Happy February, sister dear! I figured it was about time to share what I have been doing on my end. Over the past several weekends, Miss PJ and I have been keeping ourselves busy with home decor projects. A few weekends ago, during an evening of dinner and watching the guys game, Miss PJ said that she wanted me to help her design something to hang on the wall, to keep the remote controls out of the little one’s reach. A thought hit me (you know what happens when I get ideas, lol), and I pulled out the new machine mom bought me for Christmas.

My new machine "Miss Elinor"

Meet Miss Elinor (yes, I name my machines). Granted, she has purple and pink flowers, and her functions are on the plain side, but she has a working button holer, and she gets the job done. We get along very nicely. However, she doesn’t like Katie, and gave her fits for trying to use her the other night. But, back to my story.

Once I got Elinor out, I pulled out the 20 yards of satin stripe fabric I bought in Millersburg. As it’s the hunter green, it goes perfectly with Miss PJ’s living room. To make the remote control holder, we grabbed the cable remote that matches hers, and measured. After we cut the fabric to the size that we needed, we found that there was enough left over to make a holder to contain all fo the game controlers they have. Here is what we came up with.

Remote control holder

This is a simple holder, made with four pockets, one for each remote. We folded the fabric up from the bottom edge, after hemming the bottom edge. After sewing the outter edge of the pocket together, I flipped it right side out, and finished the hem around the top edge. Then, we measured where the individual pockets were to be, and I ran a stitch down the marks. To make sure the remotes would not get lost in the pockets, I ran another seam about an inch from the bottom, also serving to leave a decorative feature along the bottom. Lastly, we added black ribbon loops to hang it from.

Game control holder

With the left over edge fabric, we created a single pocket to hold all of the game controls. This was made the same as the other pocket, but without the divisions.

Miss PJ's old curtains

After making the remote pockets, I looked up to see her old cutains. Another thought hit me. Can you see the trend? Her old curtains looked old, dusty, and washed out next the rest of the room. Well, they had to go.

Construction of the new curtains

As Miss PJ liked the design of her old curtains, we decided to use them as a template for the new ones. Using the same fabric, we laid the old one on top to trace around, leaving 1/4″ for a seam allowance. And, Miss PJ decided that she did not like having 2 on the larger, center window, so we measured and made it one.

New curtains

Here are her new curtains. She could not find tassels in the same color, so we attached lighter ones until darkers one could be found. Granted, she tried to dye them, which was an adventure in itself. She purchased dark green Rit dye. She placed the tassels in a plastic ziploc bowl, added hot water, salt and some of the dye, and sealed the bowl. When we decided to take them out of the solution, they were a cross between a navy and a black. At this point, PJ decided to try a little bleach to lighten then up a little. By the time she was done, they were slightly darker than the original sage color they came in. Now we know that you really can’t dye tassels reliably.

Pillow fabric

As I was working on PJ’s curtains, she pulled out some fabric she bought to make slip covers for a couple of small pillows. She purchased some quilted cotton print fabric, and bridal satin. She made these like a conventional pillow case, but put small, round velcro closures on the opening to hold the case shut. She added small tassels to the corners, which she also tried to dye, then bleached, and they came out to a shade of silvery grey.

Finished pillows

Here are the finished slip covers. As you can see, she used the satin for the back side of the covers. She used a half a yard each, for these, and the was plenty of scrap material left over, as these are small pillows. I may be making some for my house.

Chicken and apple pot pies

While we were making the curtains and pillow covers, Miss PJ cooked up a new recipe. It was very interesting. It was Chicken and Apple Pot Pie. This recipe is from Rachael Ray’s website. While it is very good as is, we were thinking up ways to make it different. We have decided to make it again, very soon, and with the little additions we have thought of. I’ll let you know how it turns out.

I also come up with several home decor ideas to brighten up my home for the different holidays, and it all started with a half a yard of St. Patrick’s Day fabric I picked up, not knowing what to use it for. Here is what I have come up with.

St. Patrick's Day & Valentine's Day fabrics

Here, I have a half a yard each of St. Patrick’s Day and Valentine’s Day fabrics, and you can see a Fall placemat in the back ground. I decided that my tv stand was a little bare, and that I couldn’t keep the fall placemat in the coffee table year round. I have decided to use two different fabrics for each holiday, and I will be making a tv stand runner, and a placemat for the coffe table. I may expand this to other furniture pieces later.

Valentine's Day tv runner

Here is the finished Valentine’s Day tv runner. Wow! I didn’t realize that my tv stand was that dusty. Anyway! This is a half a yard, and all I did was hem it all the way around. It fits the top of the tv stand perfectly. I will be changing it with each holiday/season.

