Crayola May Not Make a Color for Your Eyes... But Sherwin Williams Does!

When my kids were younger, we used to listen to the Kids' Place Live channel on Sirius XM in the car.  There was this one song by Kristen Andreassen that I loved, "Crayola Doesn't Make a Color for Your Eyes" and maybe that planted a seed deep in my brain that finally sprouted yesterday, when I decided to take close up photos of all of my family members' eyeballs and use the Sherwin Williams Color Snap app on my iPhone to determine once and for all just EXACTLY what color my kids' eyes are. 

Anders' Eye Color: SW6223 Still Water

How cool is that?!  As you can see, you can tap anywhere in the photo to get a whole palette of colors, each with its corresponding Sherwin Williams paint number. 

Lars's Eye Color: SW6216 Jasper

It was interesting to see that my son Lars, whose eyes look chocolately brown overall, actually has a lot of green in his eye color as well.

My Eye Color: SW 6181 Secret Garden

I was surprised to see that my own eyes, which are a yellow-brown hazel, actually have a lot of green in them as well.

Bernie's Eye Color: SW 0016 Billiard Green

Even my blue-eyed husband Bernie's eye color matched up as predominantly green, although he doesn't have any of the amber yellow coloration that Lars, Anders and I all have.

Rebecca's Mom's Eye Color: SW 6488 Grand Canal

Then I had to do my mom's eyes, which are the most beautifully vivid turquoise blue that I have ever seen.  No real surprises there, but isn't it fascinating to sort out all the different colors?  Now you have to listen to the song:

You're probably asking yourselves, "So what?"  Well, I suppose I could now paint a room to match the color of my mom's eyes, or one of my children's eyes.  That's what Sherwin Williams is hoping we do with their app.  You can see how it works to suggest paint colors to go with fabrics or carpets:

Colors from my Dining Room Carpet

Here's what the app came up with for color matches from my dining room carpet (above) and my master bedroom drapery panels (below):

Colors from Master Bedroom Drapery Panel

Not only could I use this tool to help me find paint colors, but I could also use it to find coordinating fabrics for upholstery, accessories, or whatever.  And here's the quilting application: Those dots of color are just like the color dots on the selvages of print fabrics that isolate all of the colors used in the print, very helpful for matching up coordinating fabrics in the quilt shop.  You could use the Sherwin Williams Color Snap app to create a palette of colors for a new quilt that you want to use in an existing room in your home, or snap a picture of the colors in your friend or relative's home on the sly and use it to create a quilt that coordinates beautifully with that person's personal style.  You can also use the app to create a color palette for a quilt based on a favorite photo from your travels or anything, really.  I have a Pinterest folder where I collect color inspiration photos, and here's what the Color Snap app pulled from a few of those photos:

Pretty cool, isn't it?  You can delete the colors you don't want from the palette by touching the color to select it and then touching the little trash can icon.  You can add colors to the palette by touching anywhere on the photo to select that color.  It works with pictures you take yourself with your phone, or on pictures you have downloaded from the Internet or elsewhere. 

Or you can just weird everyone out by insisting on taking close up photos of their eyeballs. 

Weekend Recap: Getting Our Thanksgiving Groove On

Does Martha look smug to you in this picture?  If so, it's probably because SHE was organized enough to order her fresh heritage turkey for Thanksgiving on November 1st instead of waiting until a week before the holiday.  Also probably because one of her underlings cooked this turkey, and she just gets to glide in after being professionally styled and made up, slip on an apron, and pose with the beautifully cooked golden bird. 

I'm not yet recovered from Halloween (and no, I do NOT remember where I hid your candy, boys, so stop asking!), but the show must go on and Thanksgiving Dinner will open to an expectant, hungry crowd in just a few days.  When I called to order my fresh turkey a few days ago, Whole Foods informed me that they had already pre-sold their entire fresh turkey inventory for both their heritage and their organic birds.  Then I called Earth Fare and managed to snag their very last available fresh organic turkey.  Whew! 

