Cushions

I think this is my all time favourite fabric GP & J Bakers 'Fern' Although I think it might be made by somebody else now? I had kept a few scraps of this fabric since the early 1990's amazing it is still just as popular today, I haven't enough to make curtains to match, so I will have to use it as a border on the good old John lewis Casement cloth!

New Camera!

Well I finally have my own camera, now I won't need to keep borrowing the one from work so hopefully i'll start posting more often! Wishing you all a great Christmas! Oh by the way this is ralph one of our dogs.

Christmas Tree!

Well you might remember the log burner saga last christmas, I didn't even bother with a tree but this year I got started, well to tell the truth I cut the one down in our garden! And I have to say it looks great!

Windows

No I didn't make these, but don't they look amazing! The simplest idea's are always the best, i'm going through a bad patch again ie. not making enough curtains! I have made some cushion covers recently, and I am about to embark on the usual christmas curtain rush! So I will post some photos of them soon!

Laura Ashley

I have often wondered if Kath Kidston and Vanessa Arbuthnott are modern day Laura Ashley's? above anything else they all have an unbelievable cult following, there designs are so easily identifiable to there brand name, what is it about these designers that catapults there designs above everyone else's? and why do we follow them so loyally? I remember as a young teenager catching a bus into Oxford to visit the Laura Ashley shop in Little Clarendon Street, the mere sight of that green shop front and I couldn't wait to get inside, matching wallpaper, fabric, lampshades the possibilities were endless! I would save every penny I had to buy a few meters of fabric, to make what? I had no idea! I have always been such a spendthrift when it comes to fabric, well not just fabric if i'm being honest!! I recently bought 2 Laura Ashley catalogues from Ebay from the mid 80's, the designs and roomsets, sparked hundreds of memories of curtains and blinds that I had made over the years! Sadly Laura Ashley today is a somewhat different animal, although they still have some great designs I find the company a bit too commercialy led as opposed to being design led! Funny how times change!

Nostalgic Pictures

This is my mother and Aunt Jean on a Co operative Stores day trip to London.













This is my Aunt Jean's wedding day, my mother was the tallest bridesmaid in photo, and her younger sister is stood to her side and the bridesmaid the other side of the bride was a family friend. I think my Aunt Jean looks like a pure english rose in this photo and don't you just love the specs! Mind you I don't think millinery had caught on in those days!

I have always kept a black and white photograph of my Grandmother, sadly she is no longer with us but this pic always makes me smile! Anybody recognize these beach huts? Yes I know there isn't much to go on!

More Roman Blinds......

Sorry another quick post! just finished another blind for a friend who's got a good sense of style! Yes Kelly you know who you are!

Have you looked at www.panoramio.com?

This website is incredible, I found it by chance it has a small library of photos of almost everywhere! I just had to post this pic of the devastating floods we had in Witney, this picture is of Bridge Street, I remember standing in this road and seeing water gushing through people's front doors, many had to move out for many months whilst repairs were carried out to there properties, there has even been a play shown called 'The Caravan' which shows how one family coped with living in a Caravan whilst there home was repaired. I also love this picture of my town as it is so atmospheric.

Weekend Break

I have been a bit quite for a while, so just thought i'd write a quick post! Just spent a lovely weekend in Liverpool, top two photos are of a quite remarkable piece of art, the wall and all the windows etc. turn a full 360d amazing to watch! and the third picture is of the Boutique Hotel we

stayed in. I have always loved London and would never have thought of visiting Liverpool but it has an original untouched feeling to it which is wonderful, it has been used for many films, and I think should be used for more period drama's as some of the streets at night have such a dickensian feel to them. And I also had another look at the Albert Dock where Richard & Judy was filmed from, that programme was my saviour when working on my own from home all day making curtains, I so wish Richard and Judy had never left This Morning, but alas everything must change!

Before and After Hallway

Before and after Kitchen 2

Before and After Kitchen

Before and after theme

I've called this before and after because I have taken pictures of the house with bare windows and I will take pictures tomorrow when I have fitted the new curtains and Blinds! Unfortunately the curtains have not been made by me they are all ready mades but all the Roman Blinds have been made by me.

Cushion Covers!

