All About Decorating

Talked with Krystal's Design 2009 Slipcover Design Winner

Today I talked with Krystal Close of Krystal's Design who was our Winner of the 2009 Slipcover Design Contest. click here to listen as I talked with Krystal about her business, her favorite products and her reaction to winning the Slipcover Design Contest.

The Slipcover Design Contest in 2009 sponsored by the www.slipcovernetwork.com who sponsors the www.SlipcoverSummit.com.

2010 Slipcover Design Contest begins in February. So start taking photos and plan to enter your Slipcovers. click here for the info.

Slipcover Summit - Nashville, Tenn - June, 2010

Watch for Classes and the new website:  Karen is putting together the finial touches on the Slipcover Summit.  

Stay in touch!  Stay Posted at AllAboutDecorating.com  and the new Slipcover Summit Website

Need Slipcover Supplies check out  www.shophome4u.com   Celouse non shrinking weltcord, Slipcover like a Pro Dvd's and how to make cushions.

DIY Window Cornice - Create It Decor - NO SEW

Create it Decor window cornice, light weight, fast to decorate and hang. Give your room in minutes.

Light weight product made from Expanded Polystyrene requires No Sewing to Decorate!!

1. measure window

2. order cornice kit

3. select fabric and decorate

4. hang cornice

5. invite friends over to see your new project

Free Instructions at www.shophome4u.com

Need a Career Change? Love to Decorate?

Start a new business, and become a leader in the window fashions and home furnishings industry.  Join us at our spring retreat in Peoria, AZ.   We offer basic business classes, how to teach sewing in your community and hands-on sewing classes. 

Professional class for window treatments, draperies, slipcovers, designer pillows, upholstery and more.  Classes are held in working workrooms so you can learn all about the tools of the trade.  Join us for fun and exciting workshops in Sunny Arizona. 

Buy 2 Get One Free - New How To DVD's by Precision Drapery

We are excited to announce the new How To DVD's by Precision Drapery.   The training DVD comes as a set, it includes the DVD and Printed instructions for each project.  

 Learn EVERYTHING you Need to Know about how to make all the popular designer window treatment styles, for decorating and home fashions . . . and Learn Money-Making Tips from a Professional Drapery Workroom!

• How to Sew Standard Flange Sham with Mitered Corners
• Easy Way to Make a Turban Swag
• How to Match and Sew a Fabric Repeat Pattern
• How to Sew French Seams
• How to Make a Cantonniere Cornice
• How to Make a Arched Valance Frame
• How to Make Arched Templates
• How to Sew a Memory Stitch in Draperies
• How to Make a Jumbo Welt Cord Tie Back

  Purchase any 2 DVD's from Precision Drapery Collections and recive FREE COPY of Fundamentals of Making a Drapery 

September is National Sewing Month

Get Involved in National Sewing Month Here Are Some Ways To Get More Involved Teach a family member or friend to sew. Volunteer your time and teach sewing to a local youth organization like Girl Scouts and 4-H Clubs.   Make it possible for someone to learn how to sew. Give employees time off work so they can volunteer their time; or donate fabrics, equipment, and sewing supplies.   Sew more often. If you haven't been sewing lately, find out what's new in the sewing world at a local fabric or sewing machine store.   Join your local chapter of the American Sewing Guild at www.asg.org and participate in its activities.   Register for a class at a local fabric store or sewing machine dealership and take a friend.   Contact your local public television station and make a contribution that supports sewing programs.   Create your own sewing circle of friends; it’s fun to sew with others!

 

Home Decor Sewing Instructors Training

Home Decor Sewing Instructors

HDSI) program does not teach you how to sew. It provides business training - specific to the home décor sewing industry -to help current sewing instructors, educators and businesses to succeed. 

Graduates of HDSI course leave with practical knowledge and a sense of confidence to begin and expand their education portfolio. Many graduates may go on to start home-based businesses, to teach part or full-time in retail stores, or start sewing schools and sewing lounges.

What’s Included?
3 Days of Instruction 
8:00am - 5:00pm daily
Sit-down lunch each day with Group networking!
Class Manual
Attendance Certificate
Use of HDSI logo
Pre-Requisites
The only pre-requisite to participate in a Home Décor Sewing Instructor Workshop is that you already know how to sew and are interested in teaching your passion for sewing, to others. 

