Mohair Fabric for Draperies and Upholstering

Mohair fabric was orgininally produced for the seating of thrones and the carriages of nobility.  It is known as the fabric of Kings and Sultans.  A soft luxurious fabric with great durability for a long lasting product. Mohair is sensuous, sleek and very much a realistic approach to a more urban environment for homeowners searching for "au natural."

It is a silk-like fabric made from the hair of the Angora goat.  It is known for it's high luster.  Also, being warm, durable and highly insulating.  Originally of Arabic origins, it was introduced in England by Charles V in the 1849.  As a decorating fabric, mohair is valued for its flame-resistance, and high sound absorbency.  Thus, mohair drapes are efffective insulators, keeping heart in during the cold weather (especially this winter) and a great barrier against outside hot temperatures in summer.

Think mohair fabric for reupholstering a sofa, chair and simple pleated elongated side panels for an elegant window treatment.

If you are looking to make your house a home, remember to order your fabrics through me.

Talk again,

Denise

Think RED On Feburary 14, 2011

Happy Valentine's Day

2011

Here are a few reminders of what red can do for you today:

 Jennifer Lopez dining room

 Raspberry Macarons

1920's Valentine

Fabrics: Kravet

Amore, Denise

IKAT Fabrics For Fall-!!

Hi Girlfriends, First, I hit a remarkable milestone for my website in August. Since I began in 2007, I have received 1,000,000 visitors with requests. I was....and still am...very excited-!! Economy crunch or what, serious homeowners still know that "To the trade" designer fabrics do make a difference in making their house a home. Thanks for all your past support and may we both grow together in the future.

Second, Whenever I get lots of request for one kind of fabric or color, I know "something" is in the wind with fashion. Nothing is more truer than IKAT fabrics. Now, even I am dreaming of this timeless fabric pattern with the possibility of doing a small love seat in my family room in ikat too.

IKAT (e - kot) means "to bind." It is a very ancient way of creating designs in fabric by resist-dyeing the threads before the fabric is woven. Villagers in Thailand, take the weft (crosswise filling threads) and tie tiny bits of plastic onto the treads. The tightly tied areas of thread, when put into the dye pot, resist the color and create a pattern, once the plastic ties are removed. Traditional ikat cottons are often indigo-dyed in lively and engaging motifs representing the village life and beliefs of the people. Modern ikats come in cotton, linen and silks which are brightly colored with good imported chemicals or natural dyes.

What makes ikat fabric differ from other fabrics is in the woven by hand on narrow looms in a labor - intensive process. Easy to identify because there patterns look the same on both sides of the fabrics..........in other words, no right or wrong side of the cloth.

A hint: Dry Cleaning HIGHLY recommended.

Ikat endless possibilities from runways to accessorities to upholstering to bedding to draperies to even carpet:



runwaydaily.com, blog.hgtv.com, lotushaus.typedpad.com, elledecor.com

Look what ABC has to offer in carpet-!!




Kravet knows....................ikat fabrics with over 208 fabrics from their designers collections.


Sorry, I lost the info on these two beautiful ikat fabrics. '-'


Always count on Scalamandre to show ikat with stunning matching companions.




Sami ikat / 26737 and companion Uppsola / 26738

Think about including this wonderful fabric in your Fall project. REMEMBER.........although very expensive, due to labor intensity, contacting me for a low, low price.

A la prochaine,
Denise

July Heat Is Here-!

Just wanted to say, "Hi Girlfriends-!" and hope you are all keeping cool. I attempted to do a post on Ikat fabrics, but the heat is melting my brain. I will return...later.......on Ikat fabrics.

Keep cool......and please remember to check on your elderly love ones and neighbors,

Denise

Canopy Beds

Hi Girlfriends, I love creative canopy beds. I don't own one.......yet. I must confess, tucked away in my basement is one decorative metal canopy form ready to be painted, and me, finding the right fabric to create a romantic guest room. Yes, doesn't that sound like Project #57 waiting? Also, this DIY women, keeps waiting for the perfect room. It is the scale of a room for such a canopy that I am desiring. And, when I move to Pinehurst, NC, I intend to keep this in mind...........for the sole purpose of having a canopy bed in a guest room.

The walls in this room were painted an oatmeal color. The use of bright colors like lime green and orange as bedding accents works too. For any DIY person, note how the canopy is rolled and tied. How easy is that? What I really love is the floral canopy as it softens the room to give the entire effect an inviting and relaxing atmosphere. In fact, all the fabrics blend together perfectly-!!!



