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Transcript:

Helen: We are recording today on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territories of the Coast Salish and Kwakwaka’wakw peoples, including Tsleil-Waututh, Squamish, Musqueam, and K’ómoks first nations.

Hello, and welcome to Love to Sew. I’m Helen, the designer behind Helen’s Closet Patterns.

Caroline: And I’m Caroline, the owner of Blackbird Fabrics.

Helen: We’re two sewing buds who love to sew our own clothes and want to encourage you on your sewing journey, too.

Caroline: Join us for today’s topic: Home Decor Sewing.

Hi, Helen.

Helen: Hi, Caroline.

Caroline: How are you?

Helen: I’m doing well. How are you?

Caroline: I’m good. I’m excited to talk about home decor sewing. As you may know, I’m a huge fan. Love sewing things for my home.

Helen: I know. I’m excited to get your hot takes because yeah, I don’t have as much experience as you home decor sewing, and I always admire all your lovely handsewn home decor items when I’m at your place.

Caroline: Yeah, we will get real into it in a minute. But first we have to talk about some feedback that we received about our sewing quilted garments episode. So Irene reminded us that quilted slippers are cosy and cute! I can’t believe we forgot to mention them. She recommended the Nordik Quilted Booties by Jalie, which come in a boot style or a low slipper style with an elastic back. And we’d also like to mention Sew DIY’s Quilted Slippers pattern and Suzy Quilts’ free Quilted Slippers Tutorial. Any of these would make amazing gifts! Check out our show notes for links to these patterns.

I have to say UGGs are back, and I feel like a quilted booty has UGG vibes, so…

Helen: Yes, it does.

Caroline: …I’m on board. All the way.

Helen: I don’t know how you make it, like, appropriate for outdoor wear, but maybe there’s…

Caroline: Indoor.

Helen: Oh, indoor UGG.

Caroline: Indoor UGG. Yeah.

Helen: But I want an outdoor UGG. Can I just slap some soles on there?

Caroline: Yeah, yeah yeah. Gotta get into shoe making then.

Helen: Yeah, exactly.

Caroline: Some soles. I mean, I bet it’s, it’s extremely doable, Helen. You can make anything you set your mind to.

Helen: If there’s any cobblers out there that have any good tips.

Okay. Our next piece of feedback comes from Lalu. They said, “I actually started my sewing journey as a quilter and then after years finally branched out into garment sewing. I wanted to mention one thing about thread choices – quilters are often pretty militant about cotton thread and a big reason for this is that the cotton thread also shrinks a bit when you wash it-the shrinkage mirrors what will happen with your cotton fabric (assuming that you’ve made a cotton quilt) so you get even better little signature quilting wrinkles. I will say, I was never a super strict quilter, so, totally use whatever thread – but this was one detail I thought I’d add to the thread convo!

“There also is a neat technique called spooning! You can use a normal spoon or better yet, a special quilting spoon. It’s for hand quilting and you hold the spoon in one hand on the underside of the quilt, needle in the other hand and then when the needle goes through the fabric, it hits the spoon and the curvature makes the needle pop back up to the top of the quilt. You repeat this for several stitches and then pull the needle through and start over.”

So cool.

Caroline: This is so cool. Thank you so much for these tips, Lalu. The spooning one is especially interesting – we found a video by Jinny Beyer Studio that shows this technique in action, so you can look for it in our show notes. Helen, did you ever see this before? I feel like this is so different and cool.

Helen: It’s so cool. I mean, I love a good unique tool, so I’m obviously going to be getting a quilting spoon to add to my collection, um, and giving it a try. I don’t do a ton of hand quilting, so I haven’t encountered this yet, but I’m excited to, yeah, try it out

Caroline: Awesome. Okay, so let’s move on to our main topic.

Helen: Yes, we’re mixing it up today and diving into the world of home decor sewing. I mean, I can’t believe we haven’t done an episode on this, honestly. Over 200 episodes, and we’ve never talked about making a pillowcase. I mean, come on.

Caroline: I know, especially considering my home is filled with handmade pillow cases, but if you sew your own clothes, I bet you’ve thought about sewing items for your home, too. It’s a natural next or first step on a lot of our sewing journeys. And home decor sewing is just another way to put our sewing skills to good use. It feels great to have me-made accents in your space. I can attest to that. It does feel great.

Helen: Yes, and like garment sewing, home decor sewing gives us control over the colours, textiles, sizes, details of all of our soft furnishings. You don’t have to be limited to what you can find in stores.

Caroline: Sometimes you can save money by sewing your own home decor. It’s, kind of, similar to sewing clothing. If you compare your finished project to what you would pay for something of similar quality, you’re usually gonna come out on top. However, you probably won’t be able to beat the prices of the most affordable home decor on the market. So it makes sense to focus on making things that are harder to find, like custom sized shades or pillow covers in unusual fabrics, or maybe slightly higher end textiles that would be much more expensive if you buy them finished, but…

Helen: Totally.

Caroline: …you save a little bit of money buying them, uh, by the metre.

Helen: Yeah, or using your fabric scraps to make small things ‘cause then it’s, like, you’re totally winning.

Caroline: Yes!

Helen: And there’s also a few ways that sewing for your home is easier than sewing clothes. There’s a lot of simple straight lines in home decor sewing, both in the pieces that you’re cutting out and in the seams that you sew. You also don’t have to worry about fitting, even if you’re making a fitted cover, most shapes are gonna be simpler to understand than the fit of the human body, which as we all know, is a challenge.

Caroline: Yes. And the fabrics that you’ll be working with are stable. You don’t have to worry about wrangling stretchy or delicate fabrics most of the time when you’re sewing for home decor. As Helen said, it’s also a great way to use up scraps. You can either make small pieces like pot holders and napkins, or you can patchwork your scraps together.

Helen: Yes! And we’ve both sewn a little home decor before. Well, a little in my case. And I do really enjoy sewing home decor. I don’t do it often enough. I feel like I have a lot of ideas for items that I’d love to sew for my home, but I tend not to prioritise those projects because I get distracted by shiny garments.

Caroline: Mhm.

Helen: Um, but hopefully this episode will inspire me. I’m really excited to hear all of the project ideas.

Caroline: Yeah. I love sewing home decor so much. I’ve made many things for my home. I have many more ideas for my current home of things that I wanna make. So it’s, it’s a lifelong journey for me, for sure.

Helen: Yeah, tell me about some of the things that you have made in the past and some of your favourite projects.

Caroline: Yeah. Okay. So I’ve done a few upholstered projects that I have really fond memories of. At one point when I moved to Vancouver, I tried to dupe, like, an Urban Outfitters upholstered headboard for my bed. So I had, I went to, like, a lumber yard and I had them actually cut with, like, a jigsaw, the shape of the headboard. It was very, like, ornate at the top and curvy at the top. And then I went to the foam store, and I bought the foam. And I had linen and, um, fabric covered buttons. And I upholstered this whole headboard. I have to find pictures for the show notes. I don’t have it anymore ‘cause I ended up, uh, getting a bigger bed when Shea and I moved in together, but I loved that project. And it looked so high end, and it was so much less expensive than buying an upholstered headboard.