3 Days of Training - Only $395
The program consists of a three-day workshop to train the skills necessary to become successful at teaching "home décor sewing".
Topics
Decide What to Teach
Decide Where to Teach
Plan Successful Sewing Classes
Group Facilitator and Group Dynamics Skills
Creating Lesson Plans
Teaching Techniques
Teaching in Retail Stores
Teaching Sewing as a Business
Marketing & Advertising Presenting a Professional Image                                   Practice Teaching to Group

Home Decor Sewing Instructors

Our qualified instructors have in-depth training in Home Decor construction and textiles. They bring varied teaching skills from the high school and college level to retail store and corporate world experience. Their varied backgrounds include work in the sewing industry, managing a successful bridal sewing business, as international speakers and instructors, plus publishing sewing articles, books and DVD's.

August 8-10, 2009 in Everett, Washington  click here to register
 

September 18-20, 2009 in Peoria, Arizona click here to register

115 in Arizona - Sew Stay Inside

Another hot day!  What to sew today?  This time of year I try to sew a winter project, only to see if makes me feel cooler silly right! 

 Going to make a pot of vegetable beef soup and have another cup of fresh hot coffee. 

Winter is something we don't see much of in Arizona so we can just pretend even in the summer when it is 115 degrees outside.  Yesterday it was 105 at 9am can you believe that, Why do we really live in AZ.

The dogs don't even want to go out side!  So much about the heat, yes I hate the heat but I'm staying in the kitchen until soup is finished.

The next project of the day will be making a custom laptop cover with the new Amy Butler Pattern.  I just posted the patterns on HomeFashionsU I will take photos and let you know how it turns out.     I'm considering Sunbrella Fabrics for this laptop cover, they are so stain resistant and can hold up to anything.

Out West at the Flying E Ranch

Last week I visited the Flying E Ranch, a great Dude Ranch in Wickenburg,AZ just west of Phoenix about 40 miles give or take a cactus of so.

Breakfast is over, the horses are saddled, and your day at the Flying E Ranch begins with a ride out over rolling desert hills to check for newborn calves. At the Flying E, a dude and working cattle ranch, the casual and relaxed atmosphere is as natural as our gorgeous sunsets.

Well, it is time for the Flying E to have a new look!  Today we are getting ready to select the fabrics for the guest rooms at the Flying E.  I have a found a beautiful soft microfiber with a tooled leather look for the duvets.  The fabric is so soft and cuddly that it would keep any cowboy warm on the range. 

     

Now for the lightly shirred bedskirts, this is where we need to add a cowgirl touch! Maybe a stripe or print.  That is today's project.  

 

If you planning a trip out west stop by the Flying E Ranch and meet Ande and Steve, great people and the love showing you a good time.

Your hosts, Andrea & Steve Taylor welcome you to enjoy all the west has to offer.

With the bluest of blue skies, craggy mountains surrounding you, excellent food and the legendary hospitality of the Old West, the Flying E Ranch is the ideal place to take a step back in time.  Clean air, warm sun, good horses, breathtaking scenery and genuine cowboys as your guides will fill your hearts with memories to treasure for the rest of your life. 

 Visit the Flying E Ranch

1001 Design Ideas for Pillows

I'm so excited, my favorite Pillow Sketch Books arrived this week and they are up on the site for sale again. 

These 2 books are Designer's and Workroom's best tool to use for fabricating and designing custom pillows.

The books have been out for several years and I sold my last copy to a student and I can't tell you how much I have missed these books. 

Written and Illustrated by Jo A Woodworth.  I have used these books more than any other educational material I have purchase in the last 10 years. 

Jo will be discontinuing the hard copies of both books.  If you want to add these wonderful books to your library, Now is the time to order. 

 CD's are available also at this time. 

1001 Pillow 1- 450 sketches and overlays for square pillows and neckroll pillows.

  1001 Pillows 2 - 350 sketches and overlays for rectangle, boxed and striped pillows.  #2 also has suggested layouts for pillow placement. 

There are a limited amount of these books left in print. Do NOT Wait to order! 

The CD is great and you can print the sketch's but if you are a hands-on person and love books the way I do, you will want to order today.

  

Order you Pillow Books Today!  You will not be sorry, these are a must for workrooms and designers who love beautiful custom pillows.