green throw blanket on the bench at the end of the bed.

Close up of the pillows....You can see what I had before here....which I still like, I just really wanted to use the footwarmer with the pieced side up. Plus it's a bonus that it's a little more masculine for Heber.

You can see the footwarmer close up here....my favorite fabric was the gray raised chenille squares (middle right in the pic)

I have a coffee table at the end of the bed with a cushion on it...to act as a bench, or actually a place to drape all my clothes when I am too lazy to put them away.

All the pillows together. 3 Euros (26"x26"), 2 standard sham (20"x26"), and a kidney (14"x20")pillow. I have a California King bed. Usually you can squeeze 3 Euros on a queen as well....or you can go with 2 if you prefer.

Foot warmer. My white chenille duvet, I made out of a bedspread that I bought at Ross for $20. I just sewed a flat sheet to the back and added a zipper for the opening. It's the wedding ring chenille pattern. I've had it for about 5 years now, and I still love it.

I think I like it and I feel like it's "me"....I love the texture and interest that the footwarmer brings to the room.

Side note #1-- Heading out of town tomorrow. We are going to Yellowstone, and I am going to run the Grand Teton Relay on Friday! Heber and the kids are going to come and cheer us on along on the course.
Side note #2-- Kids start school next week and my youngest starts 1st grade! I am going to have to work just about every day next week while the kids are at school to make up for all these work days I am missing while I am out of town...yet again.

Cabin reroofing project

2011-08-14T10:26:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we headed up to our cabin in Midway, UT to reroof it. We bought the cabin 1 1/2 yrs ago and have slowly worked on projects to "fix" it up. We got it for a screaming deal of $65,000. So we were ok with all the work it was going to need.

We put the roof off last year because it wasn't leaking yet. Well this spring it started to leak in a few spots with the melting snow. So it became a priority for this year. A few months ago, I started looking for shingles on KSL.com (local online classifieds). We needed about 750 square ft of shingles....retail for this amount of shingles was about $800. I got what I needed for $400 off KSL.com. I had to match two different shingles to get enough, but you have to look really hard to tell. When it was all said and done, we had half a bundle of shingles left!

We got up there about noon on Friday and Heber and I started stripping the original roof that was 30 plus years old (built in 1978). There was only one layer of shingles so they came up pretty easy.

See how old those shingles were???

We pushed all the shingles off the egde for the boys to pick up and load in the sled. Once they loaded the sled they hauled it down to the trailer and dumped it. You can see the black sled in the foreground of the picture.

The boys got $.50 cents each per sled full. They made 20 trips total and earned $10 each for their hard work. The boys brought their friend Spencer up to help too. I was so proud of how hard they worked. They really contributed and made a difference.

Once the shingles were stripped, Heber made a run to Home Depot to buy plywood, nails, tar paper, flashing, etc. While he did this I stripped all the tar paper and pulled all the nails from the whole roof. Let's just say I was really ready for bed that night.

We had to replace 5 sheets of plywood...their was some water damage and dry rot to some of the pieces. Here's Logan sitting on the top of the ladder. I told them no kids were allowed on the roof. They got as close as they could.

Our friend Jared came up to help us out.

Here are the kids checking out the progress on the burm behind the cabin.

Heber's brother John came up to help as well. Yeah for extra help! The second day when they laid the roof...I spent the day cooking and cleaning and driving to the store for more water. We went through 4 cases of water in two days. It was warm up there on the roof.

Here's Carter checking out the progress from the ladder too.

Heber and the boys had to haul the 75 lb. bundles up on to the roof.

Half way done. While they were laying the roof, I had the opporturnity to drive the trailer full of old shingles to the dump with the boys. I was a little nervous about how it was going to all work out. I got it all backed in ok and then the guy tells me no one under the age of 12 is allowed on the deck....uhhh all my helpers were 11 and under. There was no way I could shovel out the whole trailer by myself. Once he saw what was in my trailer, he said they could help...but they had to stay away from the edge.

It took us about 30 minutes in a hot dirty enclosed trailer to get all the shingles out. I could feel sweat dripping everywhere. I was pretty proud of myself. I was a little intimidated, but I did it.

Here is Jared and Heber putting on the flashing right before dark on the second day. They finished right at dark, and we cleaned up in the dark. It was a long day for those boys.

Here's the new roof in the light the next day. Total we spent about $750 to reroof the cabin....not too bad.

Our "fixer upper" cabin....the stairs are still on our to do list.

Here are the boys with Uncle John the next morning. They talked him into taking them for a four wheeler ride before we headed home.

Country Family Room slipcovers

2011-08-10T21:10:00.000-07:00

This was all for a client that just bought a house at auction and had gutted it, she was ready to pull it all together using the furniture pieces she already had. She was working with one of my favorite Interior Designer clients, Gloria. You may remember Gloria's quilt slipcover on her front porch.
We did two couches, a chair, ottoman, and a bunch of pillows.

