Sew Easy

Give your home a face lift with fabric. Butterick Patterns has a new collection of easy to sew patterns featuring beautiful designs from Waverly that will enable you to give your rooms a new look in no time.

Start with a space in which the whole family gathers, the dining room. The tabletop pattern, which includes directions for a tablecloth, placemats, napkins and chair pads, has been interpreted here in Summer Splendor – Laurel from Waverly’s In the Garden collection. The oversize orchids and rhododendrons, ferns and foliage, in soft shades of lavender, cream and green, will add a bright note to meals, even on the dreariest winter day.

To add some contrast to the setting, placemats, a table runner and tassel-trimmed window shade have been stitched in a coordinating fabric, Serene Stripe – Laurel.

Butterick also has directions for an upholstered memory board, shown here in Summer Splendor – Laurel, accented with purple grosgrain ribbon trim. A memory board is a charming way to display favorite photos and a great help in keeping track of invitations and reminders of things to do, so consider making several in different fabrics to hang in the kitchen, den and bedrooms, as well.

Window treatments are another easy way to freshen the look of a room and Butterick has six new designs to entice you. Among them are this colorful valance (in Summer Splendor – Chocolate) topping coordinating drapery panels (in Serene Stripe – Chocolate). The fabrics are the same designs used in the dining room but note the dramatic difference in color.

Serene Stripe in still another colorway, this time Antique, is used as part of another, more elaborate, valance. This window topping uses the stripe as both a top trim and as a lining under the main fabric, Byzance – Antique.

These patterns and fabrics are available at Jo-Ann and Hancock Fabric Stores.