Helen: Yeah.

Caroline: So that was a real win. I’ve also done, like, simpler projects. Like, I had a secondhand chair that I got for $5 and I upholstered it, and that was awesome. Also, don’t have that anymore ‘cause tastes change.

Helen: Things come and go.

Caroline: But that was a really fun one. Reupholstering, like, chairs, like, uh, dining room chairs, just the, like, cushions for that. Or, um, I still have a bench actually behind me that I upholstered – just a simple piece of wood, and I added legs and foam and upholstered at the top, but those are, like, bigger projects.

Other than that, I love pillow covers. I think those are, like, really quick to sew up and have a really high impact, and they’re fun to switch out, you know, every year or so if you wanna have a different look in your home.

I also, I think my favourite, favourite home decor items that I’ve sewn are linen napkins and tablecloths because you can get such a high end look for a lower price. I was recently in West Elm, and they were selling four linen napkins for $75, Helen. I was like, this is just linen.

Helen: Just regular old linen. And you probably have enough scraps to make four…

Caroline: Yes.

Helen: …in your stash.

Caroline: Yeah, sure. And I mean, they were beautiful. It was, like, a beautiful, like, rusty colored linen. And I bet you, you know, a lot of people would pay that much for those four napkins. But I was like, I can make this for so much less. This is, like, less than a metre of linen. It’s, like, half a metre of linen.

Helen: Often when you look at those, like, store items, too, like, they’re not even necessarily that nicely sewn. Like, they don’t necessarily have mitered corners or those lovely details. They’re often just, like, fold over twice, top stitch all around, like…

Caroline: Totally. Yeah. And tablecloths, too, like, even with napkins and tablecloths, I find, like, what you can find in stores, it’s limited and when you make it yourself, you have access to so many more fabric options. You can really have it, like, perfectly match your home and your style.

I love using our gingham linens at Blackbird for home decor projects. I have napkins and a tablecloth out of our gingham linen. Um, so yeah, I think you can just do so much when you make it yourself. And it’s so simple; it’s just a rectangle, right?

Helen: Yeah.

Caroline: And you just do the mitered corners to get that really beautiful look, and yeah, you have something that you’re gonna use for many, many years.

Helen: Yeah. It’s so true. I really love a cloth napkin. We used to be, like, a paper towel household.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: I feel like I’m ashamed to admit this, but, like…

Caroline: Oh, no.

Helen: We used to just use paper towels and whenever you needed a napkin, but I switched to fabric napkins, like, five or six years ago, and no going back, like, I just love the feeling of, like, wiping my face with a beautiful textile.

Caroline: Yeah!

Helen: And then you just throw it in the wash.

Caroline: And they just get softer and softer as you wash them. But I still have yet to have, like, a linen or a cotton napkin, like, fall apart, like, they just last forever. So, yeah, tell me more about your own home decor projects that you’ve made.

Helen: Well, I have a lot of fond memories when I was a kid and a teenager because my mom was really into sewing home decor for our house. And I remember helping her pick out fabrics for a bunch of pillow covers and, like, a futon cover and drapes in our house. And she did all the sewing, but she would always bring me along with my, like, design eye. Even when I was, like, really little. She was always like, you have such a great eye.

Caroline: Aw.

Helen: And, like, she loved getting my help picking out fabrics and things like that. So we would go to those home decor fabric shops, and I really loved these shops. They’re so cool. They’re a little different than, like, a garment sewing fabric shop or quilting shop in that they often have the fabrics displayed on horizontal rolling bars in these, like, big stacks, and you can see all of them, and then, you just, like, pull down the one you wanna look at so you can really visualise it as, like, a drape or a curtain or, like, a bed cover or whatever.

And the fabrics are often, like, really ornate designs, and they have, like, gold and stuff in them. Like, there’s just so much to look at in home decor shops. So I loved going to those shops and picking them out. And yeah, my mom made a lot of stuff growing up. She made beautiful drapes with, like, the blackout fabric on the back, which you can really save money on ‘cause those are expensive.

Caroline: Mhm.

Helen: And she even made those Roman blinds that fold up when you pull on the little string. And I can remember her being so frustrated sewing those blinds ‘cause you have to make the little casing for the dowel and the little metal loops and the string and, like, it’s a whole thing. But again, like, you can save making your own because you get to make it custom fit to your window, and it’s just an absolutely beautiful finish. They’re still hanging in our house, so it’s definitely worth the effort. We’re gonna talk a little bit more about Roman blinds later.

Caroline: Mhm.

Helen: But, as far as my own home decor sewing, in my twenties, I made some drapes for our apartment, but, like, by made drapes, I mean I just, like, clipped some fabric onto a rod using the little, like, round clips and, like, I didn’t even hem it or anything.

Caroline: I mean, it can be as easy as that though.

Helen: Yeah, you can get that hem tape, too, that like IKEA sells that you just fold it under and tape it. I didn’t even do that though. They were just, like, frayed on the bottom. So those hung in our window for, like, 10 years, I think, until they were so sun damaged, like, the fabric was just, like, a totally different colour on the other side than on the front side, but they did the trick. And then, Caroline, you and I did some home decor dyeing together.

Caroline: Yes.

Helen: Which is super fun. And I still use those napkins and tea towels that we dyed.

Caroline: Me, too.

Helen: And I absolutely love them. And that’s another way you can do home decor stuff is to just dye blanks. And we bought our blanks at Maiwai, and they do sell them online. They have all sorts of things. Like, you can buy tablecloths and napkins and tea towels, and you just, like, they’re just plain and you can dye or block print to your heart’s content, which is pretty cool.

Caroline: Mhm.

Helen: No sewing required. And I’ve made my fair share of pillow covers for couch cushions. And now that I’m getting into quilting, my home decor sewing has definitely skyrocketed, especially in the blankets department.

Caroline: Yes!

Helen: And also wall hangings is a very popular thing for quilters to make ‘cause they’re fast and easy and fun and sticking them up on the wall. You can have quilts everywhere. So I’ve been making some wall hangings as well. And another project I wanted to mention is just putting fabric into a picture frame or wrapping it around a canvas. I’ve done this a few times to, like, decorate my home and it’s such a great scrap buster. It’s a cool way to show off textiles. It’s so easy. And again, no sewing required. You can just use your scrap and pop it in a frame, and people will be impressed. I’ve gotten compliments.

Caroline: Yes. I actually have a frame in my sewing room right now that I wanna frame one of our linen prints from last summer. But it’s such a great idea. I know in your guest bathroom you have some framed fabrics that I always admire when I come over.

Helen: Yeah.

Caroline: It’s a great idea.

Helen: Yeah, I love that. And you know, like, we were saying that everything lasts forever.

Caroline: Mhm.

Helen: But some items do stand the test of time and can be totally worth it. I mean, oftentimes you’ll get more use out of them than you would a garment, so it is worth the effort if you have, like, a home decor item in mind.

