I had grand plans for showing you step-by-step how I made this window seat, and those all flew out the window when I got the full-time job in September. I'm settling in to the job, but still exhausted, so the best I can do is let you know that it is finally finished. Just in time for the holidays!!
The dogs both love it, but only Danny really likes to have his picture taken. The blue bolster bit is already covered with dog fur. The good news is that it is washable. The coppery front cushion is faux leather (aka vinyl) and just be wiped off should doggy paw prints (or worse) appear.
While I think it does look great (applause! applause!) I feel I should confess that there is some half-assed shenanigans going on in the parts that you can't see. If I paid someone to make it, I would be unhappy. As it is, I'm thrilled! Long live imperfection!!
Now I must head off to my destiny of ensuring that bridal parties around the southeast (and indeed, the entire country) look their very best!
Well, who knew it was going to be such an adjustment to working full-time? My hat is off to all sewing bloggers who hold down a full-time job and manage to also be prolific sewists! I'm exhausted after working 8 hours, and on my days off (which are not the weekend, but mid-week) I'm catching up on everything else but sewing. Like sleep, laundry, grocery shopping, ... you get the idea. Now that Roland is the stay at home spouse, we're in negotiations for a new division of duties, though, so fingers crossed that will all go smoothly. I think with a little hand holding, he'll even figure out what you do in a kitchen. And, truthfully, probably be even better at cooking than I am (which is a low bar, by the way).
With that out of the way, do you remember the saga of my new kitchen window seats? Way back when, the project stalled after I had made their muslin covers. There was fabric to choose, blah, blah, blah. I'm happy to report that I have one of them covered! And have started on the other, with kind of a plan to make 3 cushions into one. We'll see if it works. And the fabric? Nothing that I showed you at all. You see, with the window seat being primarily a dog perch, we decided on a faux leather from fabric.com that can just be wiped off. Voila!
Excuse the bad photo. It's kind of a coppery color, and really looks good with the painting on the wall (which you can't see). We're still waiting for the table to be delivered, so, well, that's all I have to say about that.
I've got some black knit from my stash ready to be whipped up into a renfrew, and though I have probably lost my mind, I'm going to attempt to do the Thurlow sew along hosted by Lauren of Lladybird fame. Click on the badge in the sidebar and you'll go right to the details. This will be a good excuse to get a great pair of trousers. I'm sorry to say that they will be ... black. As will a couple skirts I have in the queue. Do not come here for gorgeous prints. Well, at least not at the moment.
Oh, almost forgot! The lovely Denise at the Blue Gardenia featured me recently (well, back in September) in her "sew to dress" feature, along with an adorable McCall's pattern, perfect for my new shop girl persona. Please go take a look if you missed it previously.
I've missed my sewing and blogging friends, and will attempt to post now and then, but trust that I haven't dropped off the face of the earth, but am simply to tired to even type. And if you need a bridesmaid dress or mother of the bride dress and, the horrors, aren't making it yourself (hee hee), drop in and see me at Bridals by Lori in Sandy Springs, Georgia. Yes, it's the bridal salon in Say Yes to the Dress: Atlanta. I'm not on TV, though, so don't get all excited. Should that happen, believe me, I'll let y'all know!!
Also, I'm still reading your blogs... just can't comment as often because sometimes its just a quick read on my phone. Trust me, you all rock at all your projects!!
I've officially lost track of how many window seat posts I've subjected y'all too, and I do apologize. This has been kind of a boring summer, sewing-wise.
Things are coming together in the kitchen, though, and we've made decisions regarding the rug, chairs and table (at least we had last night).
And the covering of the window seat foam padding with muslin is complete. The poor "texturized" foam got itself wrapped in some super thin quilt batting that I think I paid $1 for at a yard sale because I felt sorry for the poor woman that had been standing there all alone most of the morning. It was perfect. I'm not sure if you can tell in the picture, but I did not stitch the openings closed. Frankly, it just won't matter, and I'm kind of over it.
