BRING YOUR CUSHIONS BACK TO LIFE,

Are your sofa cushions getting a little flat, or need some new life? Did you know that if you steam your foam cushions it will recondition them? When you put your steam iron on foam, you can actually see the cells expand. Furniture quality foam (not craft foam) is organic, not synthetic and it dries out. By steaming your foam, cushions will come back to their original size and shape and it will extend the life of your cushions.  

Making a Ruffle on your Pillow

 

Supplies:

• Ruffler Foot made specifically for your sewing machine. (Not a generic one)
   
• Fabric for ruffle: Cut width is twice the finished width plus 1” seam allowance by 2 ½ times the desired finished length.
   
  To Make:
   

• Fold cut ruffle fabric in half lengthwise, with wrong sides together, and serge or zig zag edges. Trim the starting end to a point.
   
• Set your ruffler to setting 1, which will make 1 tiny pleat for each stitch the sewing machine makes.  Adjust the fullness of the ruffle by adjusting the set screw up or down. If needed, the fullness can also be adjusted by the length of the stitch.
   
• Always do a gauge before starting your ruffle project. Using your actual ruffle fabric, place two pins 10” apart. Gather, and adjust settings until the pins measure 4” apart. Now you’re ready to make your ruffle!

 

 

• When making a ruffle, place fabric in between the two layers of black teeth.
   
  Note: A brass stiletto is a helpful tool to use when making ruffle.
   
  
   
• Start your ruffle like this.
  
   
• End like this, overlapping about 2”. If you have extra ruffle, scrunch up, and sew across the ruffle.
   
• Trim of the excess.

Busy Girl's Chicken Marsala

I love to cook, but like most of you, I'm often too busy to prepare a dinner that requires several steps. I have a favorite recipe that I've developed that I call the "Busy Girl's Chicken Marsala". It's cooked in the oven in one dish, and you can add potatoes if you wish. (I do!)

Ingredients:

4-6 pieces of skinned chicken

1 lb of Baby Bella Mushrooms, sliced

2 medium or 1 large onion, peeled and thickly sliced

2 cans of condensed Cream of Mushroom Soup

1/2 Cup of Marsala wine

1 tbs of dried Marjoram

Salt & Pepper to taste

Optional: 4 to 6 peeled potatoes

Put all ingredients in casserole dish. (Don't add water to the soup.) Bake at 375 degrees for one hour and 15 minutes.

 Enjoy!

Here's some tips on how to use the Double Welt Foot.

Keeping My Toes Warm

Hi Everyone,

Day 4 of lent, and I'm keeping up!! I'm off to enjoy the country's oldest Winter Carnival in Saranac Lake. (Will post pictures tomorrow!) It's expected to be a high temp of -6 degrees today, with wind chills in the minus 20's. I want to stay warm to enjoy all the outdoor activities, so here's my tip:

to keep my feet warm, I need to keep them dry. Before I put my socks on, I'm coating my feet with Vaseline. This will keep my feet dry and warm.

Here's a last minute tip for Valentines Day. From my book "Pillow Talk" (available as a download), you can use the Heart's Delight pillow pattern to make this placemat & napkin.  With the Proportional Scale, you can scale the heart pattern up to 18" wide make the napkin in the pocket, and the heart pocket was made by scaling down the pattern to 5-1/2". Micro Welt on the edge finishes it off. This is also available as a webinar! Have a great Valentine'as Day!

Two Spots Left!

My 2016 Boot Camp is scheduled for May 26-30. This is a five day extensive program dedicated to teach attendees how the industry makes custom window treatments.

I offer this program once a year, and limit to program to 5-6 students. I have 2 spots left for this year's program, so if this is something you've been thinking about, you still have time left to save $200 on the tuition.

Email me for more info if this is something you'd be interested in! pam@pamdamour.com. I'll send you a brochure!

Benefits of Boot Camp

• Professional training from someone with over 30 years experience
• Wholesale pricing  on all of Pam's branded products
• Industry Resources
• Pricing advice
• Continued support

What's included:

• Boot camp binder with handouts, sample contracts, program outlines
• kits & sewing supplies
• Meals
• Housing
• Beverages
• Ceritification
• Round trip airport transportation
• Special discounts
• Happy Hour

What's not Included:

• Airfare

Payment plans arranged on an as needed basis. 

 

Valentines Day is coming soon. If you're thinking about creating a special Valentine, try drawing a heart and then add your favorite tangles.  Below are three step-outs for you to try your hand at Zentangle. 


Create a Valentine and if you're happy and want to share it, email it to me and I'll share it on may Facebook page and blog. Send to pam@pamdamour.com.


 By the way, this design is now an embroidery design from the Tangled Blocks collection!

Have you ever wondered how to make continuous bias? Or how to calculate how much you're going to make? Watch this! https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=aBzrGYR41Kk

The 2016 webinar series is about to start. If there's something you'd really like to see this year, let us know! We're still working on our programming so stay in touch. Next week, February 9 will be our next webinar at 7:00pm. EST. See you there!