Valentine's Day Placemats

Here is the placemat for my coffee table. This was made with a half a yard of fabric. I placed the store bought placemat on the fabric and cut around it, leaving a 1/4″ seam allowance. I placed the wrong sides facing each other, and stitched around, leaving a opening on the one of the short ends to turn right side out.  I clipped the corners, and flipped right side out, using the tips of my scissors to push out the corners. I place my needle setting on the “right” setting, placed the edge of the fabric at the right edge of the presser foot, and stitched all the way around, sealing the holes in the process. I, then, placed the needle setting to the “left”, leaving the fabric in the same position, and stitched around a second time, creating the double hem effect of the store bought placemat.

St. Patrick's Day runner & placemat

Here I have the finished tv stand runner and coffee table placemat. The one with the large shamrocks is the tv stand runner, and the one on top is the placemat. As I said, I will be doing this for all the holidays/seasons, and as easy as the placemats are, I may start making my own placemats for the kitchen table. So, I will be making a paper template for the placemats, that way I don’t have to haul another one out to use everytime I want to make some. I’ll post the measurements I use to make the template, once I get it drawn out.

Well, that’s all for the sewing fun around my house, for right now. But, I’m sure we will have plenty to post about, especially with the wedding dress plans we have been engrossed in lately.

Marie's 1770s Habit - so far...

Good morning, Sister. Because you and I have so many sewing projects lined up for this year, mainly for your wedding (YEAH!), I have begun to feel the heat on my backside as the projects pile up, and that means I need to get busy, busy, busy!! This morning I began drafting the pattern for Marie’s 1770’s riding habit jacket – most of the habit is completed except for the jacket and the decorative trim (I still need to decide on a design – I may go very simple on the trim because there’s already so much going on with the stripes in the waistcoat and the petticoat).

After Marie’s habit, I’m going to start on her medieval gown for your wedding, then get my butt sewing the Regency gowns for our Regency picnic in August. As soon as you, me and PJ decide on all the fabric colors we want for your wedding and I order everything, once we get the fabric in, I’m going to knock out Annie and Rose’s kinsale cloaks right off the bat… then my medieval dress is next, then Rose’s flower-girl dresses for your wedding and Whitney’s (I am sewing her two dresses last because she’s 9 and still growing – wouldn’t that be the pits if Rose grew out of her dresses before she could ever wear them! lol).

Anyway, there is so much to do!

I am always the thrifty person and I often spend my time window shopping for sewing ideas at my local department stores – what I can make for my own home is almost always cheaper in cost than what I can buy – of course you sacrifice time, but the gratification of a job well-done is worth it – and so are the bragging rights (lol!) –

Flatware sleeves are no exception (and they are very difficult to find, except at higher-quality department stores like Macy’s, but dear Lord they are expensive!). I have inherited beautiful silverware from my grandmother along with a set of gold plated Christmas flatware. To prevent scratching, tarnishing, and wear they must be protected – even stacking them neatly away for special use will not fully protect them from themselves or the elements.

So, I made my own!

Flatware sleeves (flannel interior, muslin exterior)

Flatware sleeves (envelop design)

These are so easy.

1) Measure the width and length of your flatware (ex. each of my forks measured 1-1/2″ wide by 9″ long, so for the purpose of instruction, I will use these measurements as examples throughout). Draft a paper pattern from newspaper measuring and marking each fork pocket at 2″ wide (rather than 1-1/2) for a comfortable fit – in all, the pattern width is 25″ for 12 forks, giving a 1/2″ seam allowance on either side of the sleeve; next, measure 1-1/2 times more the length of the forks (23″ – I just rounded up from 22-1/2″ to make it simpler) so that the flatware sleeve flap will fold over nicely like a pocket. The paper pattern for the forks measures a 25″ x 23″ rectangle.

2) Using the pattern, cut out one (1) piece of muslin and one (1) piece of flannel (note that flannel is a natural deterrent for tarnishing and is the interior for the flatware sleeves).

3) With wrong sides of the muslin and flannel together, serge across the top and bottom of the sleeve first - stop; then fold the serged bottom up like an envelope pocket to the length measurement of the utensil (which in this case is 9″) -  make sure that both the left and right sides of the sleeve pocket measure 9″ before serging them together; now, serge the whole length of the left side together, and then the right right together.

4) Now that the main pocket is formed and sewn, mark on the bottom of the pocket with a pencil  every 2″ across; repeat at the top of the pocket. Using a straight edge and your pencil, connect the upper pocket markings to their opposite marking on the pocket bottom to form a guide to sew in the 12 utensil sleeve places.

5) Following the vertical line markings drawn in pencil, straight stitch them in place, starting from the bottom of the pocket working toward the top of the pocket. When you are finished, you should have 12-2″ wide utensil pockets, each 9″ long, and a 4″ pocket flap.

Total Time: (for one 12-piece utensil sleeve) 30 minutes from pattern to finished product

Total Cost: using scraps – $0; buying each a 1/2 yard of muslin and flannel at your local fabric store – $2 to $6

I like my bathroom curtains to match my shower curtain, but the problem is that I refuse to pay big bucks for what I can get on sale, or what I can make on my own cheaper. A couple years ago while at Lowe’s, I was sifting through their clearance shelf when I came across a shower curtain that I really liked – I thought I might find matching curtains – no such luck. However, there were several packages of the same shower curtain that I liked – so I bought two shower curtains and transformed one of them into darling little cafe curtains for my bathroom – I even had enough fabric left over to make little runners for my bathroom shelves….

