So I opened my email last night and recieved an email that made my day…just thought I’d share.

I am just about done with my new slipcovers for the front room….let me just tell you I am in LOVE!!! I just have two more cushions and I’ll be done. I decided to change it up and eliminate the skirt and show off the legs. The fabric is kind of a menswear dark grey/brown. It makes my pillows look a ton cuter. I’ll post pics when I am done. Anyhow onto the email that made my day.

Shelley,
I have to tell you, my hopes were pretty high when I ordered your DVD. I’ve just a marginal hobbiest, but for some reason I was really believing your DVD would answer all my questions. And, guess what??

IT DID!!

I loved your presentation, your thorough instructions and tips; I even appreciated your music selection. Your simple style and straight-forward approach really make me believe I can sew one of these dang things! I felt like you were just my neighbor and you were helping me with a project.

Now, I can’t wait to get my Bernina tooned-up, find some fabric and some time and tackle my crazy sectional!

Thanks so much!

Here is a link to my sisters blog that shows sledding pics at the cabin….click here

I know you all like to see pics and not just read words, so here is another before and after. I know the driveway isn’t the best place for pics…but I do what I can.

 Chair before

 Chair after…she chose this darling yellow and cream print. She decided to go with a smaller piping than normal probably 1/8″, and I actually liked it alot. There was no seat cushion so tuck in around the seat and I did piping and a band around the front of the chair.

 Here is the upper back, you can see the smaller piping here and the darling print. I saw this print in red a long time ago, but I absolutely love it in yellow.

 Side view

Showing the band along the front…and yes I matched up the stripes.

I hope you are all enjoying the holiday season. I’ve enjoyed the time off and have sewn quite a few things for my boys in my spare time…footballs, football pillow cases, owl pillows out of my grandpas shirts from a tutorial that my sister found  at  sewing republic blog. I’ve also made a few purses for gifts, I got the inspiration from theboytrifecta blog. I even bought fabric yesterday to redo my front room slipcovers…hopefully I’ll have some time next week to get them done before I start back to work.

Don’t think all I have done is sew with my time off. We have been to the cabin and the boys are working on perfecting their sledding run. We went and saw the lights at temple square. We’ve been to some holiday parties. We are heading to the firestation tonight to have Christmas dinner with Heber since he works on Christmas. I’ve been out running the neighborhood in the snow…all bundled up of course.

Tomorrow we are celebrating my baby sister’s birthday at the cabin…sledding, hot chocolate, and my famous chocolate cake (tip…undercook your cake by 3-5 minutes, it may sink and look ugly, but it will be super moist and yummy and a huge hit!). She was born on Christmas Eve. I still remember being about 5 years old and my dad taking us to the hospital on Christmas day to meet our new sister. I think it was different back then, I just remember my dad holding me up to look through the window to see my mom holding Nikki. Happy Birthday Sis!!

Anyhow onto the slipcover makeover.

 Here is the before of the room. My client had already slipcovered these couches before and had removed the back cushions that were coming off already. She replaced them with big Euro pillows. She decided to go with a white denim and will probably add a chair in black and white ticking stripe after the holidays and the christmas tree is gone.

 Before of the couch…when cutting off the back cushions, cut outside the seam so you still have fabric covering the springs. If you unpick the original seam holding on the cushion, you’ll be left with a huge hole and exposed springs or batting.

 Here is the after, we threw a couple pillows on from the bedroom to add some color until she gets her pillows made.

Another after shot

You can’t go wrong with neutral slipcovers…you can always change your look with pillows.

 My client picked these items up from a yard sale… $30 each for the chairs and $100 for the couch. They had attatched cushions on the back, so I cut those off and covered them separately.  She was able to find the cream jaguard/matelesse fabric at Home Fabrics for $6/yd. It was beautiful to work with.

She used red denim for the couch. We made arm pads for everything to help with the wear. When I make arm pads I put piping in them along the front to make them look like part of the chair.

I thought these were perfect for the holiday season. She was still going to make some throw pillows to pull it all together.

Here is a close up to show the cream fabric. It washed up well.

I saw this dog pillow in one of her other rooms and loved it, so I threw it on the chair. It’s wool hook looped. I thought it went well with all her new slipcovers.

Here’s the ottoman as well. Yard sale finds can be great!