First couch before

Starting to show some wear.

Second couch before.. notice the flat polyfiber forms.

Chair before

Chair was showing some wear as well.

1st couch after

Second couch after. She used a brushed yellow denim on both couches...so they are super soft and snuggly.

Shot of the whole room.

Chair after. Chair had red gingham fabric used for the piping

A green ticking stripe was used for the piping on the couches.

Here are a few of the pillows we did. All the red floral pillows had a 1" pleat ruffle going all the same way.

Pillows....make such a difference and add color and finish off a room.

We switched out the flat hard polyfiber forms for 26" down forms. Down forms always make your pillow look better and more inviting and new.

Chair was out of a red matalesse damask with gingham piping. Matatlesse washes us great and is very durable...and doesn't tend to wrinkle as much as a regular cotton fabric.

Chair and ottoman turned out great!!!

Close up to show the pleat ruffle on the pillows.

The whole room looked great, Becca loved it! And I know she'll love it even more when her darling little ones get them dirty and she can take off the covers and wash them.

Side note#1

We reroofed the cabin last weekend...I'll post about it later

Side note #2

My boys are finally better...two of them got pnemonia a few weeks ago

Side note #3

Yesterday was our 14 yr anniversary! We are heading out tomorrow to celebrate. I have a couples massage scheduled, a hot air balloon ride, and then we are heading up to stay at the cabin with no kids for two nights!

Camille's Master Bedroom

2011-08-03T19:04:00.000-07:00

Here's Camille's (running partner) Master Bedroom that she let me help her with. She inherited two darling pink floral settees from her Grandma. Instead of trying to fight with them, we went with it and made her room antiquey (is that a word?) and feminine. She loves it... I am not sure if her husband was as thrilled as we were.

We positioned one setee at the end of the bed. I rummaged through all my fabrics and pulled some together for the pillows. The duvet, my sister gave to me. She had bought it at a Down East Tent Sale for $10 and then realized it had a large hole in it, so we just flipped it over and used the back side and folded down the top to show the cute smocking detail.

Here's the smocking detail on the Duvet.

Here's a close up of the setee from Camille's Grandma.

Great clock that she moved from another room.

She also inherited these two lamps from her grandma....they worked perfect!

Her bed is really high and she had some small rickety formica end tables that weren't working so well in terms of style or scale. One day when we were out, we hit the local thrift store and found two different sewing machine cabinets. They looked a little large, but I thought they'd work great for end tables and she didn't even have to do any work to them. $35 total for both!

The bedskirt was made from a king size flat sheet she had kicking around in her linen closet. I had just enough to make it work! I used a queen flat sheet for the decking of the bedskirt.

Close up of the pillows

Pillows...floral euro shams, burlap type fabric for standard shams

Bedskirt and ruffle detail around duvet cover.

I loved the flowers and books she added to the end table.

It was great that we could use what she had and what I had on hand...I think she only spent $35 on the two end tables! That should make her husband happy, even if he has to sleep in a pink room. Oh I forgot she did buy the white dresser for $15 as well off ksl.com. SO $50 total for a master bedroom redo.....well a master bedroom do, it was never done in the first place!

I have now converted her to thinking a bed without a bedskirt...isn't acceptable.

Jen's 2 piece Sectional

2011-08-01T08:08:00.000-07:00

Jen from Tatertots and Jello Blog emailed me to help her out with her BIG sectional. She ordered some turquoise cotton fabric from fabric.com. The back cushions were getting a little slouchy with the single piping (pillow style), so I ended up "boxing" (box cushion...2 rows of piping) them.

She loves a boxpleat skirt, so I did a boxpleat skirt all the way around both pieces (2 piece sectional). It wasn't just a couch and a loveseat piece pushed together...it was 2 full size couches...It was LARGE.

Here is the before...nice, but just brown.

Here's what it looked like from the kitchen. It has a cool rolled back all the way around.

Here is the after. TURQUOISE!!!! She had reservations about the fabric. When I showed up to do the fitting she had her huge stack of 55 yds prewashed fabric sitting there, and she asks me, "What do you think? Am I crazy to do turquoise?"....my answer, "NO...my sectional at the cabin is slipcovered in turquoise fabric"...my second thought in my head, you already bought 55 yds and prewashed it, you can't return it! So let's do it!

LOOK how stinkin' amazing it looks!!!! Bright and Fun and it matched her pillows that she had already made. She said she's planning on painting the black table behind the couch cream/white.

I had to do little tucks on the back corners on the rolled back separated by piping (that's where I hid my zipper).

5" box pleat skirt all the way around.

She loved how cheerful it turned out. She was a great sport to let me come over for the fitting the morning she got back from being out of the country!!!

Her pillows.

Another after shot.

Another view.

