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Toile de Jouy is so quintessentially French… but did you know that this fabric that tells a story with its printed pictures

actually began its life in Ireland???

Yes, yes it did!

Quickly the fabric became popular in England and France

whereby in the town of Jouy-en-Josas, a suburb of Paris,

toile was being made and soon it became synonymous with the French.

So today I’m going to show you how to piece together this beautiful fabric into the beginnings of a tablecloth

for your home.

Our dining table set up for a fall tea using our 70″ round Shabby Chic rose tablecloth ~ a favorite!

My oak table in storage is 55″ square and a 70″ square or

circular tablecloth drapes nicely over it as you can see here.

Perhaps you’ve thought that placing a round cloth on a square

table might look strange but I think it looks charming ~

especially with a large ruffle like this one has here.

So while Hubby was outside cooking some carne asada

on our little grill for dinner

I was busy working on piecing this new tablecloth.

{No, actually, this is from the day before. I got our fixings

together while he cooked.}

I just wanted to share a cute picture of Mr. Ethereal.

😉

How to Piece together Toile

First of course you have to know how long and wide

your table is, add the drop around the edge of the table

and any extra fabric you might like if adding a pleated

skirting around the tablecloth’s edging

to know what your finished length will be.

Double that and with any repeat patterned fabric

look at the repeat and add one more repeat or at least

a part for matching.

This goes for matching plaids, too.

Count your repeats ~ I had ten as I had the store clerk cut

3.5 yards of this Waverly toile de Jouy.

Since I’d like to use this as a set of tablecloth plus napkins

I also bought another 1.5 yards of a coordinating fabric.

Pick something that you can use as your reference on

each repeat ~ in this case I used a flower along

the fabrics selvage edge.

Draw a line across your fabric through or under your

reference point.

Don’t worry that the pattern might not be printed totally

on the grain ~ it’s okay.

My pattern was just slightly off grain and it isn’t going

to be that big a deal once the fabric is hemmed.

Now the part that takes patience

Find where your selvage when turned under will line up

with the repeat vertically across the second piece of fabric.

Turn and match by overlapping all the way down the fabric.

{This is where it is important to have leftover fabric.}

Since the selvage has holes where the loom or printing machine stretches the fabric and moves it along as a huge roller rolls over

and prints the design onto the fabric,

these holes are perfect for using as a turning and sewing guide!

Sew close to the turned edge and in my case I am going to sew

down the second set of holes.

Press before or after sewing with pins in place.

Don’t cut the remaining fabric from the top and bottom

just yet.

🙂

Shiplap the seam by flipping to the wrong side and turning

under the selvage, pressing, then sewing from the right side

to the left of the first seam about 1/4″.

Shiplapping will sew along the turned under edge creating

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a finished underneath seam to prevent unraveling

just as you always finish your seams.

Just a quick photo sharing our chandelier

and little dining room as I was beginning this project.

Thought you’d like a sneak peak at the chandy

now working!

Sharing with

Really Crafty Link Party ~ Keeping It Real

Blogging Fifty

Dishing It and Digging It

Beautifully Made ~ My Husband Has Too Many Hobbies
*New link party!

Inspire Me Monday ~ Create with Joy

Make It Pretty Monday ~ The Dedicated House
Wow ~ Savvy Southern Style
Feathered Nest Friday
Beautifully Made #7

See you Wednesday for part 2,

Uncategorized

Drop Cloth-Grain Sack Slipcover Reveal

September 13, 2017March 12, 2021 French Ethereal

I am happy to finally be able to share these drop cloth-grain sack chair slipcovers with you all…
🙂

Not only did I buy a Cricut machine three weeks ago
{as hand-cutting stencils with carpal tunnel syndrome plus
having three bad neck disks… Not such a good idea.}
I was hesitant to learn its programming
for a full week
thinking I might take it back and buy
the brand new Cricut version
that is just out called:
The Maker.
But, I didn’t and saved money
with the Cricut Explore Air 2.

When I finally decided to unwrap the Explore
and began playing around with importing files
I found out you can’t just pull in any old picture ~
Cricut will only load certain “picture” saved versions,
not how Word saves…

How to Save a Word Document on a Mac to Use in Cricut

1. Save your photo or word(s) you want to print

like usual in Microsoft Word.

2. Go to “Finder” in your regular Chrome or Safari

{I use Chrome mostly}

and find “Export” under “File or Edit or View.”

3. In “Export” there is a spot to “Save file as”

and this is where you change your file type to a

.png file.

Cricut uses picture files which includes:

.jpg, .gif, .png, .bmp, .svg, .dxf

4. Save this new copy and recheck your Finder

to make sure you now have a second copy with

the correct file name.
This is the time to rename the file if you create
multiple copies of the same thing like I did.

5. Go to Cricut and import your file to create.

😀

Hope that helps if you decide to
create some stencils!

