Home Decor Series - Wednesday in the Workroom - Zippered, Corded Pillow

Home Decor Series:

Wednesday in the Workroom

Make a Zippered, Corded Pillow Like a Pro!

In the Wednesday in the Workroom portion of the Home Decor Series, I'm going to teach you how to sew like a pro! If you can sew a straight line and follow directions, then you can make these:

You can do it. I know you can.

We're going to make one pillow with two different looks. I do this often for my clients because you can get two looks for the price of one.

At the end of this post you'll know how to make fabric cording, insert a zipper, add tassels, apply a trim, and make a pillow. That word "zipper" sounds intimidating, huh?, Don't worry, I'm going to make it pain free for you.

Let's gather some supplies.

Decide on the size pillow you want to make. I've decided on 18" for this project, so I only needed 1/2 yard per fabric.

I used 1 fabric for the front, 1 fabric for the back, 1 fabric for the cording, 2 tassels, a zipper, and 2 1/4 yards of cotton cord per pillow.

ADDING TRIM

We're going to add trim to one side of the pillow, so before we sew anything together, let's get that out of the way.

First, lay out your fabric against a straight edge. Mark the lines on your pillow where your trim will go, and then add a tiny bead of glue on that line. Note "tiny".

After the glue dries, sew the trim down on each edge.

When you're finished with that, your fabric should look like this. (I did two pillows)

CORDING

Ok, now set those aside and let's make some cording. A little tip about making fabric cording - you do not have to be exact with your cuts because you can trim it in the end. For teaching purposes here, I did measure it though.

Lay your fabric out face down. Take a straight edge and mark your first line. You'll want to have some degree of bias, but if your fabric is fairly flexible, a true bias is not necessary. In this picture, you'll see my bias is very leinient. My cord is 3/8" of an inch, and I'm cutting my fabric at 3".

After you've marked your lines, you're going to stagger them and sew them together. The reason for staggering the lines is so that you can create one continous strip.

This keeps you from having to sew several pieces together.

Once you've sewn your seam, press it out, and then cut along the lines.

CORDING TRICK:

Now, put your regular sewing foot (not your cording foot) on your machine, set your stitch width at about 4-5, and sew the fabric around the cord. Do NOT try to sew it too tight against the cord. I'll explain why in a bit, but for now, just sew loosely. Notice my needle placement against the cord.

After you've done that, cut the excess fabric off about 1/4" from the stitch line. Leave a little empty cord.

For those of you with a serger, just wrap the fabric around the cord and zip it through to trim off the excess.

Your finished cord should look like this. (I ran mine through the serger which is why my edge looks different from what you'll be making.)

CONSTRUCTING THE PILLOW:

Now you're ready to begin sewing all of the parts together.

Because this is a reversible pillow, you need to decide which side you'll be using the most, and we'll call that the front.

First, let's sew the cord to the front.

This is a good tip for beginners. There is no need to pin the pillow together and try to sew the cord into the seam. The way I'm showing you will make sure that your cord is tight and professional looking. No need to pin your cord down too much. Every few inches will be fine.

Be sure NOT to pull your cord too tight when sewing it on.

When you sew it to the front side, I'm going to have you sew it at a stitch length of 5, and do NOT ride too close to the cord. You simply want to get the cord attached right now. We'll tighten it up once we put the layers together. Doing it this way will keep you from having to try to cover your first stitch when you're finishing the pillow. Start in the center of the bottom, and leave about 2" of the cord unattached at the beginning.

When you get to the corners, put a few little nicks in the cord with your scissors so that you can round the corners perfectly.  (A lot of people just put one snip in the corner and turn the fabric, but that creates puckering in the cord.) You'll be surprised how perfect your corner is going to look by doing it this way.

Here's the easy way to join the cord at the end.

It's easier to show you the pictures than to describe it, so if you look closely, you'll get it.

Stop about an inch and a half short of where you began.

Tuck the beginning of the cord into the end of the cord, and cut the white cord so that it joins the other.

You'll need to take out a few stitches at the end so that you can wrap your fabric around the first part you sewed on.

Hold it down really tight and then sew it all down until it's all attached.

INSERTING THE ZIPPER:

Now, remember that zipper I told you you were going to insert? It goes on this side. Because of that, you'll need to tighten the cord down on this side right now. Put your zipper foot on the machine now. You'll use it to finish the pillow out. To get it tight, sew to the inside of the first stitch line on the cord. Get it as close to the foot as you can. Notice my needle placement.

 

Ok ladies, pull out that zipper.

Follow my pictures closely to see how to insert the zipper properly. You'll sew it to the front side of your fabric first, right on top of the cord.