Reagan's bedding

2011-07-25T12:49:00.000-07:00

This is for Camille's (running partner) daughter's room. A few months ago, Camillle and I went thrifting and searching for some fabric at the fabric store. Our original intent was to find a chair to slipcover for Reagan's room. WE found a chair at ReStore, and Camille decided that she liked it enough to leave it alone and not slipcover it.

Then we headed to the fabric store to find fabric for a duvet cover. She fell in love with this red floral...kind of antiquey with a little bit of pink...that we were hoping would tie in the chair.

She bought enough fabric for the duvet, and remembered she had a pink flat sheet at home to put on the back. I always have tons of scraps and fabrics kicking around, so I told her we'd figure out pillows later..... I had enough red for a bedskirt and Euro pillow. I used this same red fabric on some red ruffled pillows I made at Christmas time.

We wanted to make it a little bit funky and more like a "little" girls room, so I tried to mix fabrics together that were a little unexpected. I think it worked!!! I loved the way it all came together.

I had just enough pink polka dot and turquoise ric-rac to make this pillow work. The ends are the red fabric cut on the bias (diagonal) 2" strips and ruffled in the seam. No need to hem since on the bias it doesn't fray a ton.

The pillow sham was made out of this yellow print that I have always loved and have kept on hand and haven't used. I piped it out of some scrap piping that I found in my piping box.

I ruffled the Euro pillow out of the 2" bias strips as well.

Close up of bolster....the yellow dot is from the parson chairs and club chairs that I slipcovered at my cabin

Here's the chair we got and Camille painted the doll house light blue to tie in the ric rac on the bolster pillow. We are still plannning on doing a red ruffled pillow on the chair out of the small scraps of red that are left. The yarn flower picture on the wall is from Camille's Grandma's house....it works perfect!

I am a firm believer that beds need bedskirts! I love the gathered bedskirt in this room.

White Couch and Loveseat

2011-07-22T08:59:00.000-07:00

This client was ready to get rid of the country blue gingham that she'd had for about 10 years, and go a with basic white. Her back cushions were attatched, so I cut them off. They had a single row of piping originally (pillow style) and we ended up boxing them to give them a cleaner look.

When I cut off the back cushions the filling wasn't contained...it was just loose polyfil that was coming out. I knew she was going to need to be able to take off the covers and wash them. So I made muslin covers to contain the batting.

Here is the before of the loveseat...blue/cream gingham.

After...white denim slipcovers with the back cushions "boxed" (2 rows of piping).

Front of arm

Couch...after

Couch and loveseat together.

You can barely see the lapped zipper on the back corner... just the way I like it.

SIDE NOTE-

#1 Home Fabrics in Orem, Ut is having all their cotton prints on sale again this weekend only for $3/yd (Normally $6/yd).

#2 Step Down Sale at the Design Company (2253 S. 500 E. Salt Lake) is starting.....

This week $9 yd

July 25th $7/yd

Aug 1st $5/yd

Aug 8th $3/yd

Aug 15th $2/yd

Wavy Fabric Chair

2011-07-18T20:58:00.000-07:00

Here's the chair before...a little thread bare and worn through in a few spots. My client got this great heavy weight chenille type fabric from Joanns, during their 50% off sale last month.

Chair Before

Arms were worn through...but the chair was a great scale and super comfy and a nice size for the kids.

Here is the amazing after....I FELL IN LOVE with this chair. Look how amazing that fabric is on that shape of chair. I am not gonna lie...it took some thought to make all those wavy lines line up. I chose a stripe (orange/red) that I wanted to center, stuck pins in my chair down the center on the original fabric. Then when cutting out the cushions I centered the same stripe.

Close up of front of arm.

I ran piping along the seam where the back connected to the inside arm.

Another after. Sorry it's a little blury I am getting used to my new 50 mm. lens.

Ottoman before...simple musin covered footstool

My client chose an orange chunky weave fabric for the ottoman and we did box pleats all the way around. LOVE IT!!!

I also did another chair for her out of brown fabric with small turquoise chenille dots on the fabric. All my pics turned out really bad, the lighting in the basement didn't work out so well. I still wanted to show the fabrics together, I loved the eclectic non matchy fabrics together.

Here is a close up of the turquoise dot fabric.

Her kids were super excited about the new furniture and helped haul everything in from the trailer for me....and called dibs on their new favorite spots.

Side note--
I took my boys to Lamb Day in Fountain Green last weekend...Another parade with candy! My boys were ready with their bags. We hung out with Heber's side of the family for the parade and had lunch. Heber and all his cousins used to be the ones in the road with their bags, now it's all the grandkids.

Home Fabrics in Orem $3/yd sale on cotton prints

2011-07-15T22:00:00.000-07:00

This is for all the local ladies....Home Fabrics in Orem is having all their cotton prints on sale for $3/yd (50% off) this weekend only. Well they aren't open on Sundays, so for tomorrow only.

I wish I could stop in, but Heber is working and a fabric store with three boys is pure torture.

Side note #1- Here are some pics from my family reunion at Bear Lake.