Don't you just love the blue in this room with all the wood exposure? This romantic suite takes center stage beginning with the sheer valance edged in a pale blue striped fabric which puddles on either side of the bed's headboard. LOOK how white linens makes the room so crisp and clean.


BEDDING BASICS:
Color: The most popular colors today are blue, whites, neutrals, and greens. If you want bold colors, I suggest bring in lots of white. Everything in a bedroom-furniture, fabrics and color-is all about balance in order for a room to work.
Bed skirts: Matching the skirt with the fabric headboard keeps the bed looking uniform. Tailored skirts with trim or banding is one of my favorites. I also like to make the skirt just graze the floor. And, when summer comes, you can completely change the look of a bed by adding or removing a skirt too.
Pillows: I buy all my down pillows at Calicor Corners for decorative pillows. They carry the best.......and they can custom order any size for you
If you are spending the money on custom linens, then go the whole nine yards and do down pillows too. Decorative foam pillows will give come off flat....and cheap.
Linens: Woods prefers plain, white linens. Like I have already said, "Crisp and clean." And I agree with Birmingham, Alabama Interior Designer, Liz Woods, "It's not the way it looks but how it feels."

Once you are ready to order "to the trade" fabrics" contact me.
I buy ONLY from my accounts with designer showrooms. Never a mill. Mills contracted by the fine reputations of Kravet, Robert Allen, Brunschwig & Fils, Scalamandre, etc. are NOT selling fine production/workmanship to discounted websites. These sites house inferior fabrics in their " warehouses." Understand, what is being sold by a mill to a site ARE the inferior ends of the run fabrics. They are flawed due to multi reasons. Some being: ran out of dyes, thread breaking, lint caught in the process of weaving, skipping and so many more reasons. NO showroom will sell inferior fabric. Thus you are safe with me.

A la prochaine,
Denise

Happy Mother's Day 2010-!!

If my mother had one weakness in her life, it was hats. Mother passed after 10 children and 96 years later. A day doesn't go by that I don't think about her...........and remember her love for hats.

Happy Mother's Day to all Mothers...........present and past.



Love to all Mothers today,

Denise

Re-upholster Dining Chairs

If you are thinking of re-upholstering dining chairs, now is the time to do it. Workrooms are slowing down and the wait isn't so long.

I believe in solid color fabrics for dining room chairs. If the right color is choosen, they will "pop" in the room and seem less complicated with your walls, paintings, rug, china, floral arrangements and food presentations. If it's a photo opt time, you will be delighted with the end result, with your guest, sitting on solid color fabric.



Remember for a fantastic "to the trade" pricing for your next project, email me.


A la prochaine,

Denise

Pleated Drapery

A drapery arrangement is often the most eye-catching aspect of a room - and the feature that gives the most scope for creativity.

Here is how a professional measurer determines yardage:

Specifications:
* 2.5 times fullness
* 3.00 times fullness for sheers
* 4.00 times fullness for non moving sheers
* 18" hems & headings
* Standard 3.5" overlap for traverse rod
* Standard 2" overlap for wood pole with rings
* Add 10% to finished width for drapery hanging from rings, for easing
* Specify pinch pleats, reverse pinch pleats, butterfly pleats, goblet pleats or cartridge pleats
* Goblets & cartridge pleats are only for standing panels

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Number of Widths: Face width x 2.5 + returns + overlap / fabric width

Cut Length: 1. Finished length + hems / fabric repeat (round up)
2. Number of repeats x repeat = cut length
Yardage: Cut length x number of widths / 36
Sheer railroaded: Face width x 3 + returns + overlap / 36



The chief ingredient in any successful window composition is imagination. To some extent, there is a repertoire of basic forms - a vocabulary of design ideas from which professional designers tend to draw inspiration. Often, the most successful designs are those where a traditional idea is injected with a touch of originality - perhaps in the proportions, or in the detailing, or in the fabric choice.

The following are a few examples of how PLEATED DRAPERY are executed by different designers:



luxe / Chicago Edition / Winter 2010

Private collection

Private collection

Private collection

Private collection

luxe / Winter 2010 / Chicago edition

A la prochaine,
Denise

Face Lift.......Then and Now

Hi Everyone, The lesson today is how to not throw any wood furniture out. If you are dismantling a home of your parents/grandparents/relatives or helping a friend, don't just "pitch" any old wood furniture. Even if you have no immediate use for it .........later you will thank me. Keep the wood items. As decor fashions change, there is "someone" with vision and can create a totally different look to a wood item. This post is proof................