The Victor With His Vegetable Prize

Yesterday morning Bernie and Lars went on the 15th Annual Buttercup Squash Scavenger Hunt.  They go from one grocery store to the next in their search for this delicious but elusive squash, overcoming obstacles like crowded parking lots and trolls disguised as produce specialists who insist that butterCUP squash is the same thing as butterNUT squash (no, it isn't).  Midway through their squash odyssey, Bernie called and requested that I send photographic proof of this squash variety's existence to his iPhone so he could battle the scorn and ignorance of the grocery clerks with the weapons of Truth and Technology.  Ultimately, as usual, he arrived home triumphantly with twice as much buttercup squash as we need for his Buttercup Squash and Leek Soup.  Every year, I ask him whether he really wants to go to all the trouble of tracking down the squash and hacking them up to make his peppery soup with them again, and every year he replies that he looks forward to the Squash Hunt and it would not be Thanksgiving without it.  He cooked and pureed his soup Saturday afternoon, while I made the Cranberry Citrus Compote. 

Cooked Whole Cranberry-Citrus Compote, cooling on the stove top

It feels good to have some of the menu items crossed off the list already.  Tomorrow or the next day, I'll need to bake spiced pecans for the stuffing and make the roux for the gravy.  I also have to throw one of those green bean casseroles together for the annual school feast, which happens on Tuesday. 

A lot of cleaning happened this weekend as well, with even Lars pitching in to dust and polish furniture in the dining room, living room, and in my office.  We always put up our Christmas decorations the day after Thanksgiving, and I told my family that every room has to get a thorough cleaning before any decorations can come out.  Now that everything is spic and span and gleaming again, and my house is smelling like holiday food, I'm starting to feel more enthusiastic about the approaching holiday season.

Meanwhile, Bernie has been working hard on the built-ins that I designed for Lars's bedroom to accommodate his staggering collection of LEGO sets (which he refuses to disassemble, and which had previously occupied nearly every square inch of his bedroom FLOOR).  We repainted the walls in Sherwin Williams 6523 Denim, which really makes the white trim paint pop and looks much more "big kid" than the sky blue wall color that he had previously. 

Lars's Built-In LEGO Display Shelving Nearing Completion

Lars started putting LEGO sets away on the new adjustable shelving (deeper than book shelves, so they can accommodate even the largest assembled sets), but he stalled out and left piles all over the place.  I think a Mommy Intervention will happen while he's at school tomorrow -- organization is not his strong suit, and right now Bernie can't even get past the toy piles to measure for the doors that go on the bottom cabinets and the drawer fronts that go on the two drawers beneath the window seat.  At some point I'm going to make a cornice to go above the window and a boxed cushion and throw pillows for the window seat itself.  The main objective is to create order out of chaos before Christmas morning and Lars's birthday the very next day.

Although I helped Anders work on his quilt this afternoon, I have not had a chance to work on any of my own sewing projects in several days, which is making me irritable.  My applique blocks for Jingle are all finished and what with all the cleaning, holiday planning, homework assistance/supervision, and back-to-back 504 Plan meetings at the kids' school last week, I haven't gotten up to the sewing room at all.  It's really a bummer not having a hand sewing project to carry around with me.  I've promised myself to knock out the last four pieced blocks for my Jingle quilt first, and then I can start in on the large center medallion applique piece.

Where did this weekend go?

Tips and Tricks: Custom Drapery Sewing Like the Pros

Faux London Shade Valance, Interlined, with In-Seam Bead Trim

These days, I send most of my clients' drapery projects to my wholesale drapery workroom for fabrication, but when I was first starting my business I sewed all of them myself and I still do small window treatments and accessories like throw pillows for clients occasionally.  My workroom experience makes me a more successful designer, because I have a much better understanding of how things are made and how different fabrics and trims behave than designers who don't sew. You will never see me bringing an upholstery chenille to my workroom, asking them to make it into a swag valance!  Since I had just gotten my new sewing machine right before this order was approved, I decided it would be a great first project on my new Bernina 750 QE.  Remember how I was neurotically matching this large-scale botanical bird print fabric a few weeks ago with the help of my machine's dual feed feature?  Now that the drapery valances are finished, out of my studio, and installed in the client's home, I thought I'd share a few tips and tricks for achieving professional results sewing window treatments at home on a domestic sewing machine. 

