Neighborhood Wine Walk Event - Fun for a Great Cause!

This weekend I hosted a tasting table at our annual neighborhood Wine Walk event.  It is a great event that raises money through ticket sales and sponsorships to fund the Constable Program in our neighborhood.

There are 13 table hosts, of which I was one.  Only 200 tickets are sold to the event, and it sells out very quickly each year.

Susan's Sources booklets

Some of the hosts have area businesses, such as contractors or restaurants, and others are neighbor groups or homeowners who want to participate and host.  It is a great way to market your business in a casual and fun setting.  I had prepared some little booklets called "Susan's Sources" which included info about my business, but also trusted and high quality vendors that do a lot of work in my area:  my favorite plumber, electrician, wallpaper person, painter, upholsterer, contractor and realtor.  The attendees loved being able to take these with them for future use.








A neighbor's home hosts the event each year and they have a stunningly beautiful backyard. Located on over an acre of land in central Houston, this home's backyard is lush and also features meandering flagstone pathways whereupon our host tables are located throughout the yard.  They have a gazebo, a magnificent koi pond with a walkable bridge across it, great plantings and also a covered patio area.

Attendees enter the back yard, are given a wine glass for tasting and a list of the table hosts, locations and wines to be sampled at each, and away they go!  You just follow the pathways and go from table to table to sample and snack.  It is so much fun and the weather was terrific this year.

Attendees selecting their wine charms and checking out the "Susan's Sources" booklets
Photo courtesy of and copyrighted by Marisa D. Hoffman

Each table host provides a case of wine and some snacks for the attendees.   A neighbor friend hooked me up with some great red wine from Uruguay.  Specifically, the wine I served was Pueblo del Sol 2010 Tannat from Uruguay.  The tannat grape originated in France, but was transported to Uruguay where it has been very successful and popular.  This bottle of wine retails for about $10...so it is a good bargain and was very popular with the attendees.  My friend served the Rose' wine and also the Tannat Reserve from the same winery and they were also huge hits with everyone (thanks, Tina!).

This was my second year to host a table and my table location was in a more central area of the event, which was really great.  I think we had more people visit our table this year and it was almost non-stop pouring and chatting with old friends and meeting new ones also.

Keith was attending the University of Houston football game, so my friend Shannon helped me serve for the event and we had fun catching up before and after the event.

I read up about the wine I was serving, and learned that meats and flavorful foods bring out the flavor of this wine.  I served Ina Garten's Chipotle-Rosemary roasted nuts in little glitter cardstock cones and they were a big hit!  We really had to ration them so that we had enough to last all afternoon!  Click here for the recipe:  nut recipe here

These would make a great holiday gift in small decorative bags!  Featuring cashews, almonds, pecans and walnuts, they are a little spicy and a little sweet.  Be prepared - it makes a lot of nuts!

I made a burlap tablecloth and had some glitter pumpkins for decoration also.  Last year I gave away wine charms and did the same this year...but this year's charms were of multiple themes. There were some funny Halloween ones and some vibrant bird and butterfly ones.  It was easy to find a ton of downloads to select from on Etsy. Just by typing in "download 1.5 Halloween" a lot of choices came up and it was fun to see what was available.

The charms were a huge hit!  The third type of charm that I made were for street names in my neighborhood.  I found some editable downloads on Etsy that allowed me to type in street names in the center of each charm.  It was a great conversation starter and they were all snapped up very quickly.  Here is a photo that the event photographer took of them.  She did a great job - thank you to Marisa Hoffman!

Street name wine charms - photo courtesy of and copyrighted by Marisa D. Hoffman

 

The cheese straws were popular too and very easy to make.  These were also from the Barefoot Contessa,
Ina Garten.

Featuring puff pastry, an egg wash that is sprinkled with parmesan, gruyere, pepper and thyme, this is a simple appetizer that can be served at room temperature.  I cut the straws into thirds and placed them in little tin buckets.

Click here for the cheese straw recipe.


All in all, it was a great event and so much fun to see new neighbors and hopefully to connect with some future SK Designs clients!

