Slipcovers - casual and dressy

I recently completed two slipcover projects for a client.  The below two photos were taken in front of a white fabric backdrop in my workroom.

The first project incorporated a coffee theme for the four chairs at her breakfast table.  We added padded and ruffled chair skirts to the seats and a padded mini-slip to the top of the chair. 

The top slip has a small fold and button accent at the back and ties which coordinate with the ties on the chair seats.

We also made six slipcovers for her dining room chairs.  She wanted a decorative "waistband" wrap that would work well throughout the year but could also be dressed up for the holidays.

The overall slipcover is lined and interlined in the top section, to add softness and to prevent the wooden frame and slats from being seen or felt through the slipcover.  If the chairs are used often, the imprint of the slats can sometimes eventually be seen on the slipcover, so I wanted to prevent that as much as possible.

The skirt has bouillion trim at the hem and pleats at each corner.

  For most of the year, the pleated sash/waistband will be used, which features 5 covered buttons and fabric loops on each side of the chair.  The waistband section for the waistband is a solid fabric which was pleated on the back, and embroidered and embellished on the reverse side of the pleated back. 



The pleated back waistband segment is reversible, with the reverse side featuring a custom embroidery design with a mirror image layout.  The leaves and holly berries are stitched in several thread colors, including metallics. 

I hand beaded some gold, silver and ruby colored beads onto the design for a bit of shimmer and elegance for the holidays.

The holidays are coming up and these simple and beautiful details are the perfect complement to holiday decorating!

Susan





Bright, Beaded & Embroidered

This wonderful pre-teen girl's room is bright, fun and fresh, don't you think?  I love the bright combinations of hot pink and bright orange, accented with crisp whites and a mix of solid fabrics, patterned fabrics and custom embroidery, accented with beaded trim.

The custom padded and gathered headboard has a hot pink center panel with gathered orange fabric around the edges.  Two different colorways of the same fabric are used on the quilted-on-design bedspread, with the bright orange colorway taking center stage.  The wide expanse of windows on the side of the bed have existing shutters; pleated orange woven sheer panels hang underneath the valance with a shaped and corded hem.  A solid hot pink fabric overlay features a custom embroidered initial as an accent and contrast.

Across the room on the angled wall is a set of working French doors.  We added French-blackout lined working roman shades in a fun swirling fabric pattern, which are accented with beaded trim at the hem.  The same type of pleated orange woven sheers flank the doors.  Above is an operable door valance which allows the doors to be opened for access to the outdoors.  Again, the pink fabric overlay features embroidery as an accent.

It is difficult to see in the photo, but there is a single orange bead sewn to the lower swirl of the "J" embroidery on the overlay.  I love unexpected finishing touches on custom treatments.  The same swirled fabric from the roman shades is used as microcording on the overlay.

A coordinating orange cheetah pattern fabric covers the two large shams at the head of the bed.  These shams are accented with a gathered ruffle in the hot pink patterned fabric used on the bedspread.  An additional neckroll accent pillow showcases more embroidery, microcording, contrast fabrics and ribbon ties.

The stitching-on-design pattern is clearly shown in the photo below.

An antique carved wooden chair is used in the room at the student desk.  In order to maintain the integrity of the current upholstery which was in good shape, but coordinate the chair with the new room's furnishings, a custom chair skirt and seat back cover was made.  The back cover was made to highlight the carving and shape at the top of the chair, so the shaping accentuates the lines of the carving.  Contrast microcording and ties marry all of the fabrics together.  The front of the chair slipcover uses the bright pink floral colorway, while the back shows off the bright orange patterned fabric.  The orange cheetah fabric is used for the ties and microcording.  A flirty hot pink gathered skirt contrasts with the orange seat fabric, for a fun combination.

This lampshade had been in use in another room of the house, but was the perfect size for the student desk in the room. 

I removed the bead trim, eyelash fringe, edge banding and zebra fabric.  Since the hot pink trim worked well with the new room colors, I wanted to reuse it in the new lampshade.  The lining of the shade was also in good shape, so I left that in place.

Continuing the use of mixed patterns in the room, I covered half of the lampshade in the bright pink floral and half in the orange floral.  I had exactly the right amount of orange bead trim left on hand from the roman shade hems, so I applied that to the lampshade hem, and the added the pink bead trim on top of that for a double layer of dangling beads. 

I purchased some orange woven ribbon and made small casual loops across the top of the beaded trim banding and added a tiny pink ribbon across the center of the loops.

At the top of the shade, I reused the pink bead trim and covered the top of the ribbon with an orange ribbon sash accented with a braid of the tiny pink ribbon across the center.  Again, the top of the shade features casual ribbon loops for the finishing touch.

Don't you wish you had had such a fun, creative and inspiring room when you were a girl?  I love this room and hope you do too!