On your back fabric, go ahead and iron the edge over about a half inch and set it aside. Pin only the ends of the zipper, like this:

On the side you turned over, be sure to sew it about 1/8" from the edge. This will be the lip that overlaps your zipper to hide it.

On the cording side, sew it about the same length from the edge. This will give you a tight fit on the closure.

Sew both sides of the zipper down. Stop about 1 1/2" short of the ends.

SEW THE PILLOW TOGETHER:

It's time to sew it together. Grab your tassels.

Before you sew the sides together, you need to sew the tassels down in the corners. Clip a couple of stitches where you sewed down the cord to the top corners.

Push the tassel cord UNDER the fabric cord and sew over it.

Don't sew over the zipper.

Now zip the zipper and flip the pillow so that you have the face of each fabric together. Pin the corners down, and put a pin the corners of the sides without the zipper.

You'll sew the corners on the zipper side first. This will set your fabrics straight and give you a guide to go by when sewing the rest of the pillow together. Start sewing about 2" down from the edge that wraps around to the zipper side.

Now, remember when I had you fold the edge of your back fabric over a half inch? You'll use that as your guide for your stitch line.

Follow these couple of pictures closely.

See where you turn the corner? As you turn it, you'll run right into the fold line. Stitch directly in that fold line. This will make your seam even with the zipper you sewed in.

Then, be sure as you sew that the zipper is on the outside of your foot. You can tell by feel.

Finish it off like this:

This locks your zipper into place, Just wait till you see how perfect this will look on the finished side.

When you sew the other end, do the same. You'll need to flip the pillow over and sew it from the other side.

As long as you're sewing in that crease line, your zipper will be perfect.

Let's flip that corner right now and take a peek.

Notice how the zipper just goes away in to the corner?

Notice how smooth that cord is on the turn?

These are little tricks you learn with experience, so I just put you ahead of the beginner's game.

Ok, flip it back over and finish sewing the pillow together.

IMPORTANT: UNZIP your pillow right now. You've got the corners sewn down on that side, so now it's safe to open it.

Alright, remember a few steps back when you were sewing on the cording loosely? Here's where you'll  tighten it up, and where you'll thank me for not having you sew it tight the first go around.

Start sewing where you left off sewing the zipper on. Try to get the needle as close as you can to the cord. Do NOT pull your fabric too tight. Your machine has feed dogs on it for a reason. It pulls the fabric through at the rate the machine was designed to pull it. If you tug at it too much, you'll bend your needle.

When you're done, clip the corners like this:

This is the exciting part. Turn your pillow right side out and see what you've created! Pop a pillow insert in it and put it somewhere that you can see it everyday. Congratulate yourself. I bet it's beautiful!

Two looks in one pillow....

I added a few fabric covered buttons to mine to jazz them up a bit.

Now you've had your fisrt VERY THOROUGH sewing lesson with Polly. I hope I've taught you something you can put to use right away.

Please help me out so that I can plan future sewing instruction post by letting me know what you think.

Is this too much information in one post? Do you like being able to read/print out the full instruction all at once?

Would you prefer to have each session broken down into parts?

Let me know and I'll tailor future posts accordingly.

I don't want to scare you away with such thorough instructions, but I also don't want to leave you feeling like you have to wait to finish a project. I'll let the readers decide.

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Several weeks back I posted this as a guest post on another blog. I want to share with you an email I received afterwards.

This goes to show that, YES, you can do it even if you're a beginner.

This reader took the elements of what I taught in this tutorial and took it to the extreme for her very first real project.

Read her letter:

POLLY!!! You won't believe what I did? I mean, you don't even know me. But let me tell you, I'm so excited. I saw your pillow thingy on Donna's site.  I got so inspired. I am Miss Enthusiasm when there's something to be enthusiastic about, of course. I was going to make a pillow, with cord. I've made pillows before. Just your basic kinda pillow - complete with hot glue to close the sweety up. Nothing too fancy. I'm not a seamstress. I'm the "owner of a sewing machine". Not a sewer.

So. What did I do with all my enthusiasm and sewing knowledge? I made a slip cover!!! What?????!!!!!!!!!! I did! I did! I can't believe it. I can't believe my hands and heart sewed this wonderful pretty!!! And today, Lord willing, I am sewing a cover for the sweet otto(woman) that came with her. A find from CL! And then a pillow cover for a smallish pillow (WITH A CORD!!!!!!!!!!) to sit on my newly slipcovered chair!!!!
I had a meeting to go to last night. When I got home, I went into my studio to stand and stare at my slipcovered chair. Then my husband told me that he loved it so much while I was at my meeting he went downstairs for something and found himself looking at the chair and feeling so proud of me!
I know this was a long story. But if you knew how many piles of fabric and inserts and cords and well, no zippers, but stuff I have waiting to be made, sewn, created. You'd shout something or scratch your head. What was I waiting for? The teacher!!!
Thank you! Bottom of my heart thanks! I cannot wait to learn more!