Caroline: Okay, so home decor sewing isn’t always smooth sailing. There are a few challenges that you might want to prepare for. So first up, home decor fabrics, especially upholstery types, can be really bulky and wrangling them through your sewing machine can be a challenge. So you may wanna reduce your presser foot pressure if you’re working with a thick and bulky fabric. This makes it a bit easier for your machine to feed the fabric through and reduces shifting. Look at your sewing machine’s manual to find out how to do this. It’s usually done with a knob located on top of the machine over the foot. And if you can’t find your manual, you can usually find it online by Googling your machine brand and model.

Helen: Yes! And you know that little lever you use to lift and drop your machine’s foot? While most levers can be pushed up from the even upmost position to lift the foot a tiny bit higher, and this is super handy when you’re trying to fit layers of thick fabric underneath that foot.

Caroline: Mhm. And you’re probably gonna want a stronger needle than usual. Think a size 90 instead of a size 70, and pair this with heavy duty or upholstery thread.

Helen: Yeah. And if you still run into issues, you could even try a leather needle ‘cause that’ll sew through anything.

Caroline: Yes!

Helen: Clips will be easier to use than pins with these thicker fabrics. Wonder Clips are made for sewing, but you can also try out using regular old paper clips to hold your pieces together. That’s something you might have already lying around.

Caroline: Mhm. Or bull clips, too…

Helen: Yeah.

Caroline: …work totally well. A hump jumper tool also called a jean-ama-jig, or some pieces of cardboard, will help you get your seam started. The purpose of these tools is to level out the presser foot. So if you find that your foot is angled up at the start of a seam, slip that hump jumper or cardboard under the back end of the foot to level it back out. And this is just gonna help you, um, have, like, a smoother experience with sewing.

Helen: Yeah, exactly. You won’t have as many spread out or skipped stitches and things like that.

Caroline: Mhm.

Helen: Another helpful tool that can level out that foot is the little black button. The little black button looks, kind of, like a knob at the end of a spring, and it’s attached to the foot. You can check the feet of your machine, um, to see if your machine came with this. A lot of recently made machines come with these little black button feet, and of course you can also buy one, but to use it, you raise the foot, which should level out when it’s in that up position, then you press that black button in, and then you lower the foot while you’re holding the button, and it actually makes the foot stay in that horizontal level position, so it can’t tilt back and forth anymore. It’s very magical. We have a link to an article on Among Brenda’s Quilts and Bags that shows how this works. Uh, it’s basically, like, a built-in hump jumper.

Caroline: Very cool. And for super thick areas like where seams meet, or if you’re gonna do top stitching over several layers, you might wanna break out the hammer. Yes, you heard that right. Take your item to a hard surface that will not be damaged by hammering like the bottom of a cast iron pan or one of those cute little anvils like the ones that we sell at Blackbird, and you lay your piece on top and hammer down the seam allowance. This sounds wild, but it actually helps a lot. We do this a lot in jeans making, but it works really well for home decor projects as well when there’s a lot of thickness in the fabric.

Helen: And if you need to do a bit of hand sewing on thick fabric, you can use a thimble or pliers even to help you out. A thimble goes on the middle finger of your sewing hand, and it goes behind the butt of the needle to push through the fabric, and you can use pliers to grasp the needle and pull it the rest of the way through. Make sure you’re using a heavier duty needle in this case, too. Don’t use one of those teeny tiny ones. You’re gonna want something with a little more oomph to it.

Caroline: Yeah, definitely. Okay. Another challenge of home decor sewing is that some projects are gonna be really large. Curtains and duvets can be a slog to sew and a bear to manage when cutting and sewing. So we do have some ideas for managing cutting. First up, take your time when you’re cutting out big pieces. You can use your cutting mat or a cardboard mat with a grid to make sure that things are square and that the lines you’re cutting are straight. And if you don’t have a big enough table, you can put a cardboard mat on a big bed or call in a favour with someone who does have a big table.

Helen: Yes. And here are some ideas for managing sewing big pieces since sewing long, straight line after long straight line can be a little bit monotonous. Get your creative juices flowing by listening to a good podcast, audiobook, or some music while you work. Or you can do the opposite and really settle in and practice mindfulness while pressing those long seams. And if you’re not going to wash your project before you start using it, make sure the floor is clean before you work. The fabric will definitely hang down while you’re sewing and pressing, and upholstery fabrics can collect a lot of dust and crime pretty easily.

Caroline: Yeah, I’ve been there. Big old dust bunnies on my curtains.

Helen: Yeah.

Caroline: It can be challenging to work on home decor projects without a pattern. There aren’t a ton of patterns for home decor, though you can find them out there. Uh, so to make things easier on yourself, you wanna be doing a bit of prep work beforehand.

Helen: Yes. Make a sketch of your project. It doesn’t have to be beautiful. You’re just doing it so that you have a really clear idea of what you’re about to make. Write down the dimensions and the seam allowance on your sketch. Write down a list of the pieces you’re gonna need to cut and their measurements. And when you’re cutting, check off each item as you cut it out.

Figuring all this out at the same time as you’re cutting can get confusing. If you do all the measuring and make a list before you’re standing there with your rotary cutter, there’s less chance that you’ll forget something or get mixed up with all those, like, similarly boxy-shaped pieces.

Caroline: Yeah, and if you feel lost, read through some tutorials for projects similar to yours. Even if you want your end product to look different, you can often catch some useful tips and step-by-step instructions when you use other tutorials as a reference. YouTube is a great place for this. I know when I was also making pillow shams for my bedroom, I looked up measurements online just to, like, get a sense, ‘cause you wanna build in a little bit of extra for, like, the thickness of the pillow, depending on how thick your pillow is. So looking at that really does help.

Helen: Yeah, totally. Let’s talk about the wonderful world of home decor fabrics. As I mentioned, they come in those beautiful rolls from the drapery store, if you are so lucky. But some fabrics can be used for both home decor and garments, so you don’t necessarily have to go to a specialty store. For example, midweight linen is a beautiful choice for home decor. You know we love it for garments, too. Cotton canvas can make a great choice for cushion covers, a DIY poof, or even some upholstery. Quilting cottons can make great napkins, place mats, cushion covers, fabric bins, even pieced tablecloths. So there’s lots of, um, options for those lighter weight fabrics, too.

Caroline: Yeah, even, like, a cotton lawn or poplin can work really well for drapery or pillow covers. So, yeah, the possibilities are pretty endless. There are a lot of fabrics too that are specifically made for home decor. Upholstery fabrics are made to be hard wearing. They can be made of many different fibres from polyester to linen.

Performance fabrics are usually synthetic. They’re easier to keep clean and more stain resistant than natural fibres. Natural fibre upholstery fabrics are usually higher end, beautiful, but harder to maintain. Upholstery fabrics are normally reinforced with fabric, latex, or glue to stabilise them and make them more durable, and it also keeps them from bagging out over time. So when you’re doing an upholstery project, it is probably worth, like, investing in an upholstery grade fabric so that it stands the test of time.

Helen: Yeah. If it’s something you’re gonna be sitting on…

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: …you probably wanna go with upholstery fabric. Or something that’s gonna be, like, in the sun or outside, you definitely wanna go with something that’s intended for that purpose because that’s how you’re gonna get something that lasts. Upholstery fabrics come in a lot of different weaves. There’s plain weave, twill weave, jacquards, velvet, velveteen, brocade. Those are all really popular upholstery weaves.