Rule #1: Beware Drapery Panels!  I know what you're thinking.  Drapery panels are easy -- they're just rectangles with hems on three sides and pleats at the top!  The problem is that they are HUGE rectangles that have to be cut perfectly straight and perfectly square.  If you cut them crooked, they are going to hang crooked.  For a 102" finished length drapery panel, you will be cutting your fabric into 118" lengths.  Single width panels tend to look very skimpy at the window, even if they are just stationary side panels and not operable, so you will need to seam at least one and one half widths of your 54" wide drapery fabric together for each panel.  Now your rectangles measure approximately 80" x 118" (for 1 1/2 width panels) or 107" x 118" (for double width panels).  A professional drapery workroom has huge padded work tables to accommodate projects of this size without anyone having to crawl around the floor, "tabling" the drapery panels to measure for an exact finished length.  Considering that drapery panels are among the most economically priced custom window treatments to have professionally made, I strongly suggest you leave the panels to the pros.  Believe it or not, the more complicated looking valances or "top treatments" are much more manageable to make at home because you will be dealing with much smaller pattern pieces.  My longest cut lengths for these shade valances were 48", so I was able to roll my fabric out on two side-by-side 3' long utility tables, which were clamped together from the bottom to prevent them from moving apart as I was working.

Cutting 54" Wide Drapery Fabric on TWO 72" long Tables

Rule #2: Stay Away from "Big Four" Pattern Company Patterns!  Trust me, that gorgeous swag valance you saw in Veranda was NOT made with a McCall's Home Dec pattern!  I recommend M'Fay Patterns because they include excellent instructions and detailed yardage guidelines.  Pate-Meadows Designs has some pretty window treatment patterns as well, but they tend to be more complicated and, unless you're planning to make your pattern exactly as shown in the picture, it can be much more difficult to calculate how much of each fabric and trim you will need to complete your project with these patterns.  I didn't use a pattern for my valances, because I've made treatments like this many times before, but M'Fay London Shade pattern #9316 would be very similar.

I know people love to see "before and after" pictures, so here you go!  My clients had recently purchased this home when I met with them, and they wanted to get rid of the previous homeowner's window treatments and paint colors in this kitchen:



Client's Kitchen Before: Dark, Heavy and Dated.  And no, that isn't my Starbucks on the counter...

Here's my design proposal for the client (below).  The old treatment, which spanned from window to window across the top of the French doors, felt heavy and oppressive to me, and emphasized the width of the room while visually lowering the ceiling.  I proposed treating the windows individually with mock shade valances mounted above the windows, just below the crown molding, to open up the space and add a splash of color without that visual weight, and to display decorative plates in the space above the French doors.  

My Design Rendering Showing the New Mock London Shade Valances

Eleria in Graphite, from Robert Allen

This young couple wanted an updated, more tailored look that was elegant without feeling fussy, in a color palette of warm cream, pale blue, with darker wood tones and fixtures. The wife really loved birds and already owned quite a few accessories with botanical or bird themes, so the Eleria linen print fabric from Robert Allen was perfect for her.  The wall color is Sherwin Williams Macadamia, SW 6142.  I've used that color several times before; it's a great neutral that works with a lot of fabrics and doesn't go too gray or too yellow on the wall.

These are called "mock" or "faux" London Shade valances because they are inoperable -- they do not go up and down, and they do not even have enough length to go up and down.  The fabrication of fabric shades is very similar to that of drapery panels, with your decorative face fabric, cotton flannel interlining ( to prevent too much light coming through and washing out your fabric), and a cotton sateen drapery lining sandwiched together and blind-hemmed at the sides. 


Blind-Hemming the Shade Panel Sides

For blind-hemming interlined drapery or shade panels on my Bernina 750 QE, I used Blind Hem Stitch #9 with my #5D Dual Feed Blind Hem foot, just like I would use to hem a pair of slacks.  Since I'm dealing with three layers of fabric and a lot more bulk for a drapery panel, I reduce my presser foot pressure, increase the stitch length to 3.0, and adjust the stitch width to around 4.0-4.3.  It's important to test the stitch width on a scrap sandwich of your actual drapery fabric, lining, and interlining, folded back just like the hem on your actual project, to determine the correct stitch width.  If your stitch is too narrow, you will just catch the lining and your interlining and face fabric will not be secured.  If your stitch is too wide, you will see a big ugly stitch on the right side of your hem.  It's crucial that your thread is perfectly matched to the predominant color of your main drapery fabric for the blind hem.  If you don't want to do a blind hem by machine, your other option would be to hand stitch the hems.  NO top stitching!  If your fabric is any kind of a velvet, hand stitching all of the hems is mandatory.

