Drapery panels at 25 widths each & how to tackle such a project.

Drapery panels at 25 widths each?  Have you ever been asked to make a really wide drapery panel?  What did you do?  Did you turn and run the other way?  Or did you accept the drapery panel project and then wonder how you were going to tackle the job? I was recently hired to [...]

I cut up my son’s high school letterman jacket and turned it into an upholstered chair.

If you have grown children, you know they leave some things behind when they move into their new places, right?  Trophies, books, papers, and clothing like letterman jackets.  Sound familiar?  I bet it does!  And what do you do with all this stuff? Here's what I did with our son, Justin's Cross Country High School [...]

It’s been an eventful 2017 at Designs by Donna!

I hope your year has been a good one too and that 2018 brings you good health and much joy! At Designs by Donna my mission is: To use my passion, gifts, and abilities to bring joy and beauty into the lives of others through exquisite design, teaching, and sharing.

Difficult Fabrics – Silk Velvet Banding on Drapery Lead Edge

Working with difficult fabrics can be challenging and stressful unless you first determine your course of action.  This is the second edition of working with difficult fabrics.  I'll show you how I used upholstery weight silk velvet to make  narrow bands on  silk taffeta panels.  Now these are two fabrics that couldn't be more incompatible. [...]

How to sew a interlock stitch in drapery panels

When making multi width drapery panels, adding an interlock stitch at the seams will help keep the seams lined up as they hang.  Without this stitch the fabric layers may shift making the draperies look untidy or messy. Sewing the interlock stitch is quick and easy when using your thumb to pinky measurement. Here are [...]

Patchwork chair seats – the challenges, fun, & following my gut.

Patchwork chair seats and following your gut.  You may be wondering how these can possibly be related.  Well, really, they aren't.  Except that because I followed my gut I created these one of a kind chair seats for the sample room here at Designs by Donna.  And I really like them much better than my original [...]

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