It has literally taken me a week to remember

where to find the way to make .png files and

to then create seven stencils…

Perseverance

Okay, I have to share something…
I have never done anything the easy way
like using something
that is in an already downloadable-form-
already-made-kinda-way…

My first sewing project the summer,
after I took a beginner sewing class in high school
working with a sewing machine,
I made a sleeveless eyelet dress.
It had three skirt tiers and 1/2″ wide satin ribbon
which needed to be sewn along the
lower edge of each skirts layer.
What was I thinking?

I cried. A lot. I was 15 years old.
And it took a week with those tears every day
some frustration and a lot of learning
and the use of a seam ripper
{Oh! and adding a zipper}
but
I finished and wore that dress!

Such were some of the trials with making these
drop cloth-grain sack slipcovers.
🙂

Making Stencils

I looked all around for some wreaths I could download

for free but only came across ones available

for quite a sum from Shutterstock and

a company which creates stencils as their business.

Another site found while looking at all the
wreaths and sprays on Shutterstock
took me to Vectors.
Vectors had another free downloadable tutorial.
It’s good!
Later in the week I found a guy named
Billy Argel who makes German Style Fonts

and you can use them for free
for your own personal use.
IT’S JUST WHAT I’M LOOKING FOR
only…
If I could figure out how to open and use the font…
Seriously.
{are we sensing a pattern here? *Hubby helped this past weekend.}
😉

If you want to use his fonts for any business
purposes, then he has a way to do so and
of course there is a charge.
If I decide to do something more with stenciling
then of course I will be happy to pay him.

Downloading Fonts

Turns out it isn’t too hard ~ I just didn’t know
what file to open.
🙂

1. Hubby showed me that once you have your font
downloaded, they should have been saved to a folder.

2. Find the folder and font, then double click on the “.tnt” file.
This is the file which will bring up the actual font type.

3. From this, you’ll see the “Save font” button
and it should automatically save into your
Word or word processing application.

4. Go into Word and under “Font” you’ll see
“Font Collections” at the very top.
You may have to name a folder but your new font(s)
should be stored there in Font Collections.
It was that easy. Yeah!

Then I came across Haley’s blog called

The Mountain View Cottage

and she had a few free printables

which she has created to make her own artwork.

So… this is where I downloaded a spray of wheat!

I ended up not using her spray of wheat.
Perhaps in another project.
She just asks that whomever downloads

her printables to please publicize

her pin, and here it is!

I finally found some great German fonts and Cricut had a leaf vector spray that I was able to use.

The Reveal

So all that leads us to sharing the Big Reveal

of our dining room chairs’ slipcovers!

I created a different kind of back ~

more like a little summer sundress…
with a flirty bare midriff…

ooh la la!!!

These were finished up with sweet sundress ties

and a rosette holding the ties closed
made from leftover dropcloth.

I got this idea for this rosette from
Marie at The Interior Frugalista
when
Debra over at Shoppe No. 5 {Day 1}
posted a two-day drop cloth event earlier this summer
of which the
settee covers tutorial
I made a few years ago were included on Day 2.

The seat covers now have their little skirt bottoms covered

with the fourth skirting piece plus a tie closure

with sweet pearly buttons

that mimick the

bigger sundress tie closures

on the chair backs.

My signature style ~ buttons

On our dining room chair cushions that I made
about five years ago
I used button closures, too.
I ran with the idea because a few years earlier
I had recovered a barrel chair with
renaissance style buttons
I had saved since I was a teen and
I used them to tuft the chair back.

The button closures can just be seen on the dining room chairs which, coincidentally, are reversible. I used an two old
Martha Stewart curtains found at K-Mart years ago to make the tops, and a red floral paisley to make the bottoms.

I do like buttons! and have collected them
since I was taking them out of my

mom’s sewing box when I was around

7 years of age.

😉

The 1970’s barrel chair {by the Christmas tree, right} I found at a thriftstore and repainted white using all kinds of old
shank buttons for tufting the back of the chair. Sorry, not visible here as it’s hidden by the Christmas pillow.

Bauernladen-Klein is an actual cattle and pig farm with a butcher store on site over in Leverkusen, Germany. I was an
exchange student to Leverkusen when I was 19, so it seemed like a fun idea to pick a farm name from there!

Business in the front ~ Party in the back!

So there we are… This project has had its challenges
for sure but I really like the results!
I changed the back to be less like a tank top and
{my original design}
to a more traditional style as I realized the grain sack idea
wasn’t going to work with the tank top design.

(Might just have to make the cute tanktop
idea with a fun print later on!)

Here is the beginning of this slipcover project
if you’d like to read or learn more:
Just click on these links to see
Part 1 and Part 2.

If you like these posts, please consider signing up in the sidebar to receive updates as new posts come out.
Thank-you!

*P.S. ~ This post was Featured at:
Wow Us Wednesday
Savvy Southern Style
on
Wednesday, September 20, 2017
Woot Woot!
😀

“For no word from God will ever fail.”