Do you know when you have those weeks when you get round to doing everything you've been talking about doing ? Well it looks like it's one of those weeks for me at last! Made these cushion covers this evening out of some fabric remnants, the stripe you see is a false suede, and the leaf deign fabric is chenille one side and the side I've used is silky with the leaves in the chenille. The suede is what I made the headboard out of in earlier blogs I think it was Osbourne & Little and the Leaf fabric came from Dunelm Mill!

Before & After Ironing Board

Just a bit of fun really been meaning to do this for ages! Lost my rag the other weekend when I was trying to iron a Jacket to wear to a Christening and melted the lovely foam all over it LOL

So here we go a nice vintage cover I have yards of this fabric I know it's Laura Ashley it say's so on the selvedge but the name of it escapes me, it is printed on a woven dobby fabric. Any Idea's of the name?

Log Burner

I just remembered that I had found a pic I took when the fireplace and log burner were nearly finished! Well I say nearly the room only had a paint of magnolia, I still need to change the colour re-arrange the furniture and get some more pictures up, but here is a little look, and like the post before I will post again when it's finally finished!

Before & After

I absolutely love magazine articles that show before and after articles of room's, so I have taken a picture of a bookcase in the small hallway between my kitchen and garden, the bookcase was a bargain buy from a friend, and the hallway is missing it's skirting and badly needs decorating, so I intend to transform them both using paint! I will post more pics as soon as the transformation is complete!

Had to post this pic, just love these blinds and curtains in this beautiful Mark Wilkinson Kitchen, I wished I'd trained as a Cabinet Maker and not a curtain maker.......

Fabric SALE!

Once again i've been brave and I have started to sort out some of my fabric pieces, some of them i've held onto for years, waiting to find the right window for them, but it's time to have a clear out! I'm slowly measuring them and photographing them and they are starting to appear on Ebay, my seller ID is witneycurtainco So please have a look, for all you floral vintage fans there should be a few items you might like, happy bidding!

Finished Curtains

Here they are finally! And now another roll of fabric awaits me, 3 Roman blinds to make will post pictures soon.

Piped Tie-backs

It's the weekend and time to get the sewing machine out again, I'm always a bit lazy with tiebacks and end up buying ropes or tassle's, I decided to make a classic piped tie back, I always think piping looks so smart, hopefully the pole will be up tomorrow and I can hang the curtains and post the final pic!

Bank Holiday Monday Project

Well I've been nagged for months to make these curtains for my mother so I thought as the weather was so bad I'd get started. I had been wanting to make the Goblet heading with a gathered base as opposed to a pleated base for ages, but previous attempts had led to too much snapped cotton and muttered curses, I realised this time if I didn't carry the buckrum all the way down to the base of the pleat it would gather more easily, and it seems to have worked, not perfect but I think i'm getting the hang of it. I will post more pics in the next few days when they have been fitted.

Geffrye Museum

Well I am ashamed to say that I had never even heard of the Geffrye Museum, I only came across it's name on a blog I was reading of an American lady, to think I was born and bred in the UK with a love of Interior design and I had never even heard of the place! So with nothing else to do this morning we decided to have a look! Well it was much smaller than I had imagined, but what was there was very good, basically room settings dating from the 17th Century until the 21st, I took loads of pics, and have attached a few that feature window treatments as that is my main interest, I also bought a great book called 'The book of the Edwardian & Interwar House' great photography and some amazing looking rooms, in fact that's what I'm going to do now! I Hope you are all having a great easter!.

Lovely Room

I keep going back to this photo of a corner of a room, not sure where the image originated it was saved in my pictures folder, but I think the taupe walls and smoky blue velvet upholstery looks amazing.

Tesco's Finest?

Well I must admit to being a real snob when it come's to bedlinen, if it wasn't John Lewis Egyptian cotton at the very least it didn't appear on my bed!

But having decided that nearly all my duvet sets were either holed or had too many buttons missing to salvage, I realised that I didn't have the hundreds of pounds needed to replace them, so I decided to be brave one day and go to the home section of some local supermarkets!

Well shocked is not the word I found Egyptian cotton super king size sheets for a mere £16.00 and matching Oxford Pillowcases for £4.99, but the blue gingham king size duvet set for £5.33 astounded me, how is it possible to produce these for under £6?? Yes it's 50/50 polycotton, but made up with the brilliant white Egyptian cotton flat sheet and matching Oxford pillowcases who would know it was all achieved for under £32.00! I'm not fully converted there is nothing like a Frette sheet against the skin, but for a quick cheap new look you can't complain.