Opulent Cottage

Mixed Print Pillowcase Tutorial

Who's ready to make some cute new pillowcases for spring?

As promised yesterday, here's a quick tutorial for cheery spring pillowcases. You'll be so glad you tried this super-simple method. While it took some time to figure out my yardage and sizing with the first one, once done, the second pillowcase was sewn and finished in 15 minutes. You'll be whipping these up in droves! Honestly, it took me longer to type this tutorial than it did to make each pillowcase. 

First, wash and dry your fabric. Do not use fabric softener -- it can gum up your sewing machine! This is sometimes the cause of skipped stitches, also. Iron your fabric before you do any cutting.

Next you'll need to decide what size you want your pillowcase to be. I just measured an old one and decided on 20 inches by 38 inches (king size). I figured on finished measurements of approximately 34 inches for the main piece, 4 inches for the outside edge, and a one inch middle trim that would overlap the large piece. So I cut:

35 inches by 41 inches for the main body of pillowcase

2-1/2 inch by 41 inch strip for middle trim

9 inch by 41 inch strip for outside edge

My main fabric was only 41 inches wide, which I didn't figure out until I had already cut the length. I got lucky and it fit even though the pillowcase measured only 19-1/2 inches wide when finished. When did 44/45 inch fabric start measuring 41 inches anyway? Unlike me, you might want to check yours before you ever start cutting :) Luckily there is a good amount of wiggle room on something as simplistic as a pillowcase.

Iron the middle strip in half lengthwise and lay it neatly along the edge of the main piece. You can pin it in place temporarily, if that's more comfortable for you. 

Iron one edge of the outside strip in about 1/4 inch. Lay the unironed edge atop the middle strip and pin all three layers together. Sew a 1/4 inch seam through the layers. 

Iron the seam toward the outside edge.

Fold the pillowcase in half, wrong sides together. Sew a 1/4 inch seam along the long edge and inside edge. Unfold the outside 1/4 inch ironed edge before you sew. Press.

Turn pillowcase inside out, folding the corners neatly to make a crisp corner. If you need to, carefully use a pin to pull the corner out. Make sure you don't pull the threads all the way through though!

Now sew a 3/8 inch seam, encasing the first seam within. You just made a French seam! No frayed edges on our fancy pillowcases! I mostly did this so that I didn't have to get the serger out,  but it really does make a nice finish.

Turn right side out and press. Fold outside edge in to meet seam inside and pin. You can pin it from the inside, like this --

Or the outside, if you feel comfortable with it. Just make sure that you line up the pressed edge exactly with the seam inside, so that all edges will be encased when you topstitch. 

Topstitch close to the seam, catching the folded edge underneath.

But! Don't sew over your pins! I worked for a sewing center years ago, and trust me -- bad things can happen! Go as slowly as you need to, and remove each pin as you come up to it.

All edges are now encased and will stay fray-free! Press pillowcase when done. 

That's it! Go make a whole stack of pillowcases for yourself! Talk about a great way to use up your stash. 

Im joining:

Yvonne for Tutorials Tips and Tidbits at StoneGable

Courtney for Feathered Nest Friday at French Country Cottage

Cindy for Show and Tell Friday at My Romantic Home

Heart Shaped Rag Wreath

Looking for a last-minute Valentine's Day decoration? Here is an easy, fun project that can be made with just one item from the dollar store -- shop towels! You will need a couple of wire hangers, also.

The original post with directions can be found here. This project took under an hour, and only cost $2 to make. The homespun look of the linen-like shop towels is so charming and sweet!

This wreath is being featured on Budget Decorating at About.com! Thanks to editor Tonya Lee for featuring this and many other great, simple Valentine's Day projects.

I'm joining:

Yvonne's Tutorials Tips and Tidbits at StoneGable

Cindy's Show and Tell Friday at My Romantic Home

p.s. Opulent Cottage is now on Facebook! You'll find my badge on the top right sidebar. Or just go here. I would love it if you would stop by and "like" me!!

