How to Make a Simple Fabric Headboard If your headboard is a little old and worn, or clashes with a fresh color scheme, you can quickly give it a new look with a tie-on or slip-on fabric cover. Simple fabric headboard covers can be made in half the time needed to re-upholster a padded […]
Fabric Design Inspired by Life and Living Mariota Percival’s love of colour, pattern, shapes and themes are combined into creations that use paint, collage, recycled scraps of fabric, applique embroidery. Her inspiration is derived from her travels and her view of life around her, with ideas that she has drawn from numerous sources.
How to Make An Elegant Tieback By catching the curtains back at just the right height, tiebacks pull the curtain fabric into an attractive sweep and allow natural light into the room. Wide, full curtains drape into deep scoops of fabric, while narrow drapes are given an elegant form when tied back against the
Make Your Own Covering For Lace Windows Looking after lace When making lace windows then you must treat lace fabrics in the same way as you would other home furnishings by laundering according to fiber content. Most heavy lace fabrics are cotton or cotton based and substantial enough to withstand a delicate cycle wash in
Mariota Percival Art – Artist of Many Talents Available for Commissions The Mariota Percival art paintings and designs are inspired by the environment in which she has lived and traveled. She grew up in a creative family, in the gentle countryside of Lions River, in the KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) Midlands of South Africa. Her childhood
How to Make Fabric Covered Plates Fabric covered plates, grouped together on a wall, make a magnificent display. They are also a perfect way of giving odd or slightly damaged plates a new lease of life while showing off your favorite scraps of fabric. If you do not have any scraps around the house,
How to Reupholster a Drop-in Seat You can reupholster a dining chair with a drop-in seat easily and smarten up and made to match new furnishings with a change of cover. Choose an elegant damask or needlepoint fabric for a formal effect, or a pretty floral for something fresh. As long as the fabric
How to Make Double Frilled Cushions Perfect Gathering 1 – Heavy fabric If for your frilled cushions you have chosen fabric that is medium to heavy weight, the long gathering threads may break when they are pulled up. Stitch the gathering rows in short sections and position the rows on either side of any seams.
How to Make A Frilled Cushion Cushions, and a frilled cushion are the most versatile of home furnishings. They are synonymous with comfort, color and style. Wherever they are placed, cushions have an immediate softening impact. Yet by trimming cushions in one of a variety of ways, they can be specially tailored to
How to Make a Cockerel Collage Collect your fabric scraps together, and create a colorful cockerel collage of a farmyard favorite. Our lively rooster, set against a background of bead-strewn millet and blue sky, looks larger than life and ready to crow. His plumage is composed of layers of black velvet and net, with
How to Make an Embroidered Gingham Tablecloth Lay the kitchen table with a stunning embroidered gingham tablecloth and give mealtimes a lift. The fabric is a red-and white-check, which is perfect for a country style home, with an embroidered zigzag border and geometric center piece for a special finishing touch. A geometric embroidered design
How to Make a Webbing Cushion Here is how to make a webbing cushion cover. Just a hint of color peeps out from between these bands of simple cotton webbing, providing an understated, but stunning webbing cushion cover. The natural colorway will blend into any color scheme and the small spots of color can
How To Make New Cushions From Old Clothes Favorite old garments that have become worn and stained in parts, or simply outmoded over the years, need not be thrown away, but can be recycled to make a range of comfy cushions from old clothes. The cushions’ muted shades and soft, aged textures will look
How to Make Buttoned Cushions We just love these buttoned cushions. Buttoning gives gusseted cushions the appearance of over-stuffed luxury, making the cushions look deeper and therefore more comfortable. The buttons, which are usually covered with fabric, can be added to most types of cushions, from simple scatter cushions to deep gusseted chair seats.