Hope you enjoyed the Wine Walk blog post as much I enjoyed hosting the event.

Hope to see you soon -

Susan

A Fabric Pattern Design Dilemma Story

I recently began to work with a new long distance client.  We connected after she had already selected and purchased her fabric, so I did not know what the fabric looked like when we chatted on the phone so that I could obtain her project measurements.

It seemed to be a standard project of two pair of drapery panels with a 130" length and rod face of about 80", which would require two widths of fabric for each panel.  I confirmed her required yardage and quoted her pricing and time frame and all was well.

After I received and reviewed the fabric, I knew that this project would require some special treatment in order to provide a well-planned and beautiful finished project.

First of all, the fabric is white, with a chocolate brown graphic design.  It is a lovely pattern in a very current design that looks great.

However, since the white fabric had a dark colored design, the standard double turned hem (fabric folded in on itself twice) would allow the dark pattern to shown through the face fabric, providing an unsightly shadow and coloration.

The colorway selected

A larger view of the pattern
in a different colorway

Below you can how the bleedthrough would have looked using standard hemming methods. The pattern shadows show through to the right and left of the words "Pattern Bleedthrough". Unsightly!

To prevent this from occurring, I sewed a 5" band of white lining to the bottom of the drapery fabric.  Therefore, the face fabric was turned up once, with the lining folded inside of that, instead of the face fabric showing through.  This prevented any pattern bleedthrough, and allowed the white fabric background to remain true and clear without shadowing.  From the back of the drapery panel, the hem looks exactly as it would with the traditional method.

Lining piece pinned in place

Lining is sewn and pressed at the seam line before folding again

The white lining is folded inside

Voila! A clean hem without shadowing

The second consideration was determining pleat sizes and placement.  With a strong, graphic pattern design such as this, it is important to carefully plan the placement of the pleats, so that the center of each pleat showcases the same fabric pattern.  This allows for a continuous flow of the design, allowing the eye to gracefully move across the draperies without disruption.  If the pattern had not been considered, the pattern would have ebbed and flowed and jumped across the panel in a fractured manner.

A photo of what this fabric pattern looks like when not pleated considering the design

I seamed the two fabric widths together and began to consider the pleat sizes and placement.  After marking the positions for the overlap, pleats and spaces using traditional planning methods, I realized that the fabric pattern actually fell in such a way that the pleats would be perfectly placed on the same pattern for each pleat - great!  However, the seam between the two panels would be smack dab in the center of a pleat, which is an industry no-no.  You never want to have the seam at the forefront of a pleat because it is to obtrusive and visible.

The only way to avoid the seam-in-the-middle-of-the-pleat fiasco would be to move the pleats and spaces over 3 inches.  However, this would mean that the side hem (industry standard is 1.5" double folded) would not show the fabric pattern, but instead would show the fabric company markings and words.  Not good!

Shown: the registration markings that would have shown - not good!

 The solution was to cut 6" from the return side of the outer panel and sew 3" of it (the fabric pattern minus the selvedge) to the leading edge.  There would be a seam on the folded edge of the panel, but the pattern would be matched and no extraneous fabric company printing (such as "UP", "Kravet Fabrics" or registration marks would be seen.  Success!

The side hem after seaming the 3" fabric piece to the leading edge, ready to blind hem into place

I then made a mini sample of the drapery panel for my client that showcased two different pleat choices.  The left three pleats are Euro pleats and the right three pleats are two-finger butterfly pleats.  Both pleat styles are placed on the same pattern repeat.  The only difference is the pleat heading.  My client selected the butterfly pleat and we were ready to pleat and ship!

Below is the sample which showcases how the pattern falls on each pleat.  The symmetry looks great!

The photo below shows one of the completed panels fan-folded and ready to ship.  I love the finished product and the extra planning and consideration was well worth it.

I love the symmetry and pattern placement!

I look forward to shipping these panels out to their new home and also to seeing a photo of the completed and installed project!

Hope to see you soon!

Susan