And if you have pets or you’re worried about maintaining your upholstery, your best bet is to look for a tightly woven synthetic fabric. A print, or even some mottled colour, can help camouflage any stains that you’re gonna inevitably have to wash out. So keep that in mind when you’re choosing. Maybe now’s not the time to go for cream unless you have a beautiful white cat.

Caroline: Yeah, it’s so true. Yeah. Pepper and Fraidy do not have the same colour fur all the time ‘cause Pepper has black spots, so there’s no winning…

Helen: There’s no winning.

Caroline: …in my house.

Helen: You can’t choose. You need a busy print.

Caroline: Yeah. Sheer fabrics are popular for curtains. Sheer curtains can let in light while giving you privacy, and they’re so pretty. We’ve seen pretty sheer linen, cotton, and synthetic fabrics available.

Helen: And on the other end of the spectrum, you’ll find blackout fabric to make blackout curtains or blinds. This is a lightweight synthetic fabric that usually comes in white or neutral colours, but it’s opaque when you hold it up to the light. It’s great for lining bedroom curtains so you can get those extra z’s.

Caroline: Yeah, and Insul-bright is a cool thermal batting that you can use to line pot holders, oven mitts, lunch sacks, or casserole covers. It’s made of polyester fibres that are needled through a reflective metallic film, and the film reflects the heat or cold back to the object. You don’t have to have Insul-bright to make pot holders. You can use thick batting instead, but it is a really nice option. One note, don’t put it in the microwave. Metals and microwaves do not mix.

Helen: Yes. Now’s not the time to use this if you’re making a soup bowl cosy or something like that. You might have noticed, too, that a lot of home decor fabrics have naps. No, they’re not laying down for a 3:00 PM siesta. A fabric with a nap has a pile that sticks up beyond the fabric space. So think velvet, corduroy, suede, chenille. Pick the direction that you like best for your napped fabric and cut all your pieces in that same direction. Otherwise, the colour can look different on different pieces. Um, and that might be a bit disappointing when you finish your big project.

Caroline: Yeah, we’ve all been there with the corduroy pants.

Helen: The corduroy!

Caroline: The corduroy! Um, there are some special tools, notions, and supplies that are just for home decor. So if you’re doing an upholstery project, you may need foam or batting. For example, an upholstered headboard might need a layer of foam covered with a layer of batting, and the foam is gonna give the headboard comfort and bulk, and the batting is gonna soften out the edges of the foam so that it looks smooth all the way around the back. You can find lots of different foams of different thicknesses and densities out there. And the same with battings. What you choose depends on your budget, how you want your project to feel, and how you want it to look.

Helen: Yeah, if there’s, like, a foam specific store in your area, this is a great place to go to get custom cut foam and just to get advice, too. And keep in mind that foam is more expensive than you think it is.

Caroline: Oh, yeah.

Helen: Like, getting a chunk of custom cut foam is not cheap, so build that into your budget and maybe check out the foam options before you start your project.

Caroline: Yeah, that has always shocked me in the past when I work on upholstery projects and I go and get the foam and I’m like, ooh.

Helen: Ouch.

Caroline: Yeah. This is really adding to the cost.

Helen: You can find both pillow stuffing and pillow forms available to buy ready-made. Getting ready-made pillow forms will definitely save you some work though, you can’t customise their size or their shape. Um, you can make your own pillow forms pretty easily though. Just use a simple muslin fabric or neutral-coloured fabric scraps. And if you want, you can even put a zipper in your pillow form so you can add stuffing when it starts to get a bit saggy. Most stuffing is polyester, though you can find other kinds, including down, feather, and even bean bag filling. I wonder if bean bags will ever come back. I feel like they probably have, right? Gen-Z?

Caroline: Yeah. Yeah, I think so.

Helen: One note about feather filling. If you use it, you will need a very tightly woven fabric so the feathers don’t come out and stab you. You wanna look for down-proof cotton ticking, in this case. My couch sheds feathers like crazy, and it drives me nuts. I know. I feel like they did not use the right lining, and I’m mad about it.

Caroline: Oh, yeah. I’ve been there, too, with duvets and pillows where you’re like, oh, let me just lay my head down, and then, you get stabbed in the face with a feather.

Helen: Stabbed!

Caroline: Rude.

Helen: They’re so sharp. How are they so sharp?

Caroline: I know!

We just mentioned muslin fabric for pillow forms, but there are other uses of muslin in home decor. By the way, when we say muslin, we just mean the plain weave cotton fabric that people often use to make test garments. So upholsters also use it to cover the backs of pieces that will go against the wall or towards the floor. It keeps the dust and bugs out and it makes it look really neat.

Helen: Yeah, and when we’re also talking about muslin, get a high quality muslin, in this case. If it’s something you’re gonna be using for upholstery or it’s actually gonna be on the outside of the finished garment. There are lots of different qualities of muslin and different weaves. So if you’ve got one that you’re like, I don’t know, this doesn’t seem like a tight weave…

Caroline: Mhm.

Helen: …probably need to pick up something else for these projects. Many upholstery projects also require a staple gun, super fun, and potentially a curved needle. The staple gun holds the edges of the fabric to the frame, and the curved needle makes any hand finishing you need to do much easier, since sometimes you need to do some hand stitching to fabric that’s already attached to a frame. We found a great video by Artisan Upholstery Studio demonstrating how to use a curved needle and do blind stitch on upholstery fabric. We’ll link it up in the show notes. I mean, upholstery is the coolest art form and skill, something I would love to dive into in, like, another life, you know?

Caroline: Mhm. Mhm.

Helen: The people who know how to do this well are so incredibly talented.

Caroline: Yeah. No, you’re so right. I am feeling very inspired to make another upholstered headboard.

Helen: Yeah, you should. It sounds amazing.

Caroline: Okay. Pleat tape is a notion that will help you create even pleats in your curtains. You can use it in combination with pleater hooks. Pleat tape is sewn to the top of the wrong side of your curtains, and it has little pockets at regular intervals that you can slip the prongs of the pleater hooks into. The fabric folds into different shaped pleats depending on where you insert the prongs.

And the hooks can attach the curtain to your window in a few different ways. You can hang the hooks over the curtain rod. You can hook them into the rings or you can loop them onto a track. We found a tutorial on Pretty Prudent that shows how to use plate tape and pleater hooks with lots of pictures, so you can check it out in our show notes.

This is really cool and fascinating, and I feel like it would make me feel like a celebrity home decorator.

Helen: Oh, totally. This is another one of those projects that my mom tackled actually.

Caroline: Really?

Helen: We had pleated curtains in our living room. Yeah. And I remember her making all the little pleats with the pleat hooks and it’s, yeah, it’s tricky, but it’s so cool when it comes together and it looks so professional, like…

Caroline: Mhm.

Helen: Yeah. Really cool.

Caroline: And that’s one of those things where it’s like you can get that high end look that would probably cost you so much money to have, like, custom pleated curtains made.

Helen: Yeah.

Caroline: And you can make it yourself for I’m sure a lot cheaper.