Here's Luke...he's ready to hit the pool....again (3 times per day)

Here I am with Logan...getting ready to see the fireworks over the Lake. It was an amazing show.

Heber and I at the firework show.

Some of the cousins stealing a snuggle from Milo.

Me with two of my sisters.

Heber loved the jet skiis so much...he wanted to go without me, so he wouldn't have to drive slow.

We headed up into the mountains for a campfire and got eaten alive by mosquitos!

Here's Carter with his little cousin.

Here's my whole family....6 kids and momma. 2 boys and 4 girls.

My boys loved the jet skiis too...except Luke, he'd only let me take him for a ride because he knew I'd drive slow.

Here's Logan holding baby Milo. Milo was hanging onto Logan's ears for dear life.

Luke lounging with Mr. Blankie on the beach.

Here are 8 of the 21 grandkids.

Logan talked Grandma into going for a ride. We all had a great time even though the Lake was really high and most of the beach was gone.

I am excited to say that after planning the last 4 reunions...my brother has offered to plan the next one!!!!

Slipcovers in Switzerland for Ikea Ektorp Chair

2011-07-14T08:16:00.000-07:00

Hey Everyone....

So here's the story...a few months ago, Camille's (my running partner) aunt Susan was visiting from Colorado. She saw Camille's slipcovers and called me. I told her I couldn't help, because she was out of state...I need the chair, she persisted and said her chair was from Ikea. I told her she could mail me the original slipcover and I could make a pattern. So we chatted on the phone a few times and she ordered fabric.

Then that night I got a message from Susan on Facebook asking me if my dad was on a mission in Switzerland? She saw one of Camille's pictures on Facebook that I was tagged in with the maiden name "Chatterley", so she messaged me to see if it was a small world. Susan sat next to my dad's wife in church the Sunday before.

Susan was visiting Switzerland, because her husband was getting relocated there for work.

At this point she just thought I (Rochelle Chatterley Anderson) was one of Camille's friends whose maiden name was Chatterley. She was confused when I messaged her back and told her that I couldn't wait to see her cute fabric....She messaged back, "are you related to Shelley, why would you be excited to see my fabric". I then had to inform her that Rochelle was Shelley....TOO FUNNY!

SO dad was at their house last weekend and she took a picture of him sitting in the chair I slipcovered. Melts my heart.

Here is my Dad sitting in the chair I slipcovered for a client that moved to Switerland and by chance met my dad at church....small world!!! My dad is serving a mission in Switerland with his wife for our church.

I did a pair of chair slipcovers for Susan for her new place in Switzerland, she liked this pattern because it wasn't the typical damask or toile, and seemed "French" to her.

You can find the fabric here. It's from fabric.com. If you remember I used this same fabric in Turquoise on the upholstered rocker below

This is the Ektorp Club Chair from Ikea. It has a seat and back cushion.

To see full post click the following Upholstered Pottery Barn Rocker Post

Oversized Chair and Some DVD Testimonials

2011-07-09T17:52:00.000-07:00

This chair was for a client...she wanted a change, something more simple. She bought some dropcloths from a specialty paint store. They didn't look like any dropcloth I had ever seen, they were more like a poplin instead of chunky woven canvas. They worked out great.

Before....

After...done up in a cream poplin type dropcloth with a gathered skirt.

Another after

Close up to show the back

Front of the arm.

*SOME "How to Slipcover DVD" Testimonials that I have received lately*

#1 Cassi over at Something for the Road just finished making this slipcover after watching my "How to Slipcover DVD". I am so proud...it looks GREAT!

#2 Rachel over at The Life and Times of a World Traveler just finished her first slipcover with the help of my DVD. She did great on her first slipcover ever! The second one always comes a lot easier. After my first... I said, I'd never do another...hahaha...that's funny now huh?

#3...from Maria

I was so excited to get your DVD, and can't wait to start sewing slipcovers for my wingback chairs. Your DVD is great! It's given me the confidence to sew my own...feels like I've opened a window to a whole new sewing adventure!

Side Note-- #1 Just got back from my family reunion at Bear Lake...we had some good times on the Lake and at the indoor pool. The fireworks over the lake were pretty great too. Then at 6:30am this morning we drove straight from Bear Lake to Heber's Grandmas 98th birthday party which was 4.5 hrs away. Now I am home returning emails and checking all my messages.

Floral Wingback chair with boxpleat skirt and out of town until July 11th

2011-07-01T22:48:00.000-07:00

This chair was for my client's office. She had her husband take off the legs and build it up with 2x4's and add some industrial wheels.

Before

Here you can see the handyman work.

After...she chose a great floral cotton.

Inside wing

Front of chair, check out the bird matching on the front of the cushion!

I love the boxpleat skirt on this...I ended it about 1.5" up from the floor. This way it hides most of the wheels, but it isn't too long for the fabric to get caught. I love how Corey had a traditional wingback chair transformed into a great comfy office chair that MOVES!