How To Make Piped Cushions Easily Piped Cushions are one of the simplest soft furnishings to sew and one of the quickest ways to update an existing scheme – either by introducing a new color or a new style. Piped or frilled, lace-edged or bordered, each finish will give a different character to a
A Few Curtain Making Basics Parts of curtain making basics are curtains, pelmets and valances that transform a room. To be really effective, they need to be planned carefully. Even using curtains on their own gives a variety of different effects, depending on the fullness and length of the curtains, the heading tape used,
Make Your Own Headings For Lace Windows How To Make a Cased Heading For Lace Windows Decide where the rod or fitment is to be hung and then measure the depth of the window from the sill to the top of the rod. Measure the circumference of the rod, add between 1-3cm (3/8 – 1
Hand-crafted Tapestry & Crochet Rugs In front of a Blazing fire or beside a bed, a richly colored, hand-made crochet rugs add an aura of comfort and luxury. It is a welcoming sight in a hallway, where it softens the look of practical flooring or in a small landing or narrow corridor where it
All About Lace Panels Until very recently sheer curtains were chiefly about privacy. They veiled a household from the prying eyes of passers-by, while allowing a diffused light to filter in through the window. To these traditional virtues, another security value can be added: the would-be burglar will find it difficult to survey the
How to Make a Rug Cushion This sumptuous cushion stitched in dark muted shades looks great set against a luxurious, plain backdrop. The central canvas work panel is given its raised surface by using velvet stitch. When textured stitches, like the velvet stitch, are used in geometric designs, the patterns edges seem to blur
How to Make Rag Rugs This is how we make rag rugs. It’s hard to imagine that this impressive rug could have been made from fabric scraps, but the pile is simply constructed from narrow strips of fabric hooked through an open-weave canvas. As the name suggests, rags were always used in the past
How to Make Padded Picture Frames Simple padded picture frames are one of the easiest home accessories to make. With a small amount of fabric and scraps of card, you can make up a set in no time at all. They look best made in several sizes, and grouped together in a display on
How to Make Paper Window Curtains in 6 Easy Steps These Paper Window Curtains are used as a sun screen and will keep a room cool, with the pattern attractively reflected into the room. It is also a pretty way of providing privacy. The paper window curtains are easy to make and can be
How To Make Your Own Painted Tulip Napkins Painting motifs on to fabric, then working simple embroidery stitches over them is a pretty way of making your table napkins totally original. Use this tulip motif or choose a favorite flower and paint it on a plain napkin, adding embroidery stitches to highlight or define
Make Your Own Fabric Shelves Making fabric shelves is easy, here is how to make your own. For storing piles of folded soft towels and sweaters, there is nothing quite so pretty and unconstrained as this floral hanging shelf unit. The unit is made from fabric, which is pleated to form the shape. The
How To Stencil – Get Started This is how to stencil the easy way. For your first attempt at stenciling, choose a project that is small and unlikely to cause grief if it doesn’t turn out well, but will be attractive enough to show off if it does; a little tray would be an
Festive Fabric Seasonal Trimmings Save Money Making your own festive fabric decorations for Christmas can be tremendous fun, and will save you lots of money on expensive shop-bought baubles. The designs featured here are all made from fabrics in striking red and white, with an occasional splash of green and blue. The beauty of festive
Block Printing on Fabric Fabric printing has been practiced since antiquity, notably in India, Egypt, and China. Throughout the centuries it has evolved from a simple process of pressing inked wood blocks on cloth into modern high-speed textile printing by sophisticated photo-mechanical processes, requiring the combined skills of designers, artists, chemists, and machinists. Mass
A Craft Born of Frugality—Quilting and Patchwork The Start Of Quilting Quilting was carried to Europe in the Middle Ages by the Crusaders, who returned with quilting from the Middle East with padded linings for their armor—sandwiches of two layers of fabric with thick filling between, all stitched together. During the l4th century Europe’s
Collage – A contemporary art form Collage, from the French verb coller (“to glue”) is the general term for an artistic arrangement of various materials glued to a surface. See the collage “Cosmos” left by artist Diane Cadrain. Just about any material-fabric, wood, metal can be used in making collages. When more than one type
All About Batik and How to Make One This fantastic Batik created by Joanne Gigliotti won First prize in the First American Bank Batik Design competition 2011. It is entitled “Sun Rises from the East and Lights the West: America Completes the Circle” Waxing, Dyeing, and Ironing Batik The drawings on this page illustrate the
How to Do Tie-dyeing Tie-dyeing is a simple process. Areas of the fabric are tied off in accordance with your design. (“Tying” is a general term that includes knotting and sewing.) The fabric is then dyed and rinsed, and the ties are removed. The tied areas resist the dye and remain the color of