Happy New Year! and a Recap of 2012 Projects

Wow, it's 2013! Happy New Year everyone! What did y'all do? We had a nice, quiet evening at home, watched the ball drop in New York and then the massive fireworks at Victory Park here in Dallas. It was perfect.

You may have noticed that I haven't been around much. The end of 2012 turned out to be kind of exhausting for us, and I just had to say stop the madness and have everybody take a break! Oh well, some years are just a little off, and this was one of them. But we're rested and refreshed now, and I'm ready for a new year of sharing projects and inspiration with you all!

To start this year, I thought I would share some projects that we did in 2012. Starting in January, we perked up our front porch with a found potting bench, and enjoyed a gorgeous evening outside during some really nice weather. You gotta love Dallas for those 70 degree days in winter!

In February, I finally slipcovered some slipper chairs that I have had for years. I wrote a tutorial, to show you all how easy this really is to do. The links are in this post, if you're looking to update a chair of your own!

March came in like a lion here in Dallas, so I spent some rainy days crafting. These knockoff Pottery Barn pears were a fun project using something we all have hanging around -- beaded fruit.

April and May were spent mostly up at Abby's school, working on her musical and senior prom. But I did take a little time to rearrange my favorite kitchen shelves and decorate for Easter

In June I did a revamp of the kitchen, and enjoyed a more soothing, somewhat neutral palette.

More crafting took place in the hot month of July, and I made these sweet coffee filter hydrangeas. But the most exciting change was this new TV armoire, found compliments of Freecycle! If you don't know about Freecycle, check out this post that tells all about it.

I scored a great thrifting find in August, this vintage ammunition basket.

In September I went on a painted burlap pillow binge (here and here), which turned out to be your favorite projects this year!

In October I broke into my stash of felted wools, and had fun making these pillows and these adorable sweater pumpkins.

 

November was the month for a little home reno, and we started by finishing out the corner window seats in our dining room.

 

December was all about the decorating, cooking, and more cooking :)  I even decorated the bedroom this year, and I love it so much that I don't want to put it away.

 

Here's to another year of great projects and tutorials! We have so many great plans in the works that I can't wait to share with you all.

Happy New Year, everyone!

I'm joining

Brenda's Tweak It Tuesday at Cozy Little House

Kim's Wow Us Wednesday at Savvy Southern Style

Yvonne's Tutorials Tips and Tidbits at StoneGable

Courtney's Feathered Nest Friday at French Country Cottage

Cindy's Show and Tell Friday at My Romantic Home

Our L-Shaped Corner Window Seats

Last week I told you all about our window seats in the corner of our dining room. Well, they were long overdue for an update. Even though we are only about 80% done, I took a few photos to show you what we have accomplished so far.

A while back I realized that people were always bringing chairs over to this corner to sit when we entertained, and we really could use some seating there. Then came the light bulb moment, that maybe we could build seating and accomplish our never-ending goal of creating more storage, too. We threw these together pretty quickly, using what we had on hand and could afford to do at the time. They have provided so much extra space to store trays and dishes, and the kids have piled up here every time they are over. Here's the before, when the window seats were just primed, and sort of worn from the kids and pets always sitting here. (They were previously red, to match our former dining room walls, but I forgot to take a photo.)

I know. Bad, right?

Here's how we made these simple seats. To start, we had the hardware store cut 3/4 inch MDF to size, to make two large bottomless boxes. Why bottomless? Less MDF to buy, and fewer pieces to fit together. For the tops, we cut a 2 inch strip to fit across the back of the "boxes", and secured that to the back of the box. The second top piece was cut to fit and fitted with inexpensive but sturdy hinges. These will never show, as they are topped with the cushion.

But I had never made the cushions! These window seats always seemed to be piled with pillows and quilts, with kids eating and drinking, so it didn't really make sense at the time. Now that we have the empty nest, I don't have to worry about that :)

In these photos we haven't caulked yet, and the whole thing needs another coat of paint. We need to buy some more trim pieces too, to fill in the gaps between the boxes and along the edges. As you can see from the before photo, caulking our 80-plus year old windows made a big difference too.