Clearance shower curtain

Cafe curtains

Shelf runner

Since then, I have found clearance shower curtains all over the place including those with holiday themes – decorating is for the bathroom too! Now, like the rest of my home, my bathroom is decorated seasonally!

Total time: 1-1/2 hours

Total Cost: $6.49 (yep – each curtain was on clearance for $3.00 – what a steal!!)

P.S. Shower curtains, window curtains, and table clothes found on clearance at your neighborhood department or big-box stores can be transformed into almost anything – most of the time for much less than what you would pay for fabric off the bolt at your local fabric store. For example: do you want matching napkins for your table cloth? Buy an extra table cloth, cut to size and hem (or serge). Or, you can make pillow covers, appliance covers, quilt pieces, chair covers and cushions, bags, and even costumes!

Thrifty is nifty!

It’s just a few days from the new year. Wow! Can you believe that it will be 2010, already? We, here at The Emerald Parlor, hope this coming new year sees you and your families happy and healthy. For your viewing pleasure, I have posted a new T&A’s Tips page. This one is on buying yarn while on a budget, for the knitters among us costumers. We will see you next year, with lots of new features and posts.

Happy New Year!

On behalf of all of our readers and their families, T and I would like to wish everyone a very safe and wonderful Holiday and a joyous New Year. We look forward to the coming new year and all the fun and inspiring things ahead.

Keep your eyes on us – we’ve only just gotten started!

Rose's Christmas Jammies

Oh my goodness, Sister, can the days not go so fast before Christmas – time is whizzing by and I am hardly finished with my gifts – some I have not even started!! Marie is at school and Christine is in Columbus, so this does give me time to wrap some of their gifts – I did start on the gift baskets this morning, but I am very far from done. I imagine you are knitting your fingers to the bone…no, wait, you have guests coming in from Montana so I imagine you are preparing for their stay.

To the left are Rose’s Christmas jammies I put together using a heavy cotton camel flannel – she’s going to love them (she actually requested a pair as a gift – I am starting to see a pattern here – “Auntie can sew, Auntie can sew me things…” – lol!). Notice I put elastic in the legs – this keeps the little ones from snagging or catching their jammy pants on things around the house. I have also written a review for this McCall’s pattern, which are guests can read by clicking on the McCall’s review link on the right in our “Pages” section.

So, T, what Christmas shenanigans are you getting yourself into??

1770s Petticoat

Good afternoon, Sister. I finally box pleated all of the ruffling on the bottom of the petticoat for the 1770s riding habit I am working on. I was 36″ short on the trimming (makes 12″ of ruffling), so I had to add more – no biggy. I do not know how I miscalculated though – I am always so precise on these things! I am sure that the cats distracted with their shenanigans, like batting the tread on my serger, or eating my silk pins – lol!

One thing I find interesting about the mid-to-late 1700s dress style is that the garments were adjustable, which is highly practical, considering most people during this time did not have the financial means to buy the fabric to make garments or hire a tailor to construct new pieces as a person gained or lost weight. So, in true fashion of the era, this petticoat has a wrapping waistband – the back of the waistband is tied around the front of the torso first, then the front of the waistband is tied behind the back, conveniently leaving slits at the sides of the petticoat for pockets, if desired. Of course the habit will be tailored to fit, rather than cinched in the back with cording, so it will not be an adjustable garment piece. A picture of the wrapped waistband is below –

1770s Petticoat Wrapped Waist

Hello, sister dear! It seems we have both had a relatively calm Thanksgiving, and today has been pretty nice as well. Since I do not tempt fate and venture near any stores on this huge shopping day, I had time to dig into the costume closet. I was able to take photos of several old outfits, and have written reviews for the patterns. Just in case you are wondering, check the Simplicity, McCall’s and Theatrical Costumes pages!

Talk to you soon!

Well, Sister Dear, I am slowly but surely getting Marie’s 1770s riding habit done. In the first picture, you can see that I finished the shirt and jabot. I do wish I would have thought to put in arm gussets, although the shirt fits her fine and it’s comfortable without them – it’s the over all effect that’s missing (and it’s accurate to have them). She would not let me cuff the sleeves (she says cuffs “feel weird…”), so I had to drawstring them instead. But with all that, I think the shirt and waist look nice together.

1770s Shirt & Waistcoat

The next photo is of the lined petticoat (which needs ironed to get folded creases out – blah!) – I have not put the ruffling on the hem yet, but I have made it and it’s ready to go. I did not pink the ruffling because all of my pinkers need sharpened! So, I did the next best thing and gave the ruffling a nice 1/8″ hem. When I get it on the petticoat, I will be sure to post pictures (Lord only knows when that will be, giving the holidays! lol!). Anyway…xo

1770s Petticoat