Upholstered Cornice

I've been on a long blog break. Don't worry I had plenty to keep me busy. My hiatus consisted of getting my house ready to sell in Texas (huge job), keeping my house clean for showings (next to impossible with kids), living without my husband while he started work in Ohio (hated it), finding a new house in Ohio, preparing for the house to be packed up and moved (so thankful the company took care of that part) and then unpacking everything in the new house in Ohio. I can't tell you how ecstatic I am that there is a basement and I can just hide all the boxes I don't want to unpack yet down there. Now that things have settled down, I'm hoping to post more on the blog again.

First project for the new house, an upholstered cornice. The house has sliding doors in the back with vertical blinds which are NOT my favorite! I considered switching to draperies, but with 2 dogs and 2 kids I didn't think they would stay clean. I opted for the upholstered cornice.
They are so easy to make and don't require any sewing.

Materials

Wood (for frame)

L brackets 

Batting

Fabric

1. Build the cornice out of wood.  I used a 12" width so I could cover the track for the vertical blinds and give the sliding glass door some balance. My frame came off the wall 8" on the sides. You can adjust the measurements for your window. 

2. Attach batting to the front of the cornice board. I doubled the thickness of the batting and wrapped it around the edge and stapled it to the back. 

3. Next staple the fabric to the cornice board. I stapled it on all the edges in the back to get the fabric centered. During this step you need to make sure you pull the fabric tight to give it a nice flat appearance. 

4. I like my cornices to look nice on the back as well. I used white fabric and covered the back and attached it with hot glue. It hides the staples.

5. Attach L brackets to the cornice and install to the wall.

Fabric Dyeing

I have never dyed anything. I found it a little intimidating, but once I did it I can't figure out why I thought it would be so difficult.  I did have to use an acid dye since the fabric I was dyeing was 100% nylon. I found the dye online at Dharma Trading Co.

I dyed it on the stove top in a big stainless steel pot.  I didn't want to try it in my washing machine since I have a front loader and I wasn't sure how to go about adding it into the washer.  Once I put the fabric into the dye it just soaked it up.  Wow!  It turned out exactly the color I needed for an upcoming Halloween costume.  After it sat on the stove in the pot for 30 minutes I rinsed it several times and hung it up to dry. It turned out perfectly.

My Little Heartbreaker

Happy Valentine's Day!  Here's one of my little heartbreakers.  I made this shirt for him since there are so few shirts out there for boys.  I found the plain black t-shirt at Target and used a red knit fabric that I had on-hand to make the heart applique.  The lettering I did with fabric paint and a freezer paper stencil.

I didn't get around to making a shirt for my daughter, but I did make one for her last year.  Here is the post from her heart shirt.

Koozie Screen Printing

We are back from our wonderful vacation.  I must say it was nice and relaxing.  There's nothing like spending the week at the beach.  I actually did complete a project while I was there.  As a favor to my sister, who knows I wouldn't do this for just anyone, I helped her screen print 20 koozies for an upcoming bachelorette weekend.

I put my Cricut to use for this one since it was a bunch of lettering.  I used freezer paper on the cricut with the shiny side up so it would stick.  Just remember when you do this, you need to mirror the lettering. That way when you iron it on to the material, it reads the right way.  I also learned that freezer paper will stick on a neoprene.  I had my doubts at first, but I just needed to heat the iron up more before it would stick.  It worked out great.  I do recommend cutting out multiple copies of freezer paper for the stencils.  I only had two copies and they were getting gummed up with paint.  Thankfully, they held out till the end and we were able to finish all twenty koozies.  It turned out to be a cute project and I hope the bachelorette party likes them. 

Upcoming Project

I haven't started on this project yet, but I wanted to practice on the fabric first before I do the real thing.  It's a project working with neoprene and fabric paint.  The paint worked just fine and I'll be getting ready to crank out this project soon.  Some lucky members of my family are going to get to help me with this one.  :)