-Side Note-- I am heading out of town for a family reunion at Bear Lake tomorrow until July 11th. I most likely won't be replying to emails until I return.

-Side Note-- I am booked until the beginning of August, so if you want on my list email me heberj1@yahoo.com. Just a reminder the fall is a really busy time for me, so if you are wanting something done... don't wait until October to find fabric.

Gloria's Blue club chair

2011-06-23T15:40:00.000-07:00

This chair was for Gloria's client...we did a pair of these for her. Here is the before a chair with bunnies and dogs on it.

Before chair

After...she chose a thick blue suede type fabric, again I wasn't sure if it was going to mold the curves correctly because the backing on the fabric was stiff, but it worked out.

Here is a close up of the inside wing with the pillows. Loved the pillow fabrics and how they made the chair pop.

Close up of the front corner

Side Note--- here are some pics from our trip to Carlsbad State beach.

Here's Carter surfing all by himself...Heber rented two boards for a day, and the boys loved it so much he ended up buying a surf board from Costco while we were there. Then one of our neighbors had to strap it down on top of their car to get it home for us.

Here's my Carter.

Here's Logan surfing it up too. I was amazed at how fast they picked it up.

Here is Heber and I.

Luke stuck to the boogie boarding and shell collecting.

These were the stairs we had to walk down to the beach everyday. Luke would wake me up every morning ready with his bucket in hand ready to go walk the beach and collect shells. I used to be an avid shell collector when I was little (I grew up in Southern California). So I started to look forward to his darling wake up nudging efforts.

Here's a picture that we got of the whole family right before we got in the car to drive home...no joke Luke wore that outfit everyday we were there, that BYU jersey was NASTY by the time we left.

This is a picture of our Van that ran Wasatch Back last weekend

Here I am right before running my first leg of 3.2 miles.

Side Note #2- I am booked until the end of July, email me if you want on my list.

Denim chair with ticking stripe piping

2011-06-21T20:34:00.000-07:00

Just got back from running Wasatch Back Relay this past weekend...had a blast like always. This race is from Logan to Park City, Ut. The best part was Heber pacing me on a bike during my ten mile night run at 3am on a trail beside Echo Resevoir with the full moon. My legs were 3.2 miles flat, 10 miles with a little bit of uphill, and 3.2 miles super steep the whole way (Ragnar hill).

Anyhow onto my slipcover post...this was for my upholster's client. I loved the orange leather and joked about redoing one of my chairs for the clinet if I could keep this orange one.

They chose a dark denim for the main body and used a navy/white ticking stripe for the piping. I loved the way the contrasting piping framed the chair, and showed off the great lines of it.

Before...Orange Leather

After with dark denim with ticking stripe piping. Sorry another picture in the driveway...which means Heber was dropping this one off for me.

Sorry the ticking stripe doesn't show so well in this pic.

I loved the lines of this chair...we did end up doing velcro under the very edge of the chair, and I sewed the other side of the velcro the the seam allowance on the piping along the bottom edge. This way it keeps the slipcover in place after it's sat in. The leather made it sort of slippery and would slide up.

Back corner

Front edge...I angled the seam from the inside arm to the outer edge, so the bottom edge would look cleaner.

Tan chenille club chairs

2011-06-16T09:00:00.000-07:00

I made it back from my trip to California...the beach was great, I haven't slept that good in weeks. My mind was free from all thoughts and worries, and the sound of the waves helped too, as well as my two oldest boys sleeping in their own tent.

Anyhow...these chairs were for a client in Park City. Her designer chose a neutral chenille fabric, and we kept the skirt height the same.

Sorry more pics in the driveway, I have been swamped, so when possible Heber has been doing my drop offs for me...I can't expect him to take my pictures for me too.

Chair before

Chair after

I decided to do a double row of piping down the arms...because the original lines would only work for upholstry. I like the way it turned out. The fabric was a little thick, so I wasn't sure how it was going to lay...but it layed smooth and hugged the lines of the chair.

Here you can see the double piping on the arms

I did a set of them...so here you can see them side by side after and before

Here's the original arm...that wasn't going to work for me with a slipcover, see how it's piped around the arm about 3 inches down?

Yellow/ Pink Paisley chair....and out of town till June 15th

2011-06-07T22:15:00.000-07:00

This was for a repeat client...I think the first couch I did for her was 7- 8 years ago..and we've done some other things in between, she just moved into a new house up in the avenues in SLC. So it was time to redo a few things. I think these chairs were from her mother in law. Anyhow, she chose a great paisley fabric to replace the black floral.

Chair Before

Chair after

Of course I had to do some matching....

Side Note--- I am finally finished with as much sewing as I can get done, and now I am heading to California to camp at the beach for 5 nights. Heber has been running errands and packing the car most of the day, I on the other hand sewed all day. The kids are excited to get their own treat bag for the drive. I am still being optimistic that I'll have time for a run in the morning before we head out at 10am....hmmm my house is a mess, it's 11pm and there's still more packing that needs to be done.

