Master Bedroom - Roomspiration Continues

Today Roomspiration continues over at Just a Touch of Gray with Master Bedrooms.  

In honor of Roomspiration, here is a tour of my master bedroom.

 The color scheme in my bedroom is bronze, ivory and robin's egg blue.

The bench at the foot of the bed I reupholstered (pre-blog).  It was a simple way of updating a waterfall bench I already had.

I love the idea of painting ceilings, so my ceiling is painted robin's egg blue.  I also wanted a chandelier in my bedroom, but needed a ceiling fan.  This was the perfect combination.

Here is an example of combining high end with low end.  The robin's egg blue fabric is from Calico Corners and was $89.99/yard.  I bought 1 1/2 yards of fabric and matching trim and made these two pillows and some other accessories for the room.  The bronze pillows and neck roll and from Target. When put together everything looks high end. 

On this side of the room we have a little sitting area.

The chair is a floor model from Calico Corners.  I talked them down a couple hundred dollars and put this beauty in the back of my car.   Great deal + Instant gratification = happy me!!

 Now it's your turn.  Head on over to Just a Touch of Gray and link up your master bedroom. 

I can't wait to check out all of your wonderful bedrooms.

Have a great weekend!

-Judy

How to Sew a Blind Hem

Earlier in the week I shared with you a tutorial on how to sew pinch pleat lined drapes.
When sewing my drapes I wanted them to look as professional as possible.  One of the ways I achieved this was to sew a blind hem on my drapes.

What is a blind hem?  A blind hem is a stitch that is barely visible from the right side of the fabric.  The best part is that it is easier than you would think.  If you can sew a straight line, you can sew a blind hem.

Ideally you would start with the blind hem foot that came with your sewing machine.  Here is what the foot looks like from the back...

...and the front.  If you are unsure which foot is the blind hem stitch foot, just refer to the owners manual for your machine.  Most machines come with this type of foot.  If you don't have this foot you could still do it, you would just have to guide yourself carefully to keep the line straight.

Next select the blind hem stitch on your machine.  On mine it is #17.  See how the stitch looks...that is typically the universal symbol for the blind hem stitch.

For the hem...I folded my fabric up two inches and pressed it into place.  

Then I folded it another four inches and pressed it for the final hem.  Then I pinned it into place.

Now if you were to sew the hem with a straight stitch the stitches would be visible from the front, even if you used the same color thread.  

Here comes the important part...Take your hem and fold it back as shown above.  You want there to be about 1/4" of the hem to sew on as shown.

Next, line up the fabric under your blind hem stitch foot.  Notice how the fold is lined up with the cut out part of the foot.  

I used green thread so that you could easily see the stitches.  For my actual drapes I used an off-white thread so that it completely disappeared.  Notice how only each sixth stitch catches the fold to the left.

This is all you would see from the front of the fabric (see the green dots).

Here's what the blind hem looks like on the actual drapes that are now hanging in my guest bedroom.  That's a super up-close photo.  When standing in the room you cannot see any stitches and even up close all you see is some faint dots.

It's as simple as that.  I hope now that you know how easy it is, you too will try to sew a blind hem on your next project.

I always love and appreciate your comments.  Have a great day!

-Judy

Fall into Fall - It's a Party #33

Well it's officially fall, so it was time to rename the party.  Welcome to Fall into Fall.  Last week's party, as always, was filled with inspiration.  Here are my features for this week:

I am in love with this secretary make-over done by Three Pixie Lane.  The color combination is just beautiful.

  How clever of Junkin Junky to transform a cutlery chest into a remote control holder.  

You must go and check out the tutorial done by Crazy Wonderful to create this leaning wall mirror.  

What Fall party would be complete without highlighting a Fall entryway? 

 This one was done by Ciao! Newport Beach.

Looking for an easy but beautiful Fall craft? How about these monogramed pumpkins done by At The Picket Fence.  Stop by their blog to get the scoop on how Heather created these. 

If you were featured, please grab an "I've Been Featured" button (you can now find my buttons by clicking on the buttons tab right under my header).  Now let's get started with this week's party.  I can't wait to see what you have been up to.  Link up anything you have been working on...home decor, sewing, crafts, organizing, baking, recipes etc.     I will keep this link open through Friday.

Before we get started, don't forget to stop by a la mode tomorrow for the next leg of Roomspiration...Nurseries.  

A few rules:

1.  Please become a follower.  

2.  Please grab my party button above and display it either on your sidebar or somewhere in your post.  This way word can spread about the party.  The more people at the party, the more fun we will have.

3.  Please enter the link to your actual post, not just a link to your main blog page.

4. Please visit others who have linked up.   Everyone works hard on their projects and blogs...let's show each other some love by visiting each other.  Let's have some fun and hopefully make a few new friends along the way.

