SK Designs - 2019 UPDATE!

SO very much has been happening with SK Designs this year - here's a long overdue update!

Awards & More:

SK Designs received the Best of Houzz 2019 Service award - we are excited!

Our area neighborhood newspaper, The Leader,  presents annual awards to area businesses.  These awards are voted on in various categories (restaurants, service providers, shops, and more) by area residents, which makes this awards very special and appreciated.  Our area neighbors and clients voted SK Designs the 1st Place Award Winner for our category! 

In the window treatment fabrication industry, the CWC (Custom Workroom Conference) event is THE event dedicated to businesses like mine who fabricate custom fabric treatments (including slipcovers and upholstery).  I have happily attended two of the past events, and it is a great format geared specifically to workrooms, and the camaraderie and friendships and fun are an added bonus to the classes which are taught by industry leaders.  The showroom floor features plenty of vendors and suppliers to keep us up to date with the latest products, machines and supplies that will benefit us in our daily work. 

I am thrilled, honored and humbled to have been selected as the

Keynote Speaker for the September 2019 event in North Carolina! I will be speaking about teaching sewing to the new younger generation (children) in an effort to promote sewing skills for our future workrooms.  As many of you know (and as shown below), I have taught a free after school Sewing Club class at an area Title 1 school (and sponsor the same class at another area school), and have given Sewing Camp classes to neighborhood kids in my area on occasion also.  I can't wait to share my experiences with the 200+ attendees at this fabulous event!


Getting ready for the CWC event's marketing materials meant it was time for an updated headshot (long overdue for my website also!) and as usual, my favorite professional photographer came to my rescue and took photos in my studio.  If you need a great photographer for events, family photos, headshots, mini-sessions,  newborn photographs, etc., I highly recommend Brandy Stoesz Photography at www.brandystoesz.com. I really dislike getting headshots done and she made it painless and stress free! www.brandystoesz.com

Besides all of the above exciting news, SK Designs has completed numerous fun and gorgeous client projects.  This casual and relaxed slipcover for a settee is just one of them. We left the arms and legs bare to showcase the pretty wood frame.

 This soft functioning London Shade has deep folds with a soft curving hem and short tails on the sides.

 This stationary (non-functioning) London shade has soft curves.  The fabric is actually turned sideways from the standard direction, so that we could utilize the pattern better.  I pinned it in place in a couple of directions for the client to choose from.  Sometimes the fabric tells you what it needs and this worked out great.  The horizontal stripes at the folds and sides reminds me of epaulets on a soldier's uniform.  The symmetry is great and I love this completed treatment. This fabric is from Anthony George Home.






Okay, I know that this is a long blog post! But I have to share a few more things with you, including a sampling of new fabric books and a pair of fabrics for an upcoming order.  These embroidered fabrics with a pop of color are awesome together!

We finished our fourth year of Sewing Club at Stevens Elementary.  The students were so awesome (as usual).  We had our graduation party in late May and the students received two sewing books, some sewing materials (zippers, fabric, batting, ribbon and more).  But the gift they all liked the best was the custom Shutterfly book which included photos of them and their projects throughout the year.  The Leader newspaper also featured a story about the kids this year (thank you Elizabeth Villareal!) and they just loved the attention and were so excited to be "famous"!









It is always bittersweet to end the
year of Sewing Club (but I am happy to get my Tuesday afternoons back for client work!) after such a successful term with the kids.  Here are a couple of photos of our group at the end of the year (missing one student) and a photo of the reaction of the kids when they reviewed their custom photo book.  SO CUTE!

I did hold one Sewing Camp this summer for some returning students (these students have now taken 2, 3 and 4 Sewing Camps).  We had a blast with these new projects: a bean bag chair, a zippered cell phone wristlet, and two cell phone charger pockets (one to keep and one to give!)  They were terrific, fun, focused and excited to learn more about sewing.  Great job, girls!

If you have made it this far in the blog post, then you get a virtual cookie!  But even better than a virtual cookie are these awesomely decorated and also delicious custom cookies made for me by my super talented neighbor, Barbara Ballance.  Her cookies are legendary in Garden Oaks!  She made some cookies for my Sewing Club students and they were so fun and creative, and the pins in the pincushion cookies looked real! 


The photo below shows a sample of the SK Designs "Thank You" cookies she made for me recently.  I LOVE THEM!

Want some of these cookies?  You have two great ways to get some:  1) contact Barbara at ballancehousecookies@gmail.com (no website yet).  I give her free reign and they always exceed expectations) or 2) contact me at SK Designs to schedule your in-home consultation and I will bring you some cookies at our appointment!



Thank you for reading!  Hope you enjoyed this long overdue update!!

Susan

Raised Swag with Bling - inspired by Houzz

I have been busy lately and will be adding numerous posts about my recent projects.  This post is about the guest bedroom for some new clients who were such a pleasure to work with!  The client's mom contacted me about providing window treatments for all of the couple's new home's windows and they were great to work with from the word "go".  The client provided me with numerous inspiration photos from Houzz, along with photos of their existing bedding or furniture, so that I could bring ideas and fabrics that would work well with her initial ideas.

We decided on ALL of the styles and fabrics for all eight rooms in one appointment - whew!  It was great fun to select everything all at once and get the fabric, trim and hardware orders rolling in.

This post is about the guest bedroom project.  Below is the photo of the existing bedding that we would coordinate with for the window treatment.

The inspiration photo showed a raised swag with contrast cascades and choux which were accented with large faceted faux crystals.  I love this treatment and in the inspiration photo, you can see the proportions are perfect for the window, and the fabric pattern repeat matches on the shower curtain and the cascades - design perfection by Pamela DeCuir Interior Designs, with flawless fabrication by Design by Evelyn!

Design by Pamela DeCuir Interior Designs; Fabrication by Design by Evelyn

I made a mockup of the treatment in my workroom, to check the proportions and make sure the swag fold would drape well in both the bottom folds and the lifted folds.

We selected an embroidered fabric for the main fabric, with contrast dark cream for the cascades and medium blue for the microcording on the cascade seam.

Here is the finished treatment at installation:

The husband was home during install and took photos to send to his wife as we went from room to room, so she could see how the project was going.  When she arrived home, she sent me the sweetest email stating that she ran from room to room, so excited to see each project and how well they complemented each room.  

I will be posting photos of the rest of their treatments soon - keep watching!

Susan