I may check my email periodically while I am gone...but I can't make any promises. If you want on my wait list for July, just send me an email and I'll answer you when I return.

Chenille stripe couch

2011-06-03T15:02:00.000-07:00

This couch was for a client that I originally slipcovered about 8-9 years ago. She was ready for a change from the olive green chenille damask.

She also wanted to change the couch a bit too. She wanted to go from a two cushion seat to a one cushion seat. She also wanted to change the two back cushions to 3 Euro size pillows. She also decided to elminate the skirt and let the legs show.

Here's the picture of the before...the seat covers were already off when I got there. I gave her homework (hand sew the two seat cushions together with upholstry thread or dental floss). Then I would batting wrap the large single cushion and put the new cushion cover on. She also removed the skirt underneath the slipcover to show off the legs.

Here you can see how she hand sewed the seat cushions together. I thought this would work best to keep from seeing a divet in the middle of the single cushion.

Here is the after. She was worried about the Euro pillows getting saggy (they are down filled) and being able to feel the frame of the couch through them. So I batting wrapped the pillows 1 1/2 times each to make them full and thicker. I thought the single seat cushion thing worked out beautifully! No divet!

Front of the arm with the exposed legs.

The couch in the room.

Close up to show the chenille texture.

Side note--- Here we are at Luke's kindergarten graduation.

Slipcover DVD Giveaway at "The Empty Nest" blog

2011-05-31T11:00:00.000-07:00

Hey Ladies....Janet over at The Empty Nest is graciously hosting a slipcover DVD giveway for me...head on over and enter. Giveaway ends on Tuesday June 7th.

Here's a picture of Janet's latest slipcover that she has made for herself.

- Side Note #1--- I have many of you on my list for when I return from my trip mid June, which means I am now booked until July 11th. If you want on my list for July send me and email. thanks

- Side Note #2-- Luke graduated kindergarten today!!! He was darling in his little orange paper hat and tassel singing all the songs.

-Side Note #3 I am REALLY on the home stretch now...I only have a few more chairs to go before my trip next week. I am doing my last drop offs on Tuesday June 7th.

Lila's chairs

2011-05-26T10:44:00.000-07:00

There was a pair of these chairs that Lila wanted me to slipcover, using some of her fabric that she designs for Riley Blake. She had a trade show coming up and wanted to use these chairs in her booth.

Here is the before...on old kitchen chair on wheels from the thrift store. Lila's planning on using them in her office after the trade show...kind of like office chairs since they roll and spin.

Here is the after we piped with the on fabric and did the skirt in the other.

I was concerned how the tuck in would stay...so when I felt under the chair there was a small gap that led up through the tuck in area. I sewed a small piece of ribbon onto the seam allowance in the center back where the skirt was sewn on and then I sewed the other piece of ribbon on the section of the main body that tucked into the crevice. Then I put a safety pin on the end of the ribbon so I could feed it down the crevice and through the small gap....then the two ribbons met and I could tie them together to help keep the tuck in from coming out.

Skirt

Lila's fabrics...how exciting to have your name on the selvage!!! Her fabric are quilt fabric that are 45" wide...so I self lined the skirts to give them a little more weight.

Drop Cloth Couch, Chair, and Ottoman with French Welt

2011-05-23T22:28:00.000-07:00

These items were for a designers client for their office. This client likes to get all his drop cloths from Sherwin Williams, they seem to be a little bit better quality than the Home Depot or Lowes drop cloths...less flaws and bare/ thin spots.

Here is the chair before...light blue plaid with a coordinating floral.

And here is the matching couch in the same floral.

Chair after in drop cloths with french welt.

On the top back of the chair...I decided to keep the original seams and "boxed" the top edge. I played with it and decided it looked better to keep the original lines.

Close up of "french welt" which is basically piping with out the cording inside. So it's a 2" strip of fabric folded in half and sewn in the seams. Then on the corners you have to "kiss pleat" the french welting so it'll bend around the corners.

Here is the couch AFTER. Love the cleaner look without the floral and plaid...much better for a man's office.

Front of couch

Another front shot of the couch.

-- Side note... I am on the home stretch, we leave to camp at Carlsbad State beach in 2 1/2 weeks. I still have several items I am trying to finish and drop off before we leave. I am utilizing Heber (husband) for most of my drop offs. I still have a couch, 3 chairs, and two ottomans that I need to get done this week, and then I have 2 chairs, some cushions, and some bedskirts to finish the following week. Then I am going to be hanging out on the beach in Southern California for a week. Nothing like working hard before a trip!!!!
Oh did I mention...Heber has enlisted me to make a cover for our new air mattress. The last one we bought only lasted for two uses. So this time he spent alot more money hoping the higher quality will help (maybe if the kids don't jump on it...that might help too). I have some navy blue cable knit sweater looking fabric that's soft and stretchy...so I think I may use it for this project. I don't know when I am supposed to get it done though. Most likely the night before we leave.