Ok...Let's Party

--Judy

How to Make Lined Pinch Pleat Drapes

 I am so excited to share this tutorial with you.  My fabric arrived last week and I spent one whole evening sewing drapes for my guest bedroom.

It all started when I found this awesome fabric at Calico Corners.

Image from Calico Corners

I fell in love with the fabric and ordered six yards on the spot to make new drapes for my guest bedroom.

I started by rolling out the fabric and cutting the fabric to the length I needed.  I determined this length by measuring from the existing rod to the floor.  In my case the finished length of the drapes would be 85".  I added 6" for the bottom hem and 4 inches for the top for a total of 95".  After cutting the first 95" length I took the fabric and laid it over the cut piece and lined up the pattern and cut a second 95" length for the second panel.  This way I made sure I would end up with two identical panels with the pattern lining up.

For the lining I bought two flat sheets from Walmart for $5.00 each.  Flat sheets work so well for several reasons.  First of all they were a much more cost effective option.  Second, the flat sheet already comes hemmed.  I ironed both sheets.

Next step...the bottom hem.  I started by folding the fabric up 2" and ironing it.  Next I folded the fabric up an additional 4" for the bottom hem.  Then, for a professional look,  I blind-stitched the hem.  I will do a tutorial on blind-stitching later in the week. It was the first time I did one, and let me tell you, it made a world of difference to the final product.  

Next it was time to add the lining.  I laid the lining (the flat sheet) with right sides facing together.  

I pinned the lining on the sides and on the top making sure to leave approximately two inches at the bottom.  I then sewed along all three sides.  Then turn the drapes back to the right side and press the sides and top flat.

As you can see, the flat sheet already has the perfect hem.  One less step...yay!!

I was now ready for the pinch pleats.  A few years ago I bought this pleater tape from JoAnn's always wanting to try this on drapes.  I figured this was the perfect opportunity.  It worked awesome.  All I did was place it near the top of my drape, measuring from the hook to ensure the proper length.  I then sewed it on the top and the bottom making sure not to sew over any of the openings for the hooks.

Then I inserted the pleater hooks.  The pleater hooks have four "fingers".  I skipped every other pocket for each finger and then skipped two pockets in between each hook.  Then I pushed the fingers in as far as they would go.

Then, I fixed the pleats to line them up exactly.  I then pressed the pleats to help them keep their shape.

Finally I sewed each group of pleats together using heavy duty thread.  I only put two or three stitches in each group of pleats.

Then I simply hung the hooks over my curtain rod.  These are dummy panels so they won't be moving.  If you have a transverse rod, you would have the hooks in the traverse rod and then you could open and close the drapes.

This was the first time I have ever made lined drapes and the first time I made pleated drapes.  It was time consuming, but really not difficult at all.  If you can sew a straight line you can make these drapes.

You can see how the pattern lines up in the photo.  Make sure to cut both panels of fabric at the same time to ensure the finished patterns line up.  

I am so happy with the end result.  They add so much life to my guest room.

I hope you will try this.  If you have any questions, please feel free to e-mail me.  I'd be happy to help you.

Don't forget to stop back tonight for my weekly linky party.  The link opens at 8pm EST.  

Hope to see you then.

-Judy


Partying with  Freckled Laundry

Kids Bedrooms

Roomspiration continues today over at All Things Bright and Beautiful with kids bedrooms.  I have a son and a daughter.  In honor of Roomspiration today, here is a tour of both of their bedrooms:

My daughter's room was updated a few months back on a budget.

I made the bedskirt and the euro pillows as well as the neck rolls.

The chair was reupholstered.  It started out looking like this:

I think everyone had a glider chair like this.  

Big transformation and so much less money than a new chair.

I recently found a desk and chair on Craigslist for $30.  Using AS Chalk Paint I transformed the desk and chair and reupholstered the chair with fabric I had on hand.

The wall in her room was stenciled by me.  It took five hours but the end result was worth all of the hard work.  You can check out how I did it here.

Here is my son's room.  Clearly a baseball fan, his room definitely has a sports theme. 

This was his room about four years ago.  We were in transition from his toddler years Pooh room to a sports room.  He didn't want to totally get rid of the mural my brother painted until he was ten when he was finally ready to let us paint over it.  The side table was an unfinished piece of furniture from AC Moore which I painted and added baseball knobs.  All pre-blog...imagine that.

My husband and my son are visiting all of the MLB baseball stadiums.  At each stadium they collect a baseball for his case.

I sewed the valance for his window.  I wanted it to look like pennants to go with the sports theme.  

Here's a close up of the table I painted for his room.

I headed over to link up my kid's bedrooms.  I hope you will stop by All Things Bright and Beautiful and link up your kid's rooms too.

Hope to see you there!

-Judy