Friday, August 24, 2012

What To Do With Leftover Fabric

  I found these chairs (do you know how hard it is to find accent pieces with plum colors?) online at Target (different style, same fabric ) while waiting for our house to be built in a +55 community.  While I truly love the chairs, I've learn that you really take a chance buying items for a new place in advance.  I've already made huge decorating mistakes, or should I say, wasting money mistakes in decorating my new home.  

Before I get into what this post is about, I want to talk a bit about moving out of a home that you've loved for over thirty-five years. We wanted to "downsize" and move to a new area. We found a community and house we liked, so we made a deposit, and put our house up for sale. Considering the market and the time it took for other houses in our neighborhood to sell (a long time), little did we know our house would sell within two months. Holy crap! We had to move into a rental townhouse while we waited for our home to be built.  In the process, my hubby, the commodore, was in this "either give it away, or throw everything we haven't use for awhile out - we can buy  new stuff mode."  And give away (to charities) and throw it out we did! 

I have my regrets.  I got rid of beautiful stuff I hadn't used in years. Now I wish I had them.  We didn't exactly downsize.  We moved into a different type of house.  One with an open floor plan, larger kitchen, and basically more room space. We had a basement in the old house.  This one, we don't. Every time I have to buy "new stuff" I think about my "old stuff".  It's not the same, and we've blown our budget big time!

OK, enough of that.  The chairs I got from Target went into the parlor . . . . a room you look into, but rarely visit.  I didn't know at the time that the chairs were made from Duralee fabric, until I saw it available online. Unfortunately, it is no longer available now (a few years later) I was so excited to be able to get additional fabric that matched the chairs exactly. I wanted to make pillows to put on the sofas (old) that were also in the room.   And that is what I did!

I'm not going to give a tutorial on how to make pillows. You can easily find many, like I did.  I made the quickest pillows I could - just sewing three sides and stuffing with fiber-fil! No zippers, no welting,etc. - just plain pillows.









But, what can you do with the extra fabric that's left?  

 One, make placemats!


Does anyone have any more suggestions on what to do with leftover fabric?  I still have plenty!

Thanks for stopping by!
















7 comments:

  1. Oh those are beautiful chairs and the fabric is gorgeous! I don't know what to do with the fabric as I avoid sewing like the plague. But I have used it as background in frames, when framing an object I like. As in..you could spray paint something purple...a key or something you like...then use the fabric as a background and frame it. (no glass) That's all I got!

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  2. You could, depending on how much you have, make valances for your windows, or coasters for the glass table in the parlor, or tie-backs for your drapes...the possibilites are endless! Very cool that you could find the same fabric- sure does open up the possibilities!

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    Replies
    1. I know, but I'm not creative in that way. Thanks for the suggestions, love the ideas!

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  3. It must have been hard to leave your home after so many years. But a new place can be a new adventure too! I love the plum color in your fabrics! You don't see it often and it is very new and hip!!

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  4. How about selling the extra fabric on Ebay?

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  5. Your chairs are beautiful, Gail! I would have had a hard time leaving the home that I lived in for so many years too. Wishing you the best in your new home.

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  6. You have shared a very informative and interesting article. I appreciate how amazing and unique your fabrics are. Thank you for sharing all of the pictures of how to decorate a dining room. Keep sharing more articles with us. Now it's time to get Best Roofing Services in Wayne NJ for more information.

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