Ikat Pillows

I found a great way to tie in the rust color from the breakfast area to the family room, since the whole first floor is open. I made new pillows from Durlee’s Kalah fabric…….. They are 20” with invisible zippers and look so good next to Mr. Dragon. If you’ve ever wondered if new pillows will make you happy, I’m here to tell you that they can !

The ottoman also got recovered in a Fabricut’s Rufus, color Nile. I’ve been a fan of animal print for as long as I can remember. Have you ever gasped when you saw a fabric ? That’s when you know you have to have it somewhere !

You may remember that I was considering the ikat for my new draperies but I decided to go with a solid peacock blue. Pillows are a great way to use pattern in a room especially if you think you may tire of it quickly. Don’t you love the ikat pillows in this room by Amanda Nisbet ?

Custom window treatments can be the single most important element in pulling together your decorating scheme. 
Contact me to provide you with up to date window treatments that you are excited about.

Imperial Trellis Pillow Giveaway

It's my birthday and I'm giving a prize to one of my lucky readers ............

A 20" Pillow made with Kelly Wearstler's Imperial Trellis fabric by Schumacher, in charcoal.

To enter:

1. Be a follower of my blog or like my FB page and leave a comment.

For additional entries:

Tweet it

Blog it

Facebook it

Leave a separate comment for each !

I'll pick a random winner on Sunday. Thanks for reading, I love you all. xoxo

P is for Pillow Placement

The ABC’s of window treatments

One of my favorite rooms to sew for has to be the bedroom because not only do I make window coverings but I also get to make bedding.  I’ve already written a post about pillows but today I wanted to talk about all the different arrangements for the pillows on your bed.

Five 22” + one 18”……………

Three 24” + two king + rectangle……………

Two queens + long rectangle………………

Two euro + two queen + one rectangle………….

                                             Image via Decor Pad

Three euro + two king…………..

                                            Image via Decor Pad

Two king + two 18” + neckroll…………….

I like all of these but I personally prefer two queen shams and one throw pillow.  I’m happy as long as it doesn’t take too long to make the bed.  How long do you think this bed takes to make ?

                           Image via Cote de Texas

Too long !

Scalamandre Leopard

A 70 year old commitment to elegance Scalamandre, is one of the world’s most prestigious fabric houses worldwide.
Known for their silks, damasks and velvets, Scalamandre has expanded their line to include contemporary fabrics, trimmings and wallpapers including new toiles, outdoor fabrics, florals, animal prints and geometrics.
Scalamandre textiles are often featured in the leading interior design projects and magazines, offering an array of choices for the most discriminating consumer.

I just finished these 24” pillows with 100% down inserts for an awesome antique dealer in town.  They have a gold colored solid silk velvet on the back and for the cording.

 

You can see the backs are gold silk velvet with zippers at the bottom.

Since I don’t have pictures of them in their new home let’s look at some images of similar pillows. 

I am crazy about Mary McDonald and her glamorous and sophisticated style. She uses a velvet leopard for pillows on her needlepoint settee in the foyer, which is decorated for Christmas in the photo below.

Image from Veranda Photo by Miguel Flores-Vianna

The room below was decorated by Palmer Weiss.  In an article by Donna Sapolin at Decorati she said, “ I make almost everyone spend more than $500 on a pillow at some point. That cost stems from the fabric; I always inject a high-end animal print into my designs-one that probably costs between $750 and $1000 a yard. We might just use a yard on a single pillow or even on just one side of a pillow.”  There’s the Scalamandre Leopard pillow on the sofa.

Image from Decorati

Here they are shown in a chic little sitting room at the 2009 DIFFA Dining By Design event.  Susan Lawton placed them on a settee, look how handsome they are !

Image from Habitually Chic

You may remember my post on the Scalamandre Tiger Silk, it’s equally as fabulous !

Now, how many would you like ?

I’ll be joining Met Monday……..

PILLOWS

It’s pillow time again !  I’ve been making pillows this week and I thought my study would be a good place to take pictures because they play so well with my pillows.

They are on their way to their new home today.  Zoe will be glad they are gone……..

PILLOWS

There are many options when making decorative pillows. The first and most obvious is the fabric choice. It’s nice to repeat your main fabric from your windows and then have some in coordinating fabrics too.

The next step is to decide what you want to trim and finish the pillow with. Your choices are to make a self or contrast welt out of fabric, brush fringe, braided cord, bullion fringe and different styles of tassel fringe.

There are many choices for the type of form to use. My favorite is 10/90, it is a blend of 10% goose down and 90% goose feathers. It’s good to use on heavier weight fabrics because the more down that is in a form the softer and more light weight it is as well as being more expensive. I like these forms because you can karate chop them and they will stay.

Polyester fiber fill is a very inexpensive alternative to feathers and down but most clump or flatten and do not hold up to use. I like to use the cluster fiber forms for bed shams because they maintain their shape.

These pillows I made for my Dad’s new room. He took the pics and sent them to me but I forgot to tell him about the “Karate Chop” !

What about you…. Do you karate chop your pillows ?

I'm linking to BNOP Metamorphosis Monday

and Cottage Instincts for Make it Monday

Technorati Tags: pillows,fringe

Throw Pillows

Don't you just love decorative throw pillows ? You can rotate them around with the seasons. I know I have a closet full of them. They can be made with a self cord if you want simple and durable or with tassel fringe or brush fringe for a dressier look. When I was at the custom home furnishing academy
they had these pillows hanging on display.
I like to use a pillow form that is 90/10 feather/down for heavy weight fabrics and 75/25 for light weight silks. They are nice and squishy.

Hope you have a great Labor Day weekend !