Helen: Yeah. In fact, if you are going to tackle, like, a big curtain project, do yourself a favour and get a quote for getting it custom made so that you can pat yourself on the back when you finish it for way cheaper.

Caroline: Yes!

Helen: Yeah. Another thing you might use when you’re sewing stuff for home decor or upholstering is piping. We do use piping sometimes in the garment world, but it’s a pretty big deal in the home decor sewing world. Piping can make the edges of cushions and upholstery look really neat and intentional. You can buy piping that’s covered with muslin, or you can buy cord that you’ll cover with one layer of your final fabric or maybe a contrast fabric. You will need to make bias strips to cover the cording because it’s gonna curve around corners.

And there are piping and cording feet out there that you can buy. They have a little groove that sits on top of the piping and stitches right next to it. But you can also get a really good finish with a zipper foot. And, in fact, you might need to use a zipper foot if you get really thick home decor piping that won’t fit in that groove.

Melissa from Polka Dot Chair has a tutorial for how to make and sew piping, that’s really helpful. And our favourite tip from it is to sew the piping to your first layer of fabric, then make the fabric sandwich, and sew right on top of that first seam. That’s gonna give you perfect piping with a lot of control. Do you remember one sewing day my friend Kat came and she was upholstering, like, a bench for her kitchen?

Caroline: Yes.

Helen: And she brought the foam to Blackbird, and it was, like, this unwieldy, like, giant pieces of foam and fabric and, like, she was a fairly, like, beginner-ish sewist and was. like…

Caroline: I do remember this.

Helen: …just jumping right into this project, and we were all just like, oh, my gosh.

Caroline: I know. We were like, really? That’s what you brought to work on?

Helen: You know what? She finished it and it, nailed it and it, I was thinking about it because she added this beautiful piping along every edge, and it was for a custom built-in, like, breakfast nook bench situation.

Caroline: Mhm.

Helen: So, like, cushions on the bottom and on the back and, like, it’s so beautiful. I’ll see if I can get her to send me a picture of it. It really turned out great, and she totally managed to pull it off with, like, her first big upholstery project. It was awesome.

Caroline: Yeah, no, she was one of those confident beginners that was like, yeah, I can tackle this, and she did. So that’s awesome. Okay, now it’s time for a fun part of this episode, my favourite part, the part I’m most excited about. We’re gonna go over a bunch of home decor project ideas that you can make, and I can make, and you can make, Helen.

Helen: We’ll all have these beautiful textiles everywhere in our home.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: I do love the look of just, like, a bunch of different prints and colours all mashed together. That’s my favourite.

Caroline: Oh, yeah. Yes.

Helen: But if you’re into neutrals, that’s fine. It’s cool.

Caroline: Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, no judgement. No judgement.

Helen: We’ve talked a lot about curtains already, but making your own window coverings is a great way to get that custom look. Curtains changed the whole feeling of a room. Of course, they’re super functional, too, providing privacy, blocking out light, so you can sleep better. There’s a bunch of different styles that you can choose. Simple panels with big grommets feel super modern. Pinch pleats feel very traditional and luxurious. Swooping swags feel super romantic and whimsical. I mean, really, like, whatever you can dream, you can do.

Caroline: Mhm. And to make your windows feel bigger, attach your curtain rod above your window and let your curtains extend beyond the edges of the window. It really opens it up. I actually did this in my kitchen recently. I added some curtains to my kitchen window, which felt so, like, naked and, like, it needed something, and even though we never actually close these curtains, I just wanted them to frame the window out. And I extended them over the edge of the window to make the window feel bigger, and it really, really worked. And I mean, yeah, I’ll have to show everyone a picture in the show notes, but I’m really happy with how those turned out.

Helen: Yeah. It’s such a great way to transform a space. It adds that little touch of cosiness and…

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: Yeah. I just love it.

Caroline: Yeah. And texture, like, that extra layer of a textile in some spaces, really, like, take it over the edge and make it feel more, like, custom and homey and cosy, right?

Helen: Oh, yeah. When people like compliment me on my home decor and ask me like, oh, how did you get it to feel cosy and inviting like this? I’m like, rugs. Just, like, all, so many rugs.

Caroline: Yeah. Rugs, textiles.

Helen: Yeah. Yeah, exactly. You really, really need them to get that feeling.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: Okay. There are several ways to attach your curtains to a rod. You can use those pleat tape things and pleater hooks we were talking about. Um, you can make a sleeve at the top of your curtains that slips over a curtain rod. This works best with lightweight curtains like sheers. And I find this, kind of, curtain really annoying, so I never go for it ‘cause I hate how it doesn’t slide on the rod. I want an easy slide.

Caroline: Mhm. Mhm. Yeah. You can put tabs at the back of your curtains to slip over the rod. This is less bulky than a sleeve, so it works with various weights of fabric.

Helen: You can also get those little rings with clips on them like I did, and just clip the pleater hooks to them. You could just clip them directly to the top of the fabric for a more casual look.

Caroline: Yes, that’s what I did in my kitchen. It looks great. Um, you can use big grommets to, made for curtains and these simply snap closed over the fabric. And with these it’s better to cut the holes too small than too big. Oh, yeah. I could see that. Imagine you make a whole set of curtains then you cut your holes too big.

Helen: Yeah. Do a practice grommet.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: You can also make tabs or ties that hang from the top of your curtains. I really like this for a casual, organic look.

Caroline: Mhm.

Helen: Um, and it’s pretty easy to achieve, and you still get a decent slide with tabs. Not as good as a ring, but it’s good.

Caroline: Yeah, totally. And curtains aren’t the only window coverings you can make. You can also make your own Roman blinds like Helen’s mom. It’s easier than it sounds. It’s also not the easiest thing you’ll ever do.

Uh, basically you sew a sandwich of decor fabric and lining fabric with horizontal pockets for dowels or wood pieces. Then, you attach rings at the end of each dowel pocket, and you make a wooden header with eyelet screws in it. And then after you attach the curtain to the header, you feed string through the loops and eyelets. And then, when you pull the string, the blindfolds up evenly.

It looks really neat and beautiful, and custom Roman shades are super pricey, so this is definitely one place where you can save if you have your heart set on Roman shades. We’ve found a great tutorial by Christina of The DIY Mommy that you can check out if you’re ready to get started.

I have a confession to make. I was thinking about making Roman blinds for my kitchen and I looked up tutorials and I was, like, thinking, like, I was like, I can do this, I can do this. And then, I just got super overwhelmed.

Helen: Yeah.

Caroline: And I was like, I don’t wanna.

Helen: It’s a lot of parts.

Caroline: It’s too much. And I couldn’t, like, find the kit that I needed, and I was like, forget it. I’m just gonna do regular curtains.

Helen: I think you made the right choice though. Often, Roman blinds are set into the frame.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: And they’re great for, like, covering up, especially a highly used curtain, something that you’re gonna, like, put up and down a lot.

Caroline: Mhm.

Helen: Whereas, like, your kitchen curtains are, kind of, more decorative.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: And they make the space feel bigger ‘cause you put them on the outside, so…

Caroline: Mhm. Yeah.

Helen: …you nailed it.

Caroline: Thank you.

Helen: Don’t worry about it.

