Okay! Onto the couch. It's finished! And I love it.
Ten yards of fabric, FORTY yards of piping, eight 30" zippers,
and four broken needles later, I have a finished sofa.
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| Here is the under fabric of the seat cushions. |
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| Details of the zippers. |
I'm really, really happy with the outcome of this couch. The second couch is still on its way, so I hope to get it soon. Out of the eight cushions that I needed to do, I've completed 6 and a half. I knocked out three cushions this past weekend alone!
I'm also in the middle of reupholstering my chair, too! The back is drying now, but it's almost complete. I've loved this project but I'm ready for it to be over :)
Now I can get back to making clothes. Speaking of which,
I've listed tons of my dresses in my etsy store. Take a look!
Alright everyone, have a great Monday!!
Only four broken needles? I'm impressed! ;-)
ReplyDeleteSeriously, that's lovely work.
Agreed on the needles. Isn't it funny how the amount of piping always sneaks up on you though?
ReplyDeleteBut looking at the pictures I'd say it's worth the effort.
Brava! Fabulous job, Shelley.
ReplyDeleteThis looks wonderful and shows the effort you put into the cushions. Nicely done!
ReplyDeleteThis looks so amazing! Great job! I agree with you about Sew Retro. There seems to be so many rules now, and a lot of the fun has been taken out of the site. :]
ReplyDeleteThanks everyone! I learned a lot from this project and I LOVE the outcome. Though, I might not do anymore piping for a while.
ReplyDeleteAlso SewRetro has moved heavy toward 60s + era, stuff I consider way easier to sew than earlier times. So there is no more learning there for me anyway.
Your sofa looks terrific! That fabric is really great.
ReplyDeleteTotally loving your furniture! You've got skills Shelley!
ReplyDeleterss feed to your blog works for me, don't need witless sew retro ! love the couch!
ReplyDeleteLove that sofa. Great job and colour me jealous!
ReplyDeleteNice sofa!! You got the edges so nice on those cushions!
ReplyDeleteI agree about Sew Retro, too much retro, not enough vintage and some ridiculous rules.
I've stopped letting people know that I have giveaways on my blog on there once I had to 'seek permission'.
Apparently, I had to time MY blog giveaways to when it suited THEIR time table.
Umm... no thanks.
Love the fabric you used! It looks great :)
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry we're losing you, Shelley. We have 575 contributors (i.e. 575 people making posts) to the blog and that number grows every day, so the posting policy is published out there to unify a massive number of posters in one direction.
ReplyDeleteI know it's not much fun to have a post moderated but furniture is outside our scope, and I'd be playing favorites if I let it slide for you and not for others. The posting policy is always open for discussion, but if it applies then it has to apply to everyone, regardless of how long they have been a member of the community.
The style/era of the projects posted fluctuates with the trends because it's driven by the community (Mad Men has had a HUGE influence lately) so we're sure to get back to some of your more preferred eras eventually. When we do, you're always welcome back :)
Suggestions, complaints and ideas (just no death threats please ;) are always read and considered: katherine@wesewretro.com
Shelley, you got the talent!
ReplyDeleteKatherine,
ReplyDeleteI appreciate your honest post. Ill reply here since its become a public discussion. I know what it means to make editing decisions of posts. Im a moderator of an online forum myself with thousands of members. And don't think that one deletion is my sole cause for leaving Sew Retro, its not.
The board's direction does not fit my needs anymore. It used to be a place to get suggestions and criticism for your work, now its simply a "look I made a skirt" and 5 people saying how awesome it is. I understand encouragement, but I also see the benefit of constructive criticism, and that seems to be few and far between.
A lot of the professional sewers are no longer there. A lot of them have their own blogs now and I can understand them not wanting to cut and paste their work/blog post onto SR simply because SR shys away form links to outside sources. My experience is years with the previous SR, and although the previous owners didn't want to admit it, it was a hub to look through projects and go to other blogs, and I thought that was great! Im not sure why that concept of SR became taboo.
The reason why I was miffed at my post being taken down is it directly correlated with my vintage sewing project, cushions for my late 40s wire frame couch. Thats retro, right? The site I was referred to was a DIY furniture site, and in all honesty, I felt that referral was a bit condescending.
Now, if I had been the mod of this situation, I would have reached out to the person, asked them to consider the post, and hear their side of it before taking it down as if they did not understand the board's policies.
The last incident just reaffirmed the decision I was thinking about making. No harm no foul. Im just not very retro, Im vintage.
I understand your position, Shelley, and I appreciate the moderation pointers :) I'm glad you brought this into the public because it's not a band of evil overlords running the site (I see people referring to "they"), it's just me and I'm publicly accountable for the decisions I make. Criticism is always taken onboard and mulled over, so I'm glad for the opportunity to read the comments here.
ReplyDeleteWe Sew Retro is absolutely a place for criticism and suggestions - but you have to be prepared to give criticism and suggestions if you want to see them. Allow me to challenge you on this point - when was the last time you left someone a crit on there? Don't underestimate the role you and other readers/posters have in shaping the site - most people adjust their behavior based on what they see others doing (that's just human nature) so by offering pointers and constructive crits you encourage others to follow suit. Since I took over the site (6+ months ago) I've never seen anyone react negatively to a suggestion or a criticism and I've only ever moderated one comment ("That's fucking ugly - why did you waste your time on that shit") so it's not like constructive criticism is being squashed. If our biggest problem is that people are too nice, we're not doing that bad ;)
I don't think it's true to say that a professional sewers are not there - just this last week alone we've had posts from people who make their living drafting patterns and creating theatrical costumes. Some of the sewing bloggers who started on Sew Retro are consumed with their own very successful sites now, and that's as it should be, but the beautiful thing about the vintage sewing community it that it's flourishing - new people doing great things are emerging all the time and you're more likely to discover them via WeSewRetro than anywhere else.
It's interesting that you think we've stepped away from being a hub - I'm going to chew on that for a while, because there has never been more opportunities to find someone's blog from the site than there are currently. When I designed the wordpress site, I put in place a contributors page that links to personal websites and a bio chock full of links that shows up automatically at the bottom of each post. From what you're telling me, either I haven't communicated that well enough or need to rethink what else can be done. It's encouraged and expected that you link to your blog from your post. There's only one thing you could possibly link to in a post that is frowned upon and that's linking to your own store. Links to your own shop or selling venue are encouraged in your bio, but allowing them in the body of a post opens the floodgates for the site to turn into a tsunami of "I just listed this on etsy...come buy my stuff". The vast majority of readers come to the site to be inspired by what others are creating, not to be marketed to so I continue to uphold the no advertising in posts policy.
Phew...lots of typing. I appreciate you allowing me the opportunity to explain my thought process. There's no malice behind any of the decisions I've made but I'm comfortable that what I think is the best for the site isn't always going to sit well with everyone. Just know that your opinion is noted and appreciated. Happy sewing to you :)