I feel a little more ready for holiday entertaining!

I'll be working on another poject in this corner too, and hope to show you in a few days :)

Joining:

Susan for Met Monday at Between Naps on the Porch

Nita for Mod Mix Monday at Mod Vintage Life

Sarah's November Before and After Party at Thrift Decor Chick

Brenda's Tweak It Tuesday at Cozy Little House

Kathryn's Make It Pretty Monday at The Dedicated House

Beth's Tutorials and Tips at Home Stories A to Z

Kim's Wow Us Wednesday at Savvy Southern Style

Yvonne's Tutorials Tips and Tidbits at StoneGable

Courtney's Feathered Nest Friday at French Country Cottage

Cindy's Show and Tell Friday at My Romantic Home

 

Colorful Sweater Pumpkin Giveaway!

**The giveaway is now closed. The winner of the Sweater Pumpkins is Jacque Miller! Thank you to everyone who entered!**

A glance at the calendar this morning reminded me that it is a special occasion! Tomorrow marks my four year blog anniversary. I'm long overdue for a giveaway!

With all of the felted wools I have hanging around, I had to jump on the sweater pumpkin bandwagon. So I made three colorful sweater pumpkins, for YOU! Just leave a comment and I'll pick a winner by random generator next Monday, October 29.

How cute would these be on your Thanksgiving table?! Or a sideboard, or any other tabletop that needs a little cheer. The giveaway includes a russet - colored tiny pumpkin with a green wool leaf, 

A gourd-shaped green pumpkin with a burlap leaf,

And everyone needs a purple pumpkin! Cranberry, actually :)

The orangey pumpkin was made from a woman's sweater sleeve, the green pumpkin was made from a super-skinny sweater sleeve, and the purple from the sleeve of a large men's sweater. I love the fatness of the stubby purple one. 

If you follow Yvonne's great directions (here) you can have sweater pumpkins in no time, too. Here's my tip, to add to Yvonne's: If the sleeves of your sweater are just too small, simply cut a rectangle from the front or back, and sew it into a tube! You could even use the whole body of the sweater to make a pumpkin as large as you desire.

Please be sure to include your email address when leaving your comment! I can't wait to see whose home these festive little guys will be going to :) 

Many thanks to all of you who have been visiting me during the last four years! Every sweet comment you leave is truly treasured! When I started this blog, I could never have imagined how many wonderful people would come into my life. My heart is full of gratitude for you all.

Love, Andrea

I'm joining:

Brenda's Tweak It Tuesday at Cozy Little House

Marty's Tabletop Tuesday at A Stroll Thru Life

Kim's Wow Us Wednesday at Savvy Southern Style

Yvonne's Tutorials Tips and Tidbits at StoneGable

Oreo Cookie Bark and Fall Snack Mix

You know, I really worried that when our daughter went to college, I wouldn't have anyone left to feed. After years of hosting, well, everything, and feeding, well, everyone, who would I cook for? 

 What exactly was I thinkin? They're teens. They're always hungry! Enter Pinterest inspiration. And holiday snacks, to the rescue!

Have you seen these? Talk about eye candy! Mixtures of enticing holiday colors and shapes. An excuse to buy lots of different candies, and then mix them all together! Colors, textures, seasonal fun! Kind of like home decor, but with food!

After reading multiple recipes for cookie bark and snack mix, I kind of went to town making my own concoctions. For the cookie bark, I layered chopped Oreos, pretzels, and peanut M&Ms on parchment paper, then melted vanilla flavored almond bark and covered the mixture, using a spatula. I added more chopped M&Ms and some sprinkles on top to make it even more festive.

I whipped up a second batch with a secret surprise: Andes mint chips! My gosh are these good. I just used Oreos and pretzels with this batch, and added some candy corn to the top for fun.

The snack mix included Cheez Its, pretzels, Cocoa Puffs, Cheerios, Peanut M&Ms, Hot Tamales, Raisinets, Crunch clusters, and candy corn. Perfect sweet/salty sensory overload :)

These cute Dizzy Pops are at Dollar Tree right now. They spin!