Btw, I have a tiny blog and I know how long and arduous these posts can be. I truly appreciate you setting all these photos and instructions and taking the time for the "sewer wannabes" out here!!


~Kolein

Have a look at how she transferred what she learned to her own project.

Pop on over to Kolein's blog to see the slipcover she created! And read through it while you're there -she's a funny gal that'll keep your in stitches (no pun intended).

Wednesday's Post on Thursday

Unfortunately, I am a migraine sufferer. Being so, it interrupts some of my best laid plans.

So, the post scheduled for Wednesday, How to Make a Zippered, Corded Pillow Like a Pro

will be posted sometime on Thursday. I have a wee bit of editing to do first, and even this little bit of typing is causing my head to throb an my eyes to hurt. Those of you who have them know what I mean. This ain't no girly headache my friend.

I have been in bed for a day and a half, and woke up this morning with the worst migraine I've had in a long time, complete with dizziness, vomiting, and throbbing in my eyes, face, and neck.

I did force myself to get out of bed and make my way to the doctor around 5:00.

The forceful throbbing -you know, the kind that makes you want to cry like a 2 year old - is finally gone thanks to said doctor, but I'm still in pain. I would give myself a shot but hubby is out of town, and those things are scary to do when you're alone. I've lost feeling in my legs before from one, so I've learned not to do that when I'm home by myself.

Just wanted you all to know that I didn't forget, I just can't see very well when my eyes are burning and pounding and they can't tolerate light, and any amount of concentration when you have a migrane isn't fruitful.

Thanks for understanding. I'll be back tomorrow.

AngelaBaby

Angela Yeung Wing, popularly known by her stage name Angelababy, is a model and actress from Hong Kong. Her "star name" came from the combination of her legal given name "Angela" and her nickname her family gave her "Baby

Home Decor Series - Designer Friday - Window Treatment Dilema

Welcome to the first installment of the Home Decor Series: Designer Friday

Make Mine Beautiful's Home Decor Series, was developed in hopes of being able to teach readers about how to make better informed decisions for their homes, maybe teach them how to sew a bit, and to give readers a place to go to have their questions answered and their decorating and design dilemas addressed directly.

Designer Friday is where I answer your decorating and design related questions - but beware - you may actually show up right here so that I can use your question to help other readers facing the same challenges.

Let's jump right in!

(Warning, this post ended up being very long and involved. You'll need to allow about 15 minutes or so to read it.)

 

I recently received this letter from Traci at ThreeDogsAtHome. I'll let Traci tell you in her own words what kind of problem she is facing in her living room with her windows.

Hi Polly,



....................I have two windows on either side of my fireplace. They are different sizes but the same length and distance away from the fireplace. It is a very unusal room with a weird floor plan and I don't know if I should put drapery panels on both sides of each window or if I should put only one panel on the outside of each window . I hope this makes sense. The room is so unbalanced I can't decided what to do. My husband would say Analysis Paralysis.

Attached are two pics of the room. Even taking a picture of this room is difficult. I am really looking forward to your advise.


Thanks Traci

Here is the room and the windows in question.

This post is related to solving an unbalanced window problem, but I will address some of Traci's room specific issues at the end and offer some tips to give the room a cohesive flow.

Designer's Solution: There are two windows flanking the fireplace. In Traci's case, her windows are two different widths but are the same length. They are also equal distances from the fireplace. Many of you probably have a room similar to this where you have a fireplace flanked by two windows, or a window and a door. The examples I'm going to post will service any of those situations.

You'll also notice that in the top picture the window on the left has a vertical center divider, while the one on the right doesn't. This may be a visual hindrence to you, but it does not affect the solution for the treatment.

The important thing in any case like this is to visually balance the windows. Which means you'll want to make the size of your window treatment fit the largest window, and then manipulate the larger treatment to look symmetrical on the smaller window. Make sense?

For instance, if one window was 54" wide, and the other was 30" wide, you'd want to buy rods that fit a 54" window, or make board treatments in the 54" size. NOTE: This visual balancing trick only works if you will be adding panels to the window. It's hard to fake empty wall space with no panels to cover it up.

When you put the 54" rod on the 30" window, you'll have 24" of wall space to hide. That's where that panels work miracles. The symmetrical window treatments will take the attention off the misproportioned windows. Follow me?

