How Does Outdoor Fabric Work?

Outdoor Fabric Facts

Acrylic fabrics are a great option for outdoor fabrics because, unlike indoor use fabrics, acrylic outdoor fabrics are dyed before the fabric is woven. This is different from indoor fabrics which are printed on after the fabric is woven.

The dying process being done before the fabric is woven helps the color to last longer and is more fade resistant. 

Polyester is the other common outdoor fabric choice. It is dipped in an acrylic solution making it water repellent and mildew resistant.

Suncloth Sky

Quadrille Allen Suncloth Sky

The best way to keep outdoor fabrics functioning properly is to keep them clean. This should be done often by shaking out the dirt and rinsing them with water. 

Mildew grows on dirt first before it begins to grow in fabrics. Cleaning your outdoor fabrics often by shaking out the dirt will help them last longer. You can also use a mild soap with lukewarm water, though this does not need to be done often.

Quadrille Kazak Orange Pink on Suncloth

Quadrille Azak Orange Pink on Suncloth

                            

Outdoor fabric is durable and created to stand up to sun and the elements. For these reasons, it is also a great choice for inside use in a room that gets lots of light.

Sunny Yellow from Decorate 23

The fabric is above is my favorite outdoor fabric. 

Privacy Screen and Room Dividers, I need advice!

I have two problems I need help with today. The first is that I live in a very old house in Virginia. What this means is that my bathroom probably was a tiny closet at one time and you can go to the bathroom, bathe and brush your teeth all at the same time. No room to change in. And there aren't master bathrooms in the master bedrooms in these old houses. So I then have to walk to my room to get dressed.

Dilemma 2: I am great with fabric selection, color and pattern matching, blah blah blah. . . .  But when it comes to the furniture in a room. . . . I'm a tad on the clueless side.

So, I am often changing in my room, and anyone with young children knows that you can't close and lock a door without tears and screaming. But my son is now six and I would like for him to not be the one to corrupt the kindergarten class by describing the state in which he saw his surgical scarred and gravity victim of a mother. So I am going to build a privacy screen. I am also redoing my bedroom and I think this is going to be the focal point. So I am completely starting from scratch.

Which style should I use?

I think I will most likely be constructing it myself. And I like the idea of the one above and using a wall paper to cover it.

Or maybe it will be easier to purchase one. . . . 

But I love the idea of using old doors.

I think I am naturally drawn to this fabric covered divider. I see it and think of all the fabrics I could put on it to reflect my style. But I think with the fabric on the window treatments over my two windows and the fabric covered headboard I should probably go with something else other than the fabric covered option. Thoughts?

Of all these beautiful options, I want to know what you would suggest. Does anyone use a privacy screen or room divider? What are your thoughts?

Here are some other beautiful options I came across. Enjoy!

Red, white and blue fabric finds for you!

Happy Memorial Day!
First and foremost, thank you, thank you, thank you to each of you who fight for our freedom, who have fought for our freedom and who continue to stand guard even in heaven. I appreciate you! Today I will be enjoying time with my family in peace and safety because of your sacrifice and I sincerely thank you.

Here are some Red, white and blue inspired fabric finds for you.

Groundworks Gazebo in Red

French Stamp in Red

GP and J Baker Peplow Trail in Linen

Larry Laslo Signify Stucco

Premier Prints Diva Chevron Stripe

Premier Prints Emily in Aquarius Blue

Enjoy!

Kelly Wearstler Imperial Trellis Roman Shades FOR SALE

Kelly Wearstler Imperial Trellis in Citrine Roman Shade

I made this shade for Fran at Green Street Blog. It is on sale right now for $130.00! You can contact Fran about through her blog if you are interested in purchasing it.

It is 36" wide by 39" long. It also has the mounting hardware already installed on the block for an outside mount. 

Contact Fran or email me and I can get in touch with Fran for you. 

It's a steal! 

The Most Effective Positioning For Your Window Treatments

Effective Placement of Window Treatments

Narrow a wide window

To narrow the width of a window reduce the curtain track or curtain rod so that more of the window is covered when the curtain are opened. This is a reasonable option for blocking out light.