Kravet Strie Ball Trim in Platinum

Because some of the lining is going to show at the bottom of this type of shade, I cut a 9" deep facing for each shade from my main drapery fabric.  I used a Kravet wrapped bead trim for these shades, which I inserted in the seam at the bottom of each panel so only the bead balls would show, not the header -- I think that looks cleaner and more current.  It gives the illusion that each little thread-wrapped ball was attached individually to the shade.  So the bead trim was basted across the bottom of the shade on the right side, with the trim header entirely inside the seam allowance and a LONG basting stitch to reduce the likelihood of puckering (I think the dual feed helped with this as well), and then the facing strip was sewn to the bottom of the shade, RST.  Then the facing was wrapped around to the lining side of the shade, raw edges pressed under about 1", and STITCHED BY HAND to the lining, just like invisible applique, to hold it in place.  I did not want to take the chance that machine blind hem stitches might go through to the interlining or face fabric, even if I attempted to set my stitch width so that only the lining was caught in the hem, because if the three layers stretch or contract with changes in humidity I would get dimples on the front of the window treatment anywhere that a stitch happened to go through all three layers.  If you absolutely cannot bring yourself to stitch this by hand, I suppose you could use that Steam-A-Seam stuff to fuse it instead if you're sewing something for your own home and you're deathly allergic to hand sewing.  I was doing this for a client, so I stitched this by hand with tiny, invisible stitches, thinking ahead to the applique projects I'm planning for later this year!

At this point, the sides and bottom of the shade valances were finished, but I still had raw fabric edges at the top.  I stitched 1 1/2" down from the top for my board line (used to precisely position the treatment when it came time to staple it to a fabric-wrapped dust board), and then I serged the raw edge for a clean finish with no frayed edges.

What next? More hand sewing!  Little white plastic Roman Shade rings were hand stitched to the back of the shade at the sides and in the center of the pleated areas, at 6" intervals, using an off-white jeans thread (for strength) that matched my linen fabric perfectly, going all the way through all three layers.  It took about an hour to an hour and a half to measure, mark placement, and hand stitch the rings for each shade.  It would have taken MUCH longer if this was an operable shade, because then it would have had about three times as many rings going down the length of each shade.

Some people like to stitch their pleats at the top of these shades prior to board mounting, but I like to make the pleats as I'm mounting the valances so I can make any necessary adjustments to get the fabric taut, but not pulling, in the flat sections.  I mark the top of the shade at the center point, and I make little marks at the center of each pleat.  I make corresponding pencil marks on the top of my fabric-wrapped board at the center of the board and at the center of each pleat, and then I staple the center and ends of the valance to my board.  Next, I create each pleat and staple it in place, and then distribute additional staples as needed along the top of the boards.  Additional fabric wraps over the top of the stapled valance edge so that the top of the valance looks neat and tidy, which is especially important in those situations where the tops of the dust board will be visible from above, as in two-story vaulted ceiling great rooms, etc.

Once the board mounting process was completed, I gathered those rows of rings together and secured them with a larger clip ring to form the soft gathers at the bottom of the shade.  Done -- finally! 

Finished and Installed!

I love how these valances turned out, and more importantly, my client was thrilled with them.  Pardon the mess in the photo, by the way -- ordinarily I would have cleared off the table before taking pictures, but it was an early morning installation and we were rushing so my client could get her children to preschool on time. 

This project reminded me of one of the most important reasons that I continue to occasionally sew some of my clients' window treatments: Every time I do, it takes me at least three times as long as I expected it to, and I realize once again just how much time, labor, and skill goes into every successful drapery treatment.  My drapery workroom is a tremendously valuable resource, and knowing that they can skillfully execute any design I dream up is crucial to the success of my design business, as well as to my own sanity.  Because, when I'm sewing window treatments for clients, I don't get to do ANY of my own projects, and I completely lose my favorite hobby for the entire time that a client's project is in progress.  Sharon and Debra, if you're reading this -- the next one is coming your way!

This week, I need to finish that Dresden Plate quilt for my neice's 5th birthday on MARCH 10th.  Enjoy the rest of your weekend, everyone!