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

Yes, it has been forEVER since my last blog post!

2018 was very busy for SK Designs; we had many wonderful client window treatment and bedding projects, attended a great drapery workroom trade show in October, added a commercial walking foot machine to our workroom, and are looking forward to 2019.

Here are a few of my favorite things from 2018:

Beautifully detailed pillows for a bed.  The green grosgrain ribbon is formed into a Greek key design on these Euro pillows and the neckroll has a reversible cummerbund wrap.

These dining room draperies remind me of liquid silver!  These panels are made from a beautiful silk fabric and feature a stunning embroidered band on the leading edge.  The trim and fabric work so well with the "oyster shell" finish of the drapery hardware.

Another gorgeous banding detail on these study drapery panels in the same beautiful home.  Bandings are very popular right now and come in wide variety of widths and styles.  They are so awesome!

One of my favorite projects of 2018 (below).  These custom arched rods complement the French blackout lined drapery panels in this stunning living room.  Love these!

The silk drapery panels below have a (sort of) funny story.  We had installed these somewhat recently and my client called me a while later to let me know that her dogs like to look out that window and they also tend to play a little in front of the arched window.  Guess what? They were playing and actually tore the fabric at the hem.  Now this was not a matter of the hem being tugged out of place; the fabric was actually split and torn!

Fortunately we were able to obtain more of the same fabric, and even more importantly, the dye lot matched perfectly!  So we replaced one width of the panel and added hold backs to keep the panels out of the way of playtime.  Mission accomplished!

 

We are in our fourth year of teaching a free after school Sewing Club at an area elementary school.  Here are a few photos from the fall semester.  Photo #1 shows some of my students.  SK Designs is also sponsoring a second Sewing Club at another school which has another great instructor (photos 2-4).

 Looking forward to a great 2019!

Sewing Club Is In The News!

The Leader Newspaper wrote an article last week about the Stevens Elementary Sewing Club.  The kids are going to think they are famous!  Here is the link to the online article and photos. 
http://theleadernews.com/stevens-elementary-students-get-creative-in-sewing-club/

Spring Projects & Updates from SK Designs



Happy Spring, everyone!  SK Designs has been very busy this Spring with client projects, continuing education, volunteer projects and outdoor projects too...you will see a little of each of those things in this blog post.

 

In 2014, we created a layered sheer and drapery treatment on an arched rod for a beautiful master bathroom with an arched window and ceiling.  The photo of that project is below.

 

 

That client had recently changed the wall treatment to a gorgeous black (yes, black!) wallpaper on a couple of walls, including the wall behind the bathtub.  Another wall in this gorgeous room has black textured wallpaper with sparkling crystals in it...it is stunning!  She wanted to replace the arched drapery panels but use the existing custom rod, which we did.  Here is the completed project, below.

 

Isn't it lovely?  The dramatic dark background is just beautiful.  I love the rug also...and it is sparkly!  After we installed the panels, we realized there might be times where the homeowner would like to have more light in the room from that beautiful window, but still want privacy.  So we are going to add a semi-sheer treatment behind the panels, and the existing drapery panels will be held back with these very glam, layered holdbacks.  They will be the perfect complement to the crystal knobs and pulls on the cabinetry. The smaller starfish style holdback actually stacks on top of the silver and crystal one, for added dimension and sparkle. I love these!   

 

 

Wait until you see the selected fabric for the under sheers - you will have to be patient and see them in a future blog and after they are installed. 

 

SK Designs also replaced existing drapery panels in the adjacent master bedroom.  This is also a gorgeous room!  We will be replacing the sheers next.

 

  

Another new client wanted stationary silk drapery panels for her dining room, which will be hung on decorative metal hardware.  I proposed stationary roman shades for the side windows also, to fill in the space above those windows also, and to utilize her remaining fabric from her upholstered dining chair seats. 

 

I created a rendering showing both options - with and without the shade, so she could visualize the difference and make her choice.  

 

 

She selected the option with the roman shade :). This will add visual height and make use of the existing complementary fabric. 

 

Another recent project had a great result.  It was for traversing drapery panels for a music room.  The wall treatment and decorative (and functional) musical instruments make this a striking room! 

 

 

We lined the drapery panels in blackout lining and bump interlining, which is a very heavy interlining.  This will help reduce sound from permeating outside of the room.  We took careful measurements and planned the length of the draperies and the location of the drapery hardware so that it fit on the top strip of the horizontal wood wall treatment.  It looks great!

 

In addition to a wonderful variety of client projects this year, I attended a drapery workroom fabricator's conference in February which was held in Charlotte, North Carolina.  It was the first time in many years that I attended an event as an attendee, and did not have any teaching or coordinating responsibilities.  It was a delight!  It was so much fun to see so many colleagues and friends all in one place again.

 

One of my favorite classes was by Penny Bruce, who owns a terrific drapery business in England.  She taught a class on Pleating on Design and showcased many photo examples of how fabric can look very different depending on the pleat locations.  The photo below shows the same fabric which is pleated in two different locations in the pattern repeat.  It is amazing how different the end result is and how much that determination can change the look of a treatment.

 

 

Last fall, I began teaching an after school Sewing Club class at a local public elementary school.  I contacted the school principal to see if they would be interested in offering this class, and she happily agreed.  We have 5 students (4 girls and 1 boy) from the fourth and fifth grades.  We had a waiting list of 50 interested students - oh my!  Classes started in October and we kept the same students into this semester, and will finish in May.

 

Their first project was to learn some hand sewing skills.  They selected a fabric and their choice of buttons, and sewed them using an embroidery hoop and designated markings for each hour of a clock.  Then we added a clock mechanism, so they have their own personal embroidery-hoop-clock!  They were so excited to be able to keep their projects and take them home.

 

 

We have also made a pillowcase with banding, a drawstring bag, a reading pillow (a pillow with a large pocket on the front to hold a book) with carrying strap, and an apron with contrast pocket, rickrack detail and ribbon sash.

 

 

This week we took the kids on a field trip to Joann Fabrics so that they could select fabrics, trim and thread of their choice for their Mother's Day project.  They had a great time picking out things that they thought their mothers will like.  It was so much fun; I think I might have had more fun than they did.

 

 



This wonderful spring weather has had me (finally) motivated to work in the yard.  I found two vintage sewing machine bases and have turned them into planters (thank you, Pinterest!)  This one is outside of my studio, and has a Sherwin Williams antique wooden box attached for the planter. 





The photo at right shows the Singer sewing machine base that is on my front porch. 

I hope you have enjoyed the latest activities and updates from SK Designs - hope to hear from you soon!    Susan