Widening a Window

To widen a window extend the curtain track or curtain rod so that the curtains will only cover the very edge of the window when opened. The curtain will be mostly be covering wall in this instance.

Lowering the Height of a Tall Window

Install either a valance or pelmet box so that the bottom of the valance or box will cover up some of the glass of the window.

Heightening a Low Window

Place a valance or pelmet box high above the window so that the bottom of the valance covers just the very top of the window as demonstrated in the picture below.

Family Sponsor for May: Eliza Hope

Eliza Hope

Any long time readers may remember when we sponsored Seth. Seth was born with a very rare disease which eventually resulted in this sweat baby's passing. Later his sister, Eliza Hope, was born with the same disease.

Here is a little bit about her from her mom: "We recently welcomed another daughter into our family in November, Eliza Hope. Unfortunately, she has been diagnosed with the same disease that Seth had (dyskeratosis congenita). She was transported to Cincinnati Childrens where we await a bone marrow transplant for her. We were blessed to have her older sister Grace (5 years old) be her bone marrow match. We are planning on moving foward with the transplant when Eliza is 3 months of age. We have hope that things will go much better, due to her brother paving the way. He continues to help and inspire our family, as well as others!"

Her mom gave me this write up a while ago and of course Eliza is a bit older now.

This is a picture of Eliza with her older sister, Grace. Grace was a match for Eliza's bone marrow transplant. 

The picture above is Grace before going in for the bone marrow harvest. What a brave little girl!

This month we are donating $5 of every order to this beautiful family! We will update throughout the month on Eliza's condition. She has undergone the transplant already and we are just waiting to see if the cells engraft. 

You can follow her story here on the family's blog or you can get updates on Eliza's Facebook page.

Keep fighting, Eliza!

We're back!

After a short break to catch up on orders and deal with my house fire situation we are back! Here are some general updates.

Window Treatments by Melissa, LLC:
At the end of last year I had thought I wanted to cut back on the business and devote more time to my family. I did that by letting go of all my seamstresses thinking that I wouldn't feel obligated to take on orders because I wouldn't have anyone relying on me for work. But it turned out that wasn't the problem. I am so humbled and grateful that people like my work and want to display it in their homes. I feel ungrateful turning away orders. In January I think I accepted every single order that came my way. It made for a very long turnaround time and that led to unhappy customers. To correct this I decided to hire back some seamstresses, and assistant and am still considering looking for a few more people! Here is where we are at so far.

The team:
Cyndie: Cyndie is my assistant and will be answering emails, offering quotes and will do so promptly so we can ensure your satisfaction with not only your product but the entire order process.

Becky: Becky has worked for us before making many beautiful window dressings.Some may recognize her work.

Heather: Heather is new to the team and currently in training. She is a very talented seamstress and will be a great addition to our team.

Trena: Trena has always been here! She does our pillow covers and seat cushions.

Website:

Our website is currently under reconstruction by Bryan Gentry. We are working together to make it even more user friendly and functional than it was before! We will also be adding the clearance section to the website as well as "ready to ship" items. Coming soon! Check out Bryan's work here. And our website is a work in progress here.

Etsy:

I was getting a little fed up with Etsy and we had closed our shop. But we decided to reopen it as we are able to do many great things through Etsy. With Etsy I was able to employ more people and we were able to carry out our successful sponsorship program to help people in need in our community. For the foreseeable future our Etsy shop will be open.

Sponsor program:

We are finally bringing back our sponsor program. We donate $5 from every order to help a family in need. Tomorrow you will learn about our family for May. At the end of each month we donate a monetary amount to their cause. If you know of anyone that might benefit from such a program please email me at windowsbymelissa@gmail.com.

Turnaround Time:

As of Today our current turnaround time is still 6-8 weeks. When Heather and Cyndie have completed their training we will be able to get that down by three weeks! This should happen in the next week or so.

Blog:

Coming up you can expect more educational posts on the latest products as well as DIYs and how tos. We will have giveaway, more fun challenges like our Ugly Fabric Challenge, and updates on the latest findings in fabrics and home decor styles.

I am looking forward to interacting with you all again soon and bringing you the latest! Thanks for sticking around!