My fabric arrived for my 1950-ish "A Decorator's Chair" and it's wonderful-! The fabric came last Monday and I took it to my workroom on Tuesday morn. At 5:45P Thursday night, the chair was delivered. Now how is that for "instant gratification?"


THEN:


This chair was in the entrance of my g.f. Nancy's mother home forever. Mahogany wood with gold velvet fabric. The cushion and back was of foam and it was hard as a rock. Like petrified. ICK.

What luck though, Nancy's mother was an meticulous caregiver of everything she owned. Nothing in her home was broken or cracked. And everything that had a key to it, the mother still had. A wonderful woman who knew how to maintain her possessions. So it was lucky for me that on the back of this wonderful little gem was still the name plate, "A decorator's chair." It is believed that good decorators gave this chair as a house gift upon completion of a project.

NOW:


I had my workroom paint it lacquer black, and then I went outside- the- box to make this chair noteworthy of popping. Nancy doesn't know yet, but when she comes for my Pheasant dinner party, she will have the honor of being assigned to this chair. I really can't wait for her reaction...........................

Kravet Couture : 28929 - 81 (Zebra)
Kravet: Ultra Suede - Lime

A la prochaine,
Denise

Sen.and Mrs. Ted Kennedy, 1999

Hi Girlfriends, Architectural Digest featured Sen. and Mrs. Ted Kennedy in their Georgetown home in 1999. The decor is timeless. Interior Designer, Josepha B. Faley said of this Washington, D.C, residence for Sen Kennedy and his wife, Victoria, " “My goal was to adapt a formal city house to comfortable family life for a private yet very public couple.”

Fabrics and trims used were Nobilis, Cowtan & Tout, Scalamandre, Brunschwig & Fils, Donghia, Beacon Hill, Lee Jofa, J. Robert Scott fringes, and Houles trims. Ooooh how we wished we could have sold these "to the trade" designer fabrics to them on discountdesignerfabricsonline.com.



I love this floral arrangement of roses and twigs. The painting on the wall was painted by Sen. Kennedy.






This is the backyard and the porch stretches the entire length of the house.

A la prochaine,
Denise et Gwen
discountdesignerfabricsonline.com
mydeared.wordpress.com

Calvin Klein Fabrics 4 Kravet

Hi Girlfriends, Yesterday I was in the Kravet showroom and took the opportunity to look over the Calvin Klein Home collection and his 4 new fabric books. The fabrics range from solids, luxurious textures, silks, waxed linens, embroidered linens, velvets, silk/mohair and the yummy cashmere. Magnifique-!

THE COLORS are le classique Calvin Klein.............sophistique hues of Tusk, Bark, Pyrite and Artic tones. The results of any of these fabrics are quite astonishing and "all easy to live with colours."

These books got me to thinking how NOW is the time to begin working on the INSIDE of our houses again. Remember the project that never got off the ground......again? Summer is a great time to revisit those dog-ear interior design mags and jot down the names of the fabrics before contacting "discountdesignerfabricsonline.com".

EYE CANDY from Calvin Klein / Kravet:

VANUATO - DRIZZLE

FORUM - BISQUE

DAPPER - PORCINI et SENTO - POND

SHIBORI - ANTIQUE et DEBUT - PEARL

Remember to remember...........all the fabrics are available through discountdesignerfabricsonline.com

C'est exquis-!!!

A la prochaine,
Denise et Gwen

Kravet Fabrics for First Lady's Congressional Luncheon-!

Hi Girlfriends, On April 30th, the Congressional Club held their annual luncheon in a non-partisan setting for all spouses of members of both House, Washington, D.C. This is to honor the First Lady of the United States.

DENISE: Did everyone know this toile table cloth fabric was designed and created by Kravet fabrics?

GWEN: Yes and Kravet has been generously doing this since 2001.

DENISE: If anyone is interested in purchasing this fabric, please visit our website, discountdesignerfabricsonline.com and let us know from our "get a quote" window.






A very special thank you to Kravet Inc for your continuous support and generously donating yards and yards and yards of beautiful toile. And, wish we could take orders on your tote today-!

Girlfriends, HAVE A NICE WEEKEND.
Denise and Gwen

All photos from Kravet's Inspired.