The big rectangle metal thing at the top of the picture is the modern, industrial-type light fixture under which the table will be. Once we order it.
And just think... once the fabric is ordered/arrives I get to sew it up all over again.
In the meantime, it's past time for me to finish a dress that I started in May. Seriously, it's not like it's a wadder or an official UFO. I just needed to try it on to check the hem, and it was hot outside, and there were always people in my house, and, and, and...
Have your dog texturize the foam.
Or not.
Let's see, where did I leave off? Oh, yes, fabric choice. No choices have been made yet. That's how we roll here. Well, that's not entirely true. We've decided that probably, for the rug under the table, we'll just get a solid color remnant and have it bound. I think Georgia is the carpet capital of the USA and there are lots of places with remnants (or so I assume). We have purchased from one place in particular, so we just need to get our little selves down there. Rug? Well, the rug needs to go with the window seat.
In the meantime, there is work to be done anyway. If you've ever worked with this kind of foam, you know it is very grabby, so putting the covers on can be frustrating at best. To solve that, I'm making a muslin cover for each cushion that will more or less be permanent. The outer decorative cover will have a zipper so that it can be removed for washing. The muslin cover will not. It also won't be all that pretty. But it is easy to make.
I abandoned the newpaper "patterns" and just took each actual cushion to use as a template of sorts. I traced around the perimeter, added a 1/2" seam allowance and cut it out. Oh, doubled of course, since there are 2 sides.
Rinse and repeat, 3 more times for the 3 additional cushions. There are also "sides" which are 4" wide. I added up each perimeter length, and then cut strips that are 5" wide. Well, mostly I ripped, though I did cut random lengths from the scraps produced from cutting out the tops and bottoms. And that's it.
In other kitchen news, I'm still getting the odd (and by odd, I mean random) comment about the single/double sink poll, and I suppose I should let you in on the decision.
We went double. With a low saddle (which is the technical term for the middle divider). That's our actual sink. It's made from sil-granite which is 90% granite dust and 10% some kind of polymer. And that's our actual granite countertop. The faucet, etc has been installed, but I don't have a picture of that yet, because they quickly wrapped it in plastic for protection. We're to the painting stage now, so it won't be long now!!
Let's talk fabric, shall we? There are a bazillion fabric sources for home dec fabric, both online, and, here in Atlanta, in real actual stores. I guess people change their curtains a lot here. Who knows. I've probably been to the majority of them, since our house came with, well, no curtains at all. Sure, blinds galore... no privacy was compromised...but no curtains, drapes, valances, well, you get the picture. So I made some. Lots in fact. For almost every room in our house, until I completely burned out.
Wait. Aren't we talking about the window seat fabric? So, in light of all the sources, and the fact that I just didn't have the energy to schlep around in the heat, and also, I didn't feel like clicking and comparing, I turned to my favorite online source, fabric.com. One of the great things about this place, is that you can purchase swatches, and it was totally worth it to pay 75 cents to $1.75 for 16 swatches. Oh, and they're a generous 8" x 8"! I'm not going to show you all 16, but here's what we've narrowed it down to.
We're thinking of using 2 different fabrics, one for the center section, and a solid that will frame that section and go up against the window. Set #1:
Sophisticated and pretty.
Set #2:
Abstract and fun. That last fabric would end up as a throw pillow. Also, the solid gray would work here to.
Not sure if you can see the labels in the pictures, but all of them, except the black with circles, are recommended to be dry cleaned. Pshaw! We have 2 dogs, and they will undoubtedly be lounging on the window seat, gazing out the window and their nemesis, the squirrel. These covers will need to be washed!
Never fear though. Of course I threw them all into the washing machine and gave them a spin. And they all came out looking great! Especially the solid ones. No shrinkage. The swatch with the flowers frayed quite a bit, but a serger will take care of that.
We're still debating, so feel free to chime in with the set you like the best with a nonbinding vote. Once we choose, I'll need to order both the fabric and some upholstery zippers, but there's another important step that I'll tell you about in a day or 2.
Stay tuned!
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