Gray Hexagon Ottoman

2011-05-18T20:57:00.000-07:00

This ottoman was for a client that I did baby bumpers for about 18 months ago...She decided this white ottoman wasn't very practical with a one year old. She ordered this amazing gray hexagon fabric that mimicked the shape of the ottoman. I love this fabric!!!

Ottoman Before...darling but not washable.

After...ottoman slipcovered in gray hexagon fabric.

I matched the band to the skirt...I didn't worry about the matching on the top edge, since it was angled and not really possible to match on all sides. Plus we were a little tight on fabric.

Random Story about me-- When I was little I used to watch my mom sew...I would sew purses and doll clothes. When I was in 6th grade, I was going to take guitar lessons at school. My mom had an old guitar for me to use, but one problem....no case. So what was a girl to do???? I made one out of my brothers old jeans. I pieced it together and made a button opening...so kind of like a box cushion, but for a guitar and made out of white and blue levis. So I guess this would be my first "official" slipcover.

Loveseat and Chair

2011-05-17T17:52:00.000-07:00

This was for a client that purchased pieces off of KSL.com (local classifieds) to slipcover. Check out these befores!!!! Large floral and zebra...not zebra print, actual zebras walking around.

Chair before

Loveseat before

Loveseat AFTER...so went with a neutral denim/twill and to give it some detail and character we added a 2" pleat all one way along the bottom. Her pillows are from Target.

I wrapped a band around the front of the loveseat to keep it tight and put piping along the top and along the bottom before the pleat.

Loveseat...another after

Chair AFTER...we did the 2" pleat on the chair as well. I wrapped a band around the front edge of the chair too...with piping along the top and bottom.

Front of chair.

Another After of chair....LOVE the way these turned out.

SIDE NOTE #1--Slipcover DVD giveaway going on at Jilly and Mia go check it out!

SIDE NOTE #2 ---- My moab relay race.

Here I am with some of my race girls. Only two legs each instead of three for this race. 70 miles total with 6 people on a team. Come to find out the day after the race, there was a guy that ran this thing solo! AND he finished 2.5 hrs faster than our team of 6!!!

Here we are at the start line.

Here I am running my last/ second leg....8 miles in 80 degrees. Not so used to the heat yet. I have been running all winter in gloves, scarves, hats, 2 pairs of running pants, etc. I felt good for the first 4 miles and then the heat kicked in. I still ended up averaging 8:52/ mile....so I was happy with that.

Front room and Booked Till June 9th

2011-05-11T08:56:00.000-07:00

So I changed my mind....AGAIN. I started to feel like it was too dark without any white. So I brought back out my white slipcovers for my chairs and brought back a few white ruffled pillows that I have used in the past and my zebra pillow as well. I think I've got it right this time. I love the menswear, but I also love my white linen ruffles.

- Side note... Heber went back to work today, his knees are doing better since his surgery. Back to a normal routine, which means I need to get back to my "work" days and my "mom" days. Lately I've been working more than normal, because Heber was home to help with the kids.

-I am booked until June 9th....I have committed to several people that are having things done for the "Home Show" which is the first weekend in June. Email me if you want to get on my list for pickups or fittings around June 9th.

- I am running the Red Rock Moab relay this weekend! I have been fighting a cold for the past few days...so I hope it goes away by then.

Basement Ottoman and pillows

2011-05-05T12:08:00.000-07:00

So I caved and bought a leather sectional for the basement... I have been talking myself out of it for the past two years. Finally, I did it! I love it! But I wanted to bring in some fabrics to add some color.

Last weekend I went on a girls night out..and we ended up at Target. I found this pillow with 9 yellow rosettes on in it. 100% me! I bought it and then got on http://www.fabric.com/ the next day to find some other fabrics to go with it for the ottoman and other pillows.

I chose a large gray houndstooth that had a texture like barkcloth.

Close up of the pillows.

Ottoman...I found this yellow geometric print...I was debating between this one and another one by Ty Pennington. Heber liked this one better, so I went with it. Then I remembered my sister had a roman shade made for her kitchen window, and from memory I was sure it was the same fabric. Then I was really excited, because I had seen this fabric in person and knew I would love it.

Slipcovered Ottoman...check out the matching!

Pillows with the new leather sectional and ottoman.

Side Note--- boys had their first baseball game two weeks ago. The big boys are so excited to be on the same team this year! Logan played catcher and Carter played 2nd base. Luke's just excited about getting the treats after the games.

--- Just added on a team to run the Moab relay next weekend!
--- I am currently working on 3 couches, eight chairs, 4 ottomans, some cushions and pillows....I'll have lots of pictures once I finish everything.

Daily Herald Article

2011-05-01T07:00:00.000-07:00

The Daily Herald, a local newspaper wrote an article about my slipcover business. Here's the link if you want to check it out!