Now, Traci's question was should she use one panel or two on the windows. Looking for a simple answer? Not here, my friend. (Don't yall know me by now? lol)

Here are a few examples of window treatments that are flattering to this kind of window situation. If you follow my blog, you already know I had a picture mishap last week and lost over 5000 pictures from my files. Unfortunately, many of them were in the Window Treatment category. So, because of that, you're going to have to use some imagination, but I'll guide you through the imagery.

(Since I all of a sudden paniced when I realized I didn't have the pictures I really needed, I jumped up and just took this one of my living room. In other words, please overlook the messy coffee table and my hubby sitting on the end of the sofa on his computer in his jammies.)

In this room, I have a door on the left and a window on the right. The window is a few inches wider than the door, but in this case, not enough to make a difference. Since we use this door regularly I needed a treatment that would allow me to still be able to go in and out. Because of this, I decided to use panels on rings so that I could slide the panel across the rod to clear the door opening. Also, we get blaring sun through the door in the mornings and I needed to be able to close the drapes during that time. If you look closely, you'll see that I installed the rods to extend a little to the outside edge of one side of the window. This allows me to clear the window as much as possible when the drapes are open. However, the rods are not symmetrically placed on the inside edge of the window because there is no need for the fabric to extend past the point of the trim. Make sense?

Here's a treatment I did for a client. In Traci's case, she could extend the drapery panels on the rods into the window, and make the swags thicker across the rod. Yes, the swags would end up being two different widths on the window, but the symmetrical appearance of the treatments would soften the difference.

This is where your imagination has to start coming in to play.

This is actually a treatment I did for a teenage girl's room, but with a little creativity, you can transform this to fit Traci's windows. Imagine the treatment split in the middle. With this style, you would board mount the london shade, and then mount a rod about and to the outside of the board, as shown in the second picture.

Also, because you would be using panels with this treatment AND a board mounted under treatment, you could make the treatment for both windows the same size. Why? Because the panel on the right window would cover up the wall space, so no one but you knows the window is smaller that the one on the left.

Using this kind of treatment, you could forgo the tabs and use panels on a ring instead. Just be sure you mount your rod far enough out from the board underneath so that the rings clear the board. This application also allows you to open and close the drapes, OR raise and lower the shades.

Here's another I did for a client with the same windows.  This is a more formal home, and since this client is often traveling, privacy was a key factor. Here, I layered the treatments so that the panels would close on top of the sheers. I decided on the sheers as a means to give the window a softer look when the panels were open.

This client didn't want a hard window product, so the solution was to add an organza sheer that allowed light filtering, yet offered privacy. You could do this treatment without the sheers and it would work just as well.

Also, look closely at the top area of the sheers. See where the light ends and the dark part is behind the sheer? That shows you how high I hung the rods above the window. I did this to add visual height to the room (which I suggest that Traci do).

And, look at the rods. See how I only have a finial on the inside of the rod? The outside of the rod runs into the wall. I simply put an end cap on it. This allows the panels to go all the way back so there is no dead wall space to the outside of the panels.

On a decorating note, see how the furniture is turned at an angle from the fireplace? Just because you have a fireplace in a room, doesn't mean your conversation area has to follow the layout of that. I chose to lay out the furniture in this room so that it created a more intimate conversation area. In larger rooms, when you allow the furniture to lay to either side of the fireplace, it creates a rather large gap between the people in the room. this particular room is only used during entertaining, so it was the perfect solution.

I need your imagination again. I lost the other pictures of this room. (I need to email that client for pics because this is a truly beautiful room.)

Anyway, take a look at the treatment to the right side of the fireplace. I've done this treatment several ways. Mirror image this treatment, and you have the one for the left window. Follow me for a few visual imagery changes. This treatment looks really nice when you mount it so that the topper long point is to the outside (opposite of what's shown here), and the panel goes under the long side. Then, put the jabot (cascade) on the short side so that the treatment ends up flanking the fireplace (instead of having it layered on top of the panel). Could you follow that? (I'll be making this treatment for my bedroom in the next few weeks, so I'll come back and show it to you then.)

If you have an additional window in the room, this picture shows how you can effectively treat that.

The is one of my favorite treatments of all time. It's simple, yet  sophisticated, tailored with subtle curvature, and has fabulous  feminine appeal, yet could be used in a man's study. I just love it, love it, love it.  It's my go to treatment when nothing else just seems to fit.

NOTE: When deciding on a layered treatment such as this, be cautious of selecting a proper fabric. A heavy fabric or heavily patterened design would add visual weight to the window that may not work in your situation. (A post on the marriage between fabrics and treatments is scheduled for next month, so I won't go any further with that topic on this post.)