The goodies got packaged up in zip bags and tied with some bright ribbon. I can't wait to send these off to the college kids, and I saved a little extra for hubby, too. He looooves Oreos, and it's his birthday :)  Looks like this year we're having birthday bark instead of birthday cake.

This recipe and this recipe were the original sources of my inspiration, found on Pinterest. You can find me on Pinterest too, here. And believe me, there's plenty of food :)

I'm joining

Kim for Wow Us Wednesday at Savvy Southern Style

Yvonne for Tutorials Tips and Tidbits at StoneGable

Debra for Vintage Inspiration at Common Ground

Cindy for Show and Tell Friday at My Romantic Home

Donna for Saturday Nite Special at Funky Junk Interiors

Our Fall Back Patio, and a Painted Initial Burlap Pillow Tutorial

All through the dog days of summer we wait for the weather to turn crisp and cool, when we can start enjoying fires on our back patio. This year I decided to change up the seating, move the vintage iron sofa elsewhere, and use a couple of our Adirondack chairs out here.

Curling up in a comfy chair, with a roaring fire and a cozy blanket, what could be better?

We built this patio after installing our pool in 2000. All of this brick was reclaimed from a house that was being leveled down the street. Maurie hauled it load by load, in the trunk of my old 2-door Acura. We started this 10 x 10 patio without really knowing if we even had enough. Good thing that we made it, because we found out after that these antique bricks go for over $1 each, and we were recovering from unexpected expenses that happened while building the pool. I think we finished with only 10 bricks left over. There are over 500 in this little patio!

But on to the pillows! You will want some of these for yourself once you see how simple they are to do.

I bought a good amount of burlap at JoAnn's when I had a 60% off coupon last week. I wanted it to be soft, so I washed it. Yes, I did! With laundry detergent and some baking soda to help with the burlap-ey odor. Soaked it for a while then spun on delicate. I laid the length of fabric outside to dry, then tossed it in the dryer for 10 minutes, twice. It kept balling up so I had to shake it out a few times. Do this outside, believe me. Also, I did hem the cut edges first so they wouldn't fray like crazy. I'm so happy with it now, it's super soft, and doesn't have a bad smell at all.

This "H" was cut out of card stock with my Cricut. It would work just as well to print your initial using a font that you like, then cut around the outline. I pinned it on and traced around with a black Sharpie.

Then filled it in! I had a really complicated way of picking the paint I used -- it was in my stash of craft paint. I painted the edges first, then filled in the rest. It dried in about one hour.

A quick stitch and I was done! Easy, easy. I did use another piece of burlap to line the front piece so the pillow wouldn't show through. No fancy piping for these pillows, though. The squirrels will have them nibbled in no time, along with my pumpkins, so I made this as simple as I could. 

Unfortunately we won't be able to be outside without our citronella yet. I gussied up this pail with a little more burlap, tied on with jute twine.

 

I sure hope you will try some of these initial pillows for your patio! Enjoy your beautiful fall days, and evenings, where ever you may be.

 

I'm joining Yvonne's Tutorials Tips and Tidbits at StoneGable

Rhoda's Outdoor It's Fall Y'all Party at Southern Hospitality

Debra's Vintage Inspiration Friday at Common Ground

Courtney's Feathered Nest Friday at French Country Cottage

Cindy's Show and Tell Friday at My Romantic Home

Donna's Saturday Nite Special at Funky Junk Interiors

Roeshel's DIY Project Parade at DIY Showoff

An Easy Corn Husk Wreath

You all know I have a wreath addiction. I should do a post showing all the wreaths that have graced the walls here throughout the years. But until now, I have never had a corn husk wreath. 