Caroline: Thank you.

Helen: I wanted to mention, too, that curtains don’t always have to go over a window. They can be used as a soft cover for a doorway or a closet. I made some curtains to cover a shelf in our old apartment because it was full of pots and pans and other kitchen stuff, but we were tight on space so that shelf was in our living room. So it’s a great way to cover it up and add some textiles and some, like, warm cosy vibes to that space.

Caroline: Mhm.

Helen: You can hide anything behind a curtain, like…

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: It’s really magical. You got a mess? Curtain.

Caroline: Yeah, add a curtain. I know. And if it’s something that’s just, like, to cover a doorway or a closet, you don’t have to worry about blocking the light or…

Helen: Yeah.

Caroline: …really sun fading it as much. So you can really have fun with the textile that you choose. Choose a fun print. Choose something with a little bit of texture. I feel like the possibilities are endless there.

Helen: Yeah. Pom-pom trim. I mean, come on.

Caroline: Yes, Pom-pom trim. Oh, my gosh. Speaking of curtains, did you ever have a bead curtain?

Helen: Oh, I never have, but I would love to. I think I, if I ever saw one at a thrift store, I would probably buy it.

Caroline: I had a bead curtain in my bedroom growing up.

Helen: Really?

Caroline: Yeah. I loved it.

Helen: That’s awesome. What did it have a picture on it? Often, they have, like, a, like, an image overlay?

Caroline: No. It was, like, multicolor, but all in, like, a warm tone. So it was, like, pink and red and orange and brown little beads, like, all mixed, and it was, kind of, like, shiny. Oh, man. I wish I still had it. It was really cool.

Helne: A project for 2023. DIY bead curtain.

Caroline: Oh, my gosh.

Helen: I bet you the price on that would really add up.

Caroline: Yeah. Seriously.

Helen: Beads aren’t cheap either.

Caroline: No. In this economy.

Okay. Throw cushions are another great DIY. You can add as much personality as you like. Sew on trim, appliqué images, embroider words, use fun fabrics, try an unusual shape. Pillow covers are way easier to change out than a couch, so it’s a great place to take risks and have fun.

Usually, throw pillows are closed with zippers. Zipper insertion in a pillow is pretty similar to zipper insertion in garments, so it’s not a totally new technique. We’ve also seen pillow covers with an overlap on the back that you slip the pillow through. You can also put a button placket on one side or little ties over the edge. So cute.

You can also just, like, sew it shut. I’ve done that before. So it’s not removable, but, like, whatever.

Helen: I mean, if you’re, like, just sewing clothes, the hole, like, with some slip stitches, like, you could rip that open…

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: …to wash it if you really needed to.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: I’m a big fan of the envelope back, that overlap.

Caroline: Mhm.

Helen: Because it’s super simple and doesn’t require any hardware.

Also, consider outdoor cushions. Nice patio furniture can be quite pricey, and sewing your own outdoor cushions can help you to save some money. You wanna choose a very sturdy and ideally, like, water- and sun-resistant fabric in this case, and, like, a high quality foam as well. So price it out. May or may not be cheaper, but I think depending on, like, your application, if you need something custom, you can definitely save here.

And cushions don’t always have to be square. You can get pillow forms in all shapes and sizes. You can definitely save money by covering them yourself when it comes to unique shapes,because covers for those kinds of cushions can be pricey. So think about a longer pillow for a couch or a bed or pillow forms for doing yoga or meditation is a really nice way to add some textiles to your space.

Caroline: Yes, I love this idea. And large floor cushions are a fun option, too, kind of, like, a cross between a throw pillow and a pouf. I’ve been seeing these a lot online, and I’d love to have one in my house, and I feel like Pepper would also maybe use it as a bed, which would be really cute.

Helen: Dog bed slash throw cushion.

Caroline: Floor. Lying on the floor.

Helen: Yeah. I’m often lying on the floor when I’m watching television. Like, I’ll start on the couch and then, like, halfway through the show, like, go and lie on the floor. Love a good floor lie, you know?

Caroline: Yeah, yeah, yeah. But don’t you need a little cushioning there?

Helen: Yeah.

Caroline: Sounds great.

Helen: Something for under the knees, under the head, you know?

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: Bedding projects are another great place to add a touch of homemade home decor. They can be as easy as pie or as big and complex as you want depending on the project you choose. Pillow cases are a common project for people learning how to sew. They’re really simple. They’re an easy win. A duvet cover or bed quilt is a longer-term project. Duvet covers are pretty simple to make, though they’re also huge and a bit unwieldy. But it’s an amazing way to get a unique bed covering. Bed-sized quilts are a ton of work, obviously. But they’re so special and cool and useful, like, something you’re actually gonna sleep under.

Caroline: Mhm.

Helen: We can’t cover a lot about quilting in this episode, but do check out our Quilting 101 episode with Bhiravi Rathinasabapathi for more information and resources.

Caroline: Awesome. And okay, cloth napkins. I’m gonna be preaching cloth napkins ‘til I die. They are a fabulous and easy DIY. All you need to do is master a mitered hem. These are so cute in a printed fabric for family meals or in linen for when guests come for dinner. They also make a wonderful housewarming gift. Purl Soho has a tutorial for Classic Mitered Corner Napkins that will tell you everything you need to know.

And you can also make tea towels the same way. And for both napkins and towels, you’ll definitely want cotton or linen because they are absorbent and washable. For towels, you might want something even more absorbent like a terry or waffle weave. I actually have some waffle cotton in my stash that I’ve earmarked for some tea towels. And it’s so cool, and I bet you it’ll be really absorbant, so I’m really excited to try it out.

Helen: That’ll be great. You can buy it – tea towelling, too. Like, they sell it…

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: …by the roll, and I think it’s, like, the right width. So you just, like, cut it to length and then…

Caroline: Yes. I’ve seen, um, isn’t it Ruby Star Alexia has a line of, like, hand woven fabrics?

Helen: Ooh, towelling?

Caroline: Some of them are in the, that narrow width towelling, and it’s, like, finished on two edges. You just have to finish the other two edges.

Helen: Yeah, it’s great.

Caroline: Um, yeah, you can get some really, really cool, like, stripes and plaids in that fabric. I also love the idea of giving napkins for a housewarming gift.

Helen: Yeah.

Caroline: Like, so special.

Helen: A great gift.

Caroline: Something that that person is gonna keep forever, so…

Helen: Yeah, totally. And you don’t have to just make towels for your tea time, towels for your dishes. You can make, like, a full -size towel for your body.

Caroline: Yes!

Helen: I mean, lots of people use linen or towelling towels rather than, like, classic bath towels. And that can be really nice for throwing in your bag, going to the beach, or even just for everyday use.

Caroline: Totally. Place mats are a great way to protect your table and make your place feel more homey. At the same time, if you have a nice, thick textile, you can simply finish the raw edges and turn them under. Thinner fabrics can either be interfaced and sewn together or quilted with batting in the middle. You have some pretty cool place mats that you’ve been working on. Hey!