White linen pillows

2011-04-27T19:43:00.000-07:00

Let me just start off by saying these pillows were quite time consuming....but well worth it. They turned out amazing. My client gave me a picture of some pillows that she wanted me to replicate.

The front one has a torn edge ruffle with a 1" cream ribbon topstitched over it. The pillow in the back has a rolled hem on both edges of the ruffle and is made out of a gauze type linen (ruffle part only). The main body is made from white linen.

Close up to show the ribbon and frayed edge.

Gauze linen ruffle...gathered and topstitched on the front of the pillow.

The ruffles for both pillows were topstitched to the front of the pillow (leaving about a half inch from the edge...so that I could attatch the back). Once the front of the pillow was finished I sewed the back onto the front...keeping the ruffle out of the way as I sewed.

Wish my pictures were better for you, so you could appreciate them as much as my client will. We used down forms in them...so they are squishy and yummy, the way pillows should be.

White Denim Wingback chair

2011-04-22T18:02:00.000-07:00

I love the before and after on this one....HUGE transformation!

Before dated old wingback in some type of velour/velvet fabric...my client's husband loves this chair and sits in it all the time. The old cushion's foam was pretty old, so we ordered a down envelope and slid the existing foam in it. So the cushion went from 3" thick to 5" thick. I thought the squishy thicker cushion helped to bring this chair up to date.

After.... she chose a white denim fabric, and we did a 3/4 length skirt to let the bottom of the legs show. She's planning on refinishing the legs.

Close up of wing.

Close up of inside arm...and those "telephone" arms...at least that's what I call them.

Outside wing.

Front

Side Note-- took the boys to Vegas for spring break. We went and checked out the Hoover Dam, swam at the pool, and went on a short hike at Red Rock.

Here we are at the Hoover Dam...pretty cool, the boys loved it. We went early, because the pool didn't open till 10 am. We decided we couldn't happily hold the boys off for two hours, so we headed to the dam.

Here are my three boys at Red Rock hiking and climbing on all the big rocks.

Three days after we got home Heber went in to get his knees scoped (they have still been hurting him a bunch since he had his ACL replaced last August). So now he is recovering and limping around. He can no longer do any of the races with me...he's pretty bummed. Me too, but he is going to come and be our driver for Wasatch Back in June.

My front room chairs

2011-04-16T12:03:00.000-07:00

I have been loving my new menswear slipcovers in the front room, but I felt like something was missing. I think it was because all my prints were small or solid. Then I remembered the second set of slipcovers I had made for my chairs years ago made of black and cream toile. I pulled them out to see if they'd work with everything else I had going on.

I thought they worked pretty well, so I am going to give my white set a break for a little while.

I had topstitched brown pom pom balls along the bottom edge.

I think the large print is what I needed for a little "wow" factor...or at least it's fun to look at something different for a bit.

Here's the whole room put together (I missed the overflowing shoe basket in the corner...that has baseball gloves, bats, and back packs piled up on it)

I messed around with my pillows for a bit...I am not sure which I like best

I even threw on the steel blue/cream houndstooth too...just to see. Any opinions? Solid, pieced, or houndstooth?

Ticking Stripe Chair

2011-04-12T20:47:00.000-07:00

This client had this old dated chair...and she bought some great ticking stripe to slipcover it in. We ordered some new wood legs for it as well, that will be coming this week. So we left the chair without a skirt so the legs will show. We chose to do a skirt on the ottoman and save some money (that way she only needed to order 4 legs instead of 8).

Chair before...great shape, but diamond blue fabric.

After...Darling gray/black ticking stripe.

Chair...I ended it with piping to show off the legs once they come.

I had to get a shot of the turquoise armoire....turquoise is on of my colors as well as green.

Another after.

My client posted about her new slipcover on her blog. Her blog is called House to Home. She's got some other great stuff on there!

-Side Note- I am heading out of town tomorrow to enjoy the 80 degree weather in Vegas with the kids for spring break! Can't wait to lounge poolside with my book...in my dreams right?

Linking up to the following...

Todays creative blog and the DIY showoff...link below.

Ruffled Fabric

2011-04-09T16:54:00.000-07:00

So today has been a lazy day...cleaned out my closet, made cookies, debated about buying a leather sectional (talked myself out of it)....we need to put a new roof on the cabin as soon as the snow melts, so I figured I'd better save my money.

I've also debated about going running in the snow, I almost talked myself into it...but here I am on the computer still in my pajamas at 5:30pm and I've been looking around in blog land at different sewing blogs. I just came across this amazing fabric....it is layers of ruffles already sewn for you!!!! Here is the link of where you can buy it ruffled fabric. It's about $15-$18/yd. It's sewn on knit backing

Just imagine...pillows, bedskirt, shower curtain, a skirt/ dress for me, etc. and how fast would it be!!! The ruffles are already done for you! They have 2" ruffles down to mini ruffles that look like 3/4".