Well today's the day! It's stormy, and gloomy, the perfect day for a simple craft project. And this vignette over our chippy, weathered wicker desk was needing a little something. I know, I said I wouldn't buy anything, but I think I can make an exception for a couple dollars' worth of corn husks. (Dark day, dark photos, sorry folks)

There are great tutorials all over the internet. Here is one, and here is another. I was aiming for a really rustic wreath, so I used the first method. But since I didn't have fresh corn husks, and I had to buy dried, packaged husks, I used the second tutorial's method of soaking them in water first. It helped soften them quite a bit. The base was a coat hanger, just like with my Valentine Rag Wreath. Free craft supplies are too good to pass up.

I wanted my wreath to be ridiculously full, so I tied a husk in between every two that I had added. 

 

About halfway into the project, I realized that this wreath was going to be HUGE. I grabbed a heavy pair of pliers and bent the hanger to reduce the size a little.

Once I finished with the husks, I added a cute bow made from jute webbing, and I was done!

I know, I said I wasn't buying any mums until later in the season. But when I went to the 99 Cents Only store to buy the corn husks, they had these gorgeous mums. For $2! Okay, maybe I bought a couple of them :)  This picnic basket is the perfect size to hold a 6" pot of mums. 

 

This project only took about 90 minutes, and was a lot of fun to do. I think I saw these wreaths at the Dallas Farmers Market last year for $45? I used 3 packs of corn husks. $3 sounds a lot better to me!

Thanks for coming by to see my new wreath! Today I'm joining

Debra's Vintage Inspiration at Common Ground

Courtney's Feathered Nest Friday at French Country Cottage

Cindy's Show and Tell Friday at My Romantic Home

Donna's Saturday Nite Special at Funky Junk Interiors

Seasonal Sundays at The Tablescaper

Aimee's Overflowing With Creativity at It's Overflowing

Brenda's Tweak It Tuesday at Cozy Little House

Yvonne's Tutorials Tips and Tidbits at StoneGable

Chalk Board Menu Tray Tutorial, a Pinterest Project

Who hasn't seen this gorgeous graphic on Graphics Fairy for a Menu Board? I have wanted one of these for my kitchen for a long time, but drawing/painting/freehanding anything is simply not among the talents that I possess. My printed graphic had remained untouched, until I found this tip on Pinterest. Tracing, that I can do! It's easy! I'll show you. 

Materials needed are an old tray, painted with chalk board paint and cured for several days, white chalk, and white paint pens.

To start, I rubbed the chalk all across the back of the graphic -- heavily, in multiple coats. I would show this, but chalk, on white paper, doesn't really show up.

To keep the image from sliding, I taped the graphic onto the tray, using painter's tape to avoid any peeling of the paint. 

A blue colored pencil seemed like the best thing to use for tracing, as it was the only sharpened pencil in the house. It actually helped that I could see if there were any areas I had missed. You can see where I sort of went outside the lines, oopsie! My impatience got the best of me on this step. 

A little peek -- it's working!

And ta da!

After a couple of deep breaths, I began painting over the traced image. Duh, I started at the bottom, not very smart. We'll let that dry and then start at the top.

This was so easy! The paint pen went on really smoothly. This was done with a medium-tipped Elmer's paint marker that I bought at WalMart. I bought the chalk board spray paint there, too.

20 minutes later, done! Just FYI, the "shadowing" might have gone a little better if I had run back to the store for a fine-tipped paint pen. But seriously, this was so easy that if I decide I can't live with it, I'll just paint over with more chalkboard paint and start again. 

I'm already thinking of the holiday season with this project. What a great gift for someone who loves to cook and entertain. I hope you'll give it a try!

I'm joining Judy's Fall Into Fall at DIY By Design

Yvonne's Tutorials Tips and Tidbits at StoneGable

Courtney's Feathered Nest Friday at French Country Cottage

Honey's Potpourri Party at 2805

Cindy's Show and Tell Friday at My Romantic Home

Jen's Fabulously Creative Party at Jennifer Rizzo

Donna's Saturday Nite Special at Funky Junk Interiors

Aimee's Overflowing With Creativity at It's Overflowing

Susan's Metamorphosis Monday at Between Naps on the Porch

Brenda's Tweak It Tuesday at Cozy Little House

p.s. Aren't these the prettiest roses for fall?! They have these every week when I go shopping at Aldi, 6 for $4. There's no reason to pass them up for that price :) You deserve it, treat yourself to some flowers today!! 