Helen: I love place mats. I love sewing them. They’re great small quilting projects. I have two sets now of pieced and quilted place mats, and we have absolutely been loving using them. They get softer with wear. And you can stain them all you want and just throw them in the wash. I mean, it’s just a great way to, to dress up your dining table a little bit.

And we use them even when we eat in front of the tv. We put the placemats down. That makes it feel special. Um, but yes, I’m actually working on a little pattern for the future, um, that’s gonna be for a place mat. So keep an eye out for that. I know on the podcast I’m always like, it’s coming. I’m working on it. I’m working on a thing. It’s coming.

Caroline: ‘Cause you are. It takes time, Helen.

Helen: Everything takes time.

Caroline: Yes, custom tablecloths are great, too. Unless you have a small table, you’re probably gonna need to piece your fabric together for it to be big enough. But a linen tablecloth feels so elevated and nice. A themed tablecloth is fun for the holidays. There’s just so many possibilities here.

Helen: That’s so true. I love the gingham one that you made for your dining room recently. It’s so cute. It really fits the space well, and yeah, it just adds that extra touch of, I don’t know, fancy, cosy.

Caroline: Yeah, yeah.

Helen: You can also make your own fabric floor mats. Kate of Centsational Style made a cover out of outdoor fabric and slipped a cut up yoga mat inside. She then used double-sided tape on the underside for slippage. It seems like a rug mat would work as well. You could also make a rope rug in a similar way to a coiled rope basket. You can take thick cotton clothesline rope and zigzag it together.

We found a tutorial on Super Crafty Gal for rope baskets, and you could definitely use this to make your own rope mat. This tutorial also shows you how to wrap sections of the rope with bias cut fabric strips, could be a great way to use up some of your scraps. I’ve also seen, like, scrap rugs where you take your scraps and you hook it onto, like, a rug grid and you make those big, like, scrap um, mats for, you know, under your sink or whatever. And scrap bowls, too.

At Camp Workroom Social, we did a little, like, craft project where we took a bunch of scraps and braided them and then took those braids and sewed them into a rope bowl. And it was so fun and colourful and cool and had this great texture to it, so that was a really fun project.

Caroline: We talked about oven mitts and pot holders a little bit when we talked about Insul-bright, but we’re gonna mention them again because they are great stash busters, great gifts, great ways to bring your sewing into the kitchen. And there are a lot of great patterns and tutorials out there. One that we love is Martha Stewart’s Heart Shaped Pot Holders. They’re so cute. We’re gonna link in the show notes.

Helen: So cute. You can also make super handy microwave soup bowl holders. You’re never gonna burn your little fingies again. We have a post on the Helen’s Closet blog about how to make these, and these make excellent gifts. Uh, I use mine all the time because when you take something out of the microwave and it’s scalding hot, it’s so nice to have some, a cover to carry it to wherever you need it to be.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: Super practical.

Caroline: Love this. And you can actually put that holder in the microwave, right? So you’re…

Helen: If you make it out of, like, all, yeah, microwave-safe materials….

Caroline: Yeah. Love it.

Helen: …then you totally can. I often just, like, put the bowl in after I take it outta the microwave ‘cause I forget. Like, it’s not hot when it’s going in, so I don’t think about it.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: And then it’s hot when it comes out and I’m like, ah. But I just keep it on top of my microwave, so it’s always there.

Caroline: I love it.

Helen: Yeah.

Caroline: Another practical home decor idea is large cloth storage bags. These can be used for laundry, maybe a rag-bag, or just storing, like, items together like sports balls or winter hats and gloves. Super simple to make: just sew a large rectangle bag in a sturdy fabric, turn over the top, and make a casing, and add a drawstring.

Helen: Yeah. And you can hang them up in your closet or stuff them away in the basement.

Caroline: Mhm. Love it.

Helen: Speaking of storage, you can make cloth items for storing things in your fridge. I don’t know if this still counts as decor, but I mean it will look super cute when you go looking for a snack, so I think it’s in there. And you can make things like beeswax covered fabric wraps, cloth bowl covers, and reusable produce bags.

Caroline: Yeah. I was thinking when we were prepping for this episode, like, where is the line between home decor and just, like, an item for your home?

Helen: Yeah.

Caroline: ‘Cause I was like, my apron that you made me feels like home decor…

Helen: Right? It’s hanging up.

Caroline: …because it, like, coordinates with my house and it’s hanging up, but it’s also something that I wear. So I didn’t put aprons on this list, but I feel like that’s a really fun way to add some personality to your kitchen space, too, is, like, some fun printed aprons.

Helen: Definitely. Yeah, totally.

Caroline: Throw blankets are a no-brainer. There are so many cute, soft fabrics out there that you can whip into a cute blanket. Fleece and minky come to mind. Sometimes the fabrics don’t even need to be finished, so you can just cut them with a straight line along all of the edges, and then that’s it.

Or you can even, like, hand cut a fringe in the fabric or use, like, a little pin to unravel a little bit of the edges to make your own fringe. And then you just have to sew along the edge to stop it from continuing to unravel. But then you have, like, a beautiful fringe blanket with almost no sewing at all. Um, and then, of course, there are quilts, too. I love a throw quilt.

Helen: Yes. It’s so nice to add a little touch of colour and pattern to your living room and something really custom, too.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: You can make fabric bins for storage. You can use sturdy canvas or interface your lighter weight fabrics with heavy duty interfacing to make those walls strong enough to stand up by themselves. You can make these in any size from small boxes to big laundry hampers. Mandi Johnson has a tutorial for big storage bins over on A Beautiful Mess.

We’ve also found a great tutorial for Sturdy Fabric Baskets by Lilyella, so we’ll link that up in the show notes. I love this idea. I think you could also cover existing bins with fabric. That’s a great way to not have to worry about the interfacing and maybe even just use, like, spray glue.

Caroline: That’s a good idea. Yeah, I definitely have some bins, like, cardboard bins that are a bit worse for wear that I could probably cover with fabric and give new life to.

Helen: Yeah, totally.

Caroline: Love that. In the same vein as fabric bins, you can make cloth pot covers for your house plants. This is a great way to disguise a basic plastic pot and add more textiles to your home. Helen has a post on the Helen’s Closet blog for this, so we’ll link that up in the show notes.

Helen: Yes, it works best with a pot that doesn’t have drainage holes ‘cause you don’t want water getting in there. But it’s great if we’re covering up those boring pots and adding that extra touch of textile.

And of course, we can’t forget the pouf. We have a soft spot for the Closet Core free scrap busting pouf pattern. But you can find a lot of tutorials out there, even upholstered ones. I mean, a pouf is a great win-win because not only are you making it from scraps, you can also stuff it full of scraps. It’s just, like, a scrap repository.

Caroline: Yeah, yeah. Actually, I have a pouf that’s looking a little deflated that I need to throw some fabric scraps in.

Helen: They’re getting compressed over time, right?

Caroline: Yeah. Oh yeah. Those things are heavy. Once you fill a pouf with fabric scraps, you gotta warn people before they try to lift it.

Helen: It’s, like, immovable and also, like, not, not that comfortable, to be honest. It’s, like, rock hard.

