Well, really, I’m back in The Sweatshop, which endearingly refers to my sewing room, I mean Office.
I am feeling mostly better, at least the technicolor crap has stopped flowing from my nose and mouth. I am still coughing like nobody’s business. I’ve tried breathing in steam and using Vick’s. They help somewhat. What I’d really like is a nice prescription-strength cough syrup. But I refuse to sit in Urgent Care on New Year’s Eve weekend. So I’ll suffer through. (And likely complain the whole way.)
So back to the Sweatshop. It started bright and early, just after showering, when I put on one of my Xmas gifts to wear for the day (a pair of pants from Zara, well, actually there were two, but I can only wear one at a time). They were about 2 inches too long. So, me being me, I decided to hem them (in my undies, truth be told). Within 10 minutes I had a pair of pants that actually fit.
After lunch (Croque Madame (a french grilled cheese with ham, tomato, gruyere cheese au gratin, and a fried egg on top) and a double, non-fat latte) My Partner and I had to check on one of the houses he’s remodeling.
Shortly thereafter it was back home to attempt to create these for two of our chandeliers. As you can see on the website, they go for a good $37 bucks. Um, No Way Jose.
I started by measuring the chains on the chandeliers I wanted to cover. I multiplied the length by 1.5 to get the length for the fabric. The chain in the bedroom was narrower than the chain for the chandelier in the foyer, so it was 5 inches wide whereas the latter was made 6 inches wide.
Then I stitched in 1/2″ from the edges to make hemming easier (This is one of the BEST tricks I ever read/learned! It makes getting a consistent hem so much easier. Actually, I did it on my pants earlier in the day!).
After that, I folded, ironed, and stitched down the hem on all four sides.
Then I stitched elastic to each edge to get it to gather (hence the 1.5 times the desired length). Then I added hook and loop faster to either of the long sides (unfortunately I deleted this photo!), being careful to put one side on the inside of the fabric and the other on the outside so that when they’re joined they overlap instead of, well, not overlapping.
And voila! Chandelier Cozies. The one above is for the chandelier in what will be our child(ren)’s room. The blue matches the walls and the drapes.
This is the one I made for the chandelier in the foyer.
And with that, I’m going to leave you and watch Riddick (I love me some Vin Diesel!) and work on a cashmere scarf (FOR ME!).
Frank Notes 