A treatment that needs no explanation. A great go to treatment in a pinch. My preference is for you to be more creative if the window allows.

Isn't this a great room? Look at the treatment on the closet. This would be a perfect solution to Traci's window dilema. This would add needed drama to the room, give it a more upscale feel, and yet it would be graceful enough that it wouldn't overpower the windows or the room.

These pictures all have vaible solutions for a 2 window wall. Just make a point to be a bit strict when selecting your fabrics. Layered treatments are best in more neutral patterns or monotone fabric combinations, while you can get away with stronger patterns and palettes for lighter weight treatments.

Now let's address a little decorating:
I'm posting her room picture again so that you do not have to scroll up for reference.

This is all I can see of her room, so I'll be making a few assumptions in my assessment.

There is a cabinet to the left along the wall which I'm assuming is a tv cabinet. Further, I assume that it's on that wall because that's where the cable outlet is. Next to the cabinet is a CD rack.

I'm seeing the inside back of a chair in the forefront of the picture, which I'm guessing is a dining room chair, so I'm assuming this room backs up to the dining room. (Further digging into your blog tells me this is actually a message board. Is it just propped up at the end of the couch?) I wish I had more pics from a distance.

I don't see any doors in the room, which means the layout isn't as restricted.

On the right wall, there appears to be a buffet of some kind, and a small table covered with a cloth. Is that an animal cage maybe?

There is a school chair in the far corner behind the sofa.

There is a table with a lamp at the end of both seating areas.

Designer Solution: Starting with the fireplace. The piece of art appears to be something very nice. However, it blends into the wall so much that it doesn't have an impact. I suggest painting a darker rectangle on the wall as a faux frame that extends out about 4 inches on all sides. Perhaps a nice chocolate color. This will make the art stand out from the contrast color so that makes more of a statement in the room. If it were mine, I would add a molding frame above the mantle that extends the height of the fireplace all the way to the ceiling, paint the inside of that, and then hang the picture in the center.

The mantle is quite high, and when adding accessories that have height to them, make practical choices. Although the candle holders are pretty, they aren't very pracitcal. Each time you would want to light them, you would need to remove them and place them back after they are lit. That's a little risky to me. A better choice would be a couple of greenery pieces and maybe a collection of plates or book on stands. Be careful not to take away from the art by overdoing it.

I would paint the brick to match the white surround. You'll still have the texture, but it will be less choppy with the blocks of color, especially if you add the paint above.

I would add a shelving unit, not a shelf, to the wall beside the tv cabinet and place all of the CDs in that. The small rack is very out of scale. You can bring the school chair over under the wall unit.

The chair looks like it's in front of the tv cabinet. Do you have room to bring the chair forward, turn it around facing the fireplace, and set the end table with it? If so, I would do that. It would function better in that position.

Then, could you move the sofa forward a little, or put the end table at the opposite end? If so, you could move the small table with the cover on it underneath the right window, and then add a display to the top.

If possible, I would move the tv cabinet down the wall to the left. If it's a matter of a cable cord, the cable company will give you a longer one for free.

Doing these few things will open up the end of the room where the windows are so that it doesn't look crowded.

Next, I would add a prints around the room. I would start by either painting a pattern on your lampshades, maybe add a stencil and some fringe, and then sew up a few toss pillows that have large patterns. These few touches will add a bit of curvature to the room, and give you a touch of whimsy.

Here's a layout I found. I wonder if this might work in your room?

(Unfortunately, I'm not sure where I found this. I think it came from Rate My Space)

Where the tree is, you'd put that small covered table under the window.

Do you have a coffee table for this room? Has it been purposely omitted? From looking on your blog, it appears you have another living room, so I'm assuming this is the hang out room?

I'm not sure what all is on your wall to the right, so I can't really address that in this post.

The room definitely needs some color for contrast, and I would go lighter in color, rather than darker.

For your window treatments, if you choose one that requires a rod, use a strong color for the rod, with a neutral patterned fabric for the treatment. This will add  the much needed contrast this room needs without adding additional colors.

I hope this little experiment has helped you, Traci, and I hope that others have learned something along the way. I actually started this post early in the day, and have been pulled away from it several times, so here it is at 12:45 am. So sorry it didn't hit earlier.

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Would you like your questions answered here? Please leave them in the comments.

If you'd like a decorating assessment like the one above, send me an email with your pictures and your issues. Be sure to include as many views of the room as possible. I try to answer many of them in email, but if I feel it is a question others may share, I'll address it on Designer Friday.

Happy Decorating!