Caroline: It’s, it’s almost like you need to, like, line the outer edge with, like, some kind of batting or, or fluffy material and then, like, stuff the inside with…

Helen: Yeah, put, like, a top layer of foam. That’s a good idea ‘cause, yeah, it’s like, it, if people do sit down on my Moroccan pouf. Yeah, it’s…

Caroline: And they’re like, like, oh, this is hard. Yeah, it’s like a rock.

Helen: Unexpectedly. Solid.

Caroline: Okay. And of course, there are upholstery projects. Unfortunately, this is a whole skillset that we can’t delve deeply into. Maybe this is a future episode idea, but I will say that there are some really simple upholstery projects that anyone with a staple gun and basic sewing knowledge can do.

Some of the simplest projects are a headboard, a bench, and dining chair seats, all of which I have made and loved, so highly recommend. These are great ones to start with. You can get more and more complicated up to reupholstering a Chesterfield couch, and we would love that for you.

Here are some resources to get you started. Marian of Miss Mustard Seed has a great blog post called “Five Upholstery Tips for Beginners.” She does amazing upholstery work, so we trust her. And Marian’s favourite book for learning upholstery is Spruce: A Step-by-Step Guide to Upholstery and Design by Amanda Brown.

Helen: Ooh, I might order that book ‘cause I’m curious.

Caroline: Yes.

Helen: It’s fun to go to thrift stores and find pieces that need a little restoration.

Caroline: Oh, yeah.

Helen: A little sanding, a little patching, a little history, and bam, whole new look.

Caroline: Absolutely.

Helen: Uh, you can make a dog or a cat bed. This is perfect if you have pets. Quilted, you can do whole cloth, pieced, faux fur, wax canvas. You can cover an existing bed, so you’re just making the cover.

Caroline: Mhm.

Helen: Or you can actually, like, get the foam and make a custom thing. There’s so many cool options out there.

Caroline: Yes. And you can take your sewing to the walls by making a wall hanging. There’s some cool patterns out there, especially for quilting or appliqué. I remember our episode with Bhiravi. She mentioned some inspiring quilters, and there were some wall hangings in there. And I was feeling so excited about making a wall hanging, so I gotta make that happen. But you can also go freestyle. You can do improv quilting with your scraps or I don’t know, just come up with your own design. Uh, wall hangings don’t have to be large, so it’s a really fun way to experiment with your quilting and piecing.

Helen: Yeah, I have made a few improv quilting pieces, and it is so fun and freeing and, like, such a creative process. I highly recommend, if you need to, like, break a streak of lack of sew-jo or something like that, just getting out that scrap bin, sitting at your machine, and just throwing pieces of fabric together and ending up with, like, a, kind of, wacky piece that you can just…

Caroline: Mhm.

Helen: …add some binding to and throw on the wall. I guarantee you it’s gonna look incredible, like really cool art. I love the look of textiles draped over a rustic ladder. I know this is, like, the most Pinterest-y thing ever, but it looks so good and cute. And it’s a cool way to show off your fabric stash or your quilt stash if you have a lot of quilts.

Just don’t put this in direct sunlight if you’re using your fabric stash or your precious quilts. Um, and do try to rotate fabrics out often so things aren’t sitting up there for a long time folded in the same position, getting dusty and things like that. But it’s a fun way to show off your textiles in your home and have, like, a little decor piece that adds that textile feeling.

Caroline: Yes, I love this idea, too.

Another cool idea is to frame a gorgeous fabric. What a way to love on your stash. You could collect cool vintage pieces or pick up a fabric or textile from every place you travel to. I absolutely love this idea. We talked about this before. You do this in your home, Helen. I gotta do it in my house, too. Such an easy project with a high impact.

Helen: Totally. And you don’t have to have a fancy frame. You can use, like, a dollar store canvas and wrap it around.

Caroline: Yes!

Helen: Or even, like, a piece of wood. I mean, whatever.

Caroline: Yeah, I love this.

Helen: Foam core.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: Insulation. I don’t know. Finally, I wanted to mention that it can be really fun to theme your home decor sewing to whatever season it is or whatever holidays you celebrate. These can be practical items like table linens, but they can also be just fun decorations. Like, you could sew velvet pumpkins in the fall or make little ghosts for Halloween. I mean, the possibilities are really endless. There’s so much inspiration online for these kinds of decorative projects. I love my Christmas tree skirt that I made a couple years ago, and I made a set of stockings as well using improv quilting. I feel like these are gonna be cherished items that I’m gonna wanna pass down to future generations. It really helped motivate me to sew those home decor items knowing that I was making them for a specific season because there’s a bit of a deadline.

Caroline: Mhm.

Helen: You wanna finish it in time to, like, celebrate that season or holiday, so that can be a really good motivation. And it’s something that you just get out every once in a while, so it’s, like, a treat when you get to pull it out of storage. And you can rotate textiles in your home, in and out based on seasons. And another little tip is to add a custom label with your name and the date that you made it, especially if it’s something that you think you’re gonna wanna pass down to your kids or other future generations. It’s nice to have that, like, little touch of history there. Imagine like 50 years from now little, like, grand baby niece is pulling out the Christmas tree skirt that great Auntie Helen made, and it has my name and date on it. Like, I think that’s so sweet.

Caroline: Yeah. I love the idea of adding that. I always feel like I forget things so easily. Like, when did I make that? What year was it? And what, and then you can think about the time that you know it was in your life, like, what stage of life you were in. So, so valuable to add that date on there. Love that.

Soft furnishings bring cosiness and warmth to a space and making your own soft furnishings can turn your house into a home. So we would love to hear about the home decor you’ve made and your tips for success. This was such a fun episode, Helen.

Helen: Yeah. Send us pictures of your home decor sewing, too. We wanna see it.

Caroline: Yeah, we do. Send it on over.

And that’s it for today’s episode of Love to Sew. You can find me Caroline at BlackbirdFabrics.com and Helen at HelensClosetPatterns.com. And we’re recording in beautiful, sunny British Columbia, Canada.

Helen: Head to LoveToSewPodcast.com to find our show notes. It’s filled with links and pictures from this episode – so many great resources and ideas. If you’d like to get in touch with us, you can send us an email at hello@LoveToSewPodcast.com

Caroline: If you love Love To Sew and want more, you can sign up for our Patreon. For $5 a month, you get a full-length bonus episode and weekly behind-the-scenes pictures. For $10 a month, you’ll get all that plus a mini-episode focused on sewing techniques and 15% off codes for Helen’s Closet and Blackbird Fabrics that you can use again and again. Basically pays for itself. Patreon is the best way to support us so that we can keep making quality sewing content, so go to patreon.com/LoveToSew for more info.

Helen: And thank you to our amazing podcast team. Lisa Ruiz is our creative assistant. Jordan Moore is our editor. And Margaret Wakelee is our transcriber. And thank you for listening. We’ll talk to you next week.

Caroline: Buh-bye.

Helen: Bye.

Peter Piper picked a pack of perfect. I didn’t realise this was a joke when I started reading it.

Caroline: Peter Piper picked a pack of perfect piping.

Helen: Peter Piper picked a pack of perfect piping.

Caroline: Peter Piper picked a pack of perfect pi-. No, I meant, no, I didn’t get it that time.

 

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