How to Slipcover a Slipper Chair, Part Two: Making a Pleated Slipcover Skirt

Remember when I started a tutorial on slipcovering my slipper chairs? And I only posted the first part? And some of you have patiently waited for me to get my act together and post Part Two?

Today's the day! (Finally. Sorry. I have procrastination issues.)

Part One is here, if you haven't seen it. I had started with the base of the chairs, and now it's time to move on to how I made the pleated skirt.

I decided to go with Miss Mustard Seed's advice and just use the prehemmed edge of the drop cloth for my skirt hem. So after measuring the length needed (and adding 2 inches for wiggle room), I figured the width of fabric I would need to go around the sides and front of the chair. 5 pleats at 5.5 inches for each side, and 5 pleats at 5 inches for the front. I added two inches to each side for the seam (where the skirt meets the fabric on the back) and 4 inches for the inside of each pleat. Total for me, 140 inches. 

I took the skirt fabric straight to the ironing board to iron in each pleat. Because of the width of the fabric, I did have to make a seam, so again, I added plenty of extra so that seam could be hidden inside a pleat. If you're working with 45 or 54 inch wide fabric you will most certainly have to seam it in several places.

Next I laid the  fabric flat on the ironing board, and used a small ruler to measure each pleat. You can pin each pleat if that makes it easier to keep it square on the ironing board. I wanted really crisp pleats, so I pressed really hard and ironed at the highet heat the fabric would tolerate. If you choose to do this, be sure to keep your iron moving at all times, so that it doesn't scorch. If you're not sure about how hot you can go, practice on a scrap of your fabric. We don't want any burns! And remember when you iron in the first pleat, to leave the extra 2 inches at the end for your seam. (So my first pleat was actually 7-1/2 inches. You'll see how I sewed it into the back piece in a minute.)

Just a one inch pleat is all that's needed.

Once each pleat was ironed in, I pinned it securely at the top and moved on to the next area. Here it is, hanging from the edge of the ironing board as I continued to put the pleats in the rest of the width of the skirt. 

It was tremendously helpful to run a line of stitching at the top, marking the exact hem length:  

 

So that when I sewed the skirt to the seat panel, I already had a perfectly measured line of stitching to follow.  

To attach the decking to the slipcover back, I pinned the seam, turned the slipcover inside out, and marked the seam with blue tailor's chalk. You can see here that I could have used a little more "wiggle room" on the decking. It really will make your project easier to have extra in the seam allowances, rather than not quite enough.

Because I'm not pleating across the back, I attached the skirt to the back like so. It took a little creative pinning and stitching to get the two to line up, which is why I saved the back panel hem for last. 

 

 

I'm thrilled with the result! Is it perfect? No way! But I spent $15 on a drop cloths, a couple dollars on cording, and a few hours of my time, and look what I got -- a brand new chair! In the future, should I choose to make another slipcover with a different fabric, I can merely tear this one apart and have a ready made pattern. 

 

 

Sewing the slipcover for chair base really only took about 5 hours, including planning, measuring, cutting and break times :) The cushion added another 1-1/2 hours. The second one went a lot faster than the first, because I knew what I was doing. Covering these chairs in this sturdy, neutral fabric has accomplished everything I wanted it to. Each season's decor will flow so well in our home with this lovely ivory as a backdrop to pillows, throws, and accessories.

Again, Part One can be found on this post. Please email me if you have questions, and I'll try to help. This truly was so much simpler than I thought it would be. If I can do it, you can too!

And if you think you spied some new items in the background, you're right! I have a really great Canton find to share with you all tomorrow.

I'm joining Yvonne for Tutorial Tips and Tidbits at StoneGable, Gina's Transformation Thursday at The Shabby Creek Cottage, Courtney's Feathered Nest Friday at French Country Cottage, Cindy's Show and Tell Friday at My Romantic Home