Luke 1:37 NIV

“Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,”

Hebrews 12:1 NASB

Blessings to you,

Barb

Uncategorized

How to Make a Chair Slipcover ~ Part 2 and an Update…

August 17, 2017June 21, 2019 French Ethereal

Okay, so what looks so easy to do ~

all those lovely dropcloth chairs you see

on Pinterest all lovely and stenciled

and looking like original

grain sacks…

After printing the wording in Microsoft Word, then the fun with cutting the stencil began.

There is a huge reason WHY you pay

a small fortune for those stencils

and for chair slipcovers with stencils

already on them.

They are really hard to hand cut!

But I’m getting ahead of myself.

😉

I love the dropcloth slipcovers I have seen

with stencils you can buy premade from

Maison de Stencils

but I was thinking to myself

that I want something original…

Blithely I thought, “I can make my own.”

I’m a DIYer and designer so…

why not??

Part 2 ~ Chair Slipcovers’ Stenciling

Gather all your supplies:

stencil pouncing brush

painter’s tape

paint that will work on pre-washed

and dried fabric

precut stencils with words,

numbers, and pictures.

{unless you’re crazy like me to make your own!}

Begin by figuring out how large your piece of fabric

needs to be for each chair back, and it’s layout

with words and other stencils on your fabric.

Find the vertical centers of the top and bottom

of your fabric and dry iron a light guideline into it.

Tape off lines to paint with painter’s tape then with

your stencil brush pounce paint down the open lines.

Be careful with the paint as it’s easy to accidentally

get paint on the fabric where you don’t want it.

{ask me HOW I know this…}

I decided on an Anita’s Deep Denim blue (308066)

and Black (11002) and used a little of the black

mixed into the blue to get an even deeper blue.

Traditional grain sacks had blue, black,

red, green or brown writing on them.

Choose whichever colors you like

for your project.

Pink for a young girl’s birthday party

would be awfully fun!!!

🙂

Let dry overnight per some sites I read,

or until dry to the touch.

I was able to sew my fabric late in the day

after about six hours after the lines were

pounced with paint.

I really used a light amount of paint with each

application, but I went over each section

a few times to deepen the color with paint.

Here you can see I was still deciding whether I wanted the year in the middle or underneath.

Adding the Stencils and Transfers

Mostly why I didn’t get these slips done earlier

in the week was because I was creating the wording

in Microsoft Word

{these are 120 point German font}

and then I found a bee and wreath I liked

on the internet and copied it to my computer.

Hubby helped me move the picture into

Photoshop where I was able to add the 2014

***which MUST BE MIRROR IMAGED to print correctly

when ironed on fabric.***

into the space just inside the mouth

of the wreath.

This was printed onto transfer paper.

Iron on any fabric transfers using a dry iron

{remove all water from the iron first by dumping out.}

according to manufacturer’s instructions.

That’s it for today because I’m still deciding on

how I want the chair backs to look on their backs.

This is my original design but I’m not sure

if it will work with these chairs as

they have oval insets…

To see more, check out Part 1.

So… I’ll noodle this and play around with

chair tops a little more.

🙂

To see more dropcloth ideas, please

check out my friend

Debra Pashowsky’s blog ~ Shoppe No. 5

of which an older post of mine
Sofa Slipcovers
was graciously included!

Next time I should have the reveal and

I’ll tell you what is written on each chair’s front.

Sharing with
Wow Us Wednesday ~ Savvy Southern Style
Share Your Style ~ The Red Painted Cottage

Friday at the Fire Station ~ A Fireman’s Wife
Blogger’s Pitstop ~ This Autoimmune Life
Home Matters ~ Life With Lorelai
Create Bake Grow Gather ~ Shabby Art Boutique
Blogging Fifty
Inspire Me Monday ~ Create with Joy
Feathered Nest Friday ~ French Country Cottage
The Really Crafty Link Party ~ Keeping It Real

Happy Sewing,

//assets.pinterest.com/js/pinit.js

Tag: sewing projects

How to Piece Together a Toile Tablecloth ~ Part 1

Now the part that takes patience

Like this:

Drop Cloth-Grain Sack Slipcover Reveal

How to Save a Word Document on a Mac to Use in Cricut

Perseverance

Making Stencils

Downloading Fonts

My signature style ~ buttons

Business in the front ~ Party in the back!

Blessings to you,

Barb

Like this:

How to Make a Chair Slipcover ~ Part 2 and an Update…

Part 2 ~ Chair Slipcovers’ Stenciling

Adding the Stencils and Transfers

Like this:

Now the part that takes patience

Share this:

Like this:

How to Save a Word Document on a Mac to Use in Cricut

Perseverance

Making Stencils

Downloading Fonts

My signature style ~ buttons

Business in the front ~ Party in the back!

Blessings to you,

Barb

Share this:

Like this:

Part 2 ~ Chair Slipcovers’ Stenciling

Adding the Stencils and Transfers

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Like this: