- Our home is the most important place in our personal world.

The colors, the fabrics, the details.

Are those things that allow us to be truly comfortable.

How much do we spend?

How often do we make changes?

Our guest today, Susan Gant, who is a consultant to designers, will teach us that pillows are the simplest and most effective way to change our surroundings with just a little bit of effort and cost.

So today, pillows and duvets, all on "Fit 2 Stitch."

(upbeat music) - [Announcer] "Fit 2 Stitch" is made possible by Kai Scissors.

(gentle music) Bennos Buttons.

OC Sewing, Orange County.

Vogue Fabrics.

Pendleton.

Imitation of Life.

And Clutch Nails.

- Welcome to series 10 of "Fit 2 Stitch."

The sewing machine invented in 1846 has clearly made an impact on our everyday lives.

During the pandemic, sewing machines everywhere were dusted off and put to work.

Making masks became a creative and practical endeavor.

Literally millions of masks were made almost overnight.

That got me thinking about the multitude of items made with a sewing machine and the vast array of fabrics available today to run through those machines.

In this series, "Behind the Seams: Your World of Fabrics," we look beyond the fashion world.

What else is made with a sewing machine?

From a simple face mask to home decor, upholstery, shoes, even space suits are all made with that basic sewing machine that has advanced with technology for almost two centuries.

The most common reason that pushes many of us to buy a sewing machine in the first place is to make pillows for our home.

Today, we have a consultant to interior designers here who will share the secrets of pillows and duvets.

And Susan, I'm so happy to have you on the show.

- Thank you for having me.

- I know her and I'm telling you, this woman knows pillows.

- Yes, I do.

- So where do we start?

I am so afraid of this process that I really want you to help me be less afraid.

- Well don't be afraid.

I would suggest that the first thing you do is pick a fabric.

- [Peggy] Okay.

- [Susan] You're obviously gonna have some colors that you're wanting to put in your home, so shop for fabric.

- [Peggy] So fabric selection is step one.

- Fabric selection would be your first step, yes.

There are many places to find fabrics.

Every town has beautiful fabric stores.

You can find fabrics online.

- Sure.

- There are showrooms that sell fabrics, where they have them on a display.

You could order them.

- That's sometimes something I don't think about is showrooms and things like that to go to.

- [Susan] Well, most of the showrooms are geared towards the trade only.

If you do have an interior designer, they can go into the showrooms.

- Sure, okay.

- They can bring you samples and you can select through thousands and thousands of beautiful fabrics.

- What about, you know, one place I picked up, a friend of mine has estate sales.

And what I've noticed is a lot of times in estate sales, there's like literally stuff hanging that you could turn into pillows.

Do I have to worry about that fabric?

Or do you think it's okay to recycle kind of?

- Not necessarily that you have to worry.

I fully believe in recycling.

There's some beautiful textiles out there that you may find at estate sales.

It kind of depends on the use that you're going to have it for.

- [Peggy] Sure.

- If it's going to be an expensive antique textile, you could still make a pillow that would not get heavy use.

- Okay.

- But absolutely, you can use really your imagination.

- Sure.

- You can make anything.

- So do I have to worry about cleaning the fabrics or?

- It depends on your lifestyle.

If you have children, pets, you may want to- - That would make a difference.

- find a fabric that would need to be cleaned.

- 'Cause Rover, it's gonna become Rover's favorite pillow.

- Absolutely.

So when that situation comes about, we suggest putting a zipper in the pillow, therefore you can take the insert out and take it to be cleaned.

- Okay.

So we're best to do that.

- I suggest the zipper.

I think that's typically the best way.

- I think for some of us who maybe aren't as good sewers, we worry about a zipper, but what I've noticed on some of your pillows is there can even be an invisible zipper and they're on the backside and they don't really even show.

- That's true.

This pillow right here, for example- - So if you're not perfect at sewing pillows, it's okay.

- Absolutely.

We do use invisible zippers.

It hides right here in the seam between the cord and the back fabric.

And you can see the little zipper right there, but it's- - [Peggy] It doesn't have to be perfect.

- It doesn't have to be perfect.

It's typically usually on the bottom, so it never shows and then your insert's inside.

- Okay, so I can use any fabric really that I like.

- [Susan] Absolutely.

- [Peggy] And there's really no limitations to that.

Let's talk about trims.

'Cause your pillows are so pretty.

- Thank you.

- And I worry about the little corners.

I noticed yours are...

They don't have to be square or perfect.

I mean, not that they're not perfect, but they can just be rounded like that.

- Absolutely.

There are, as you can see, many different options for trims.

Trims also add just the little extra added feature to make it look more custom.

- They do look custom.

They look really pretty.

Like I worry about, you know, matching this.

- Yes, well- - Those were just places where you can find the fabrics.

- Absolutely.

Luckily, on this pillow, we had this fabric here and then I found this little cute little ticking and we cut this on the bias.

- That's just ticking.

- Yes.

- [Peggy] Oh, it doesn't look like it.

- [Susan] It's just basic ticking.

- Looks like much more expensive.

- Right.

But cutting it on the bias, it gives it that angle.

It makes it a little more decorative.

So you can make your welt cords from fabrics.

- [Peggy] Oh, I love that.

- Or you can buy ready-made cords.

- Have you ever done, could we do the same color or do you want this piping to be kind of a different color?

- You can absolutely do the same.

Something that matches.

I love to design and come up with all kinds of different ideas.

I love the way that this orange contrasted with the brown.

- [Peggy] It does, it just gives it a real different feel.

- Yeah, gives it a punch.

But it still would be a beautiful pillow if you did not want a contrast in color.

You could do a solid white or brown.

- Okay, so I wanna definitely...

Fabrics, I'm free.

I'm kind of free to do whatever I want and then- - Absolutely.

Just select the colors that you want, the patterns that you're looking for.

But honestly, there are no rules.

- And do you ever make a pillow that you say, oh, this is not good?

- Absolutely.

(Peggy laughs) - Do you?

- Absolutely.

- And you just say, okay, what's the plan B?

- Plan B, yes.

- That's good to know.

'Cause you've been doing this for a few years.

It's nice to know that not everything comes out exactly as planned.

- I have a love for textiles, so I love to find different looks.

Just all kinds of things mix.

Everything doesn't always have to match, but it's such a personal thing.

So I think the main thing is for you to be sure what the color is that you want and the pattern.

- And I wanna talk about shapes and sizes, but even before we do that, because I noticed it and I've been real critical of myself in this process of us learning about pillows.

My pillows are like 20 years old in my house.

I'm a little embarrassed to admit that, but I need new pillows.

- That's not new pillows.

- Like how often should you replace pillows or- - Just whenever you get tired of it or whenever it's worn out.

- [Peggy] I think I realized after going to your showroom and seeing how beautiful it is, and then coming home to my house, thinking, oh my goodness, I need new pillows.

- Well, there's nothing wrong with a 20 year old pillow As long as you love it, then it does not matter how old it is.

- But it's fun to see new pillows and- - [Susan] Absolutely.

- So let's talk about shapes and sizes.

Is there kind of some type of scale and proportion to- - Not necessarily.

It really depends on the placement of where the pillow's going.

- Okay.

- This pillow actually sits on a bed.

- I see.

- A king bed, so it is made a little bit longer.

However, this would be beautiful in the middle of a sofa, also.

- It would, that's what I was...

I didn't know where it went, but yeah, it's really nice just as a back pillow.

And then talk to me about all these fun finishes.

- So this pillow in particular, we used two different fabrics in the seam, and this is called a flange.

A flat flange.

And we put one color in front, the other color in the back just to give it that contrast.

- [Peggy] But there's nothing inside of that.

- Nothing inside.

- Okay, so I don't have to worry.

- Yeah, it's just a flat piece of fabric sewn.

And then this is called a butterfly corner.

This is actually a double butterfly.

- It's beautiful.

- It's got two pleats and- - Very expensive-looking.

- It is.

It's very expensive-looking, very custom.

You don't always have to do a butterfly.

You could also do a mitered corner, which this pillow has, where it just meets in the corner.

- Okay.

- But all those details add just something special to each pillow.

- Well, and anytime, even if you're going to say, have the pillows made, this would be more expensive than probably something like that, just because it's more time- - More time-consuming, absolutely.

- And then when I go to decide, you know like why... Just so I can pick your brain.

Why would you do flat as opposed to cording?

Is there reasons that kind of guide you?

- No reason.

Just whatever floats your boat.

- What you like.

- Absolutely.

- Okay, I love that.

All right, so this is for a bed, but certainly could go on a couch as well.

- Yes.

- Your smaller pillows.

- Smaller pillows.

This size would be great for a chair.

- [Peggy] Okay.

- [Susan] Gives you a little lumbar support.

- [Peggy] Sure.

- [Susan] It could also go on a twin bed as a one single decorative pillow.

- Would you put more than one pillow on a chair?

- Probably not.

- Okay, so- - If it's a chair that you're really going to sit in, two pillows kind of get in the way.

- And I noticed in my house, I have a chair that I have two pillows on and I noticed all the guests like throw them on the floor.

- Throw on the floor.

- So that's kind of why I ask.

I've realized it's too...

They look good when no one's there, but the practicality is not real.

- For practical reasons probably not.

- Okay.

So one pillow on a single chair and then on a sofa, do you feel like two pillows on each end or do you make that asymmetric?

- Again, it depends on the size of the pillow.

I mean, the size of the sofa.

Typically we do two, one in each corner, and then a third one.

My rule of thumb is never to do even numbers.

It's a little nicer-looking or more custom-looking when you do odd numbers.

- Okay.

- So we'll do two maybe of the same fabric and then one in front of one of those.

- Oh, I see.

- That's a different shape.

- That's a different shape and completely a contrast to it.

- Absolutely, yes.

- To the pillows.

All right so, again, these sizes are kind of similar, I like those.

- Right, great for chairs.

These two, even though they're small, they would be pretty on a sofa, too.

- They would, I love the linear shapes as opposed to...

This is a little more square.

- It's a rectangle, but a little bigger than these.

And I did not bring a square pillow, but most of the pillows that go on sofas in the corner are squares, and then we do typically a rectangle in front of that.

- Okay.

See, this is a bunch of stuff you know, and you just don't know you know it.

This is good stuff.

Because sometimes when I put two pillows and they're too big, it just looks wrong.

But I just don't know how to fix it.

- Exactly.

- So that symmetry is even, and then a little off on the side.

And then is this that- - This is the same thing as this pillow here.

It has the flat flange, but it's got a single butterfly.

- [Peggy] So I'm really just kind of plucking that fabric as I'm going around the corner.

- Yes, absolutely.

And this is an example of keeping it all in the same tones.

- Okay.

- A little more simple.

- And then do I... Again, my pillows...

I've got the same fabric on the front and the back.

When do you know to do that and when not to?

- Again, there are no rules.

- Uh-huh.

- I personally love to put a different fabric on the back.

I think it just adds character and a little more interest to the pillow.

This pillow, however, this fabric is so beautiful.

- It is beautiful.

- When we designed this, we really felt like it was such a pretty pillow.

In the place that it was sitting, you were gonna see the backside as much as the front.

So we felt like it'd be so pretty to show this velvet on the front and back.

- So how it sits in visual will make a difference as well.

- Yes, absolutely.

- And I noticed this actually has a pattern to it.

- This is another important part when you're making your pillow, deciding on your fabrics is you've got to decide the size you want and then look at your pattern and make sure that you're gonna be able to feature that pattern on the front of the pillow.

- I see.

- So size and pattern are very important when you're choosing.

- So once this pattern was in the center, you cut it off with contrasting solids on the edge.

- And honestly, yes, you can add this contrast to the ends.

A lot of times too, if you have an old remnant that is not the size that you want your pillow to end up being.

- Oh, so is that what donned the contrasting ends?

- Yes.

- Oh my goodness!

Yeah, I though it was just beautifully designed and the trim and- - A lot of times you may have just this much, but you want your pillow to be longer.

- Sure.

- So you can still use your beautiful textile, added contrast fabric on the ends.

And then here, we added a really beautiful antique flat tape.

- This is beautiful.

Now, if I couldn't find that coordinating piece to pull it together, could I just leave it?

- You could just leave it and add a little seam there.

- Yeah, this is really beautiful.

And then I noticed with piping here, you did a little butterfly corner even with piping.

- Well, honestly, this is also a flat flange.

It is just minute.

It's about an eight of an inch.

- Oh, it is.

- So it's very small, but it still adds that little special detail.

- And so, you know, it's interesting to me, as I look at these, this is a wider but a bigger pillow, and this is smaller for a smaller pillow.

- Again, you can pick and choose what size you want your flange.

It just depends on how tall you want your pillow to be, or how wide and how much of this you want to show.

- Got it.

So I've got another question about pillows, because again, I've had problems with it, is what about the inside stuffings?

What's inside of these pillows?

- Inside of these are feather and down inserts.

You do have options.

If you're making outdoor pillows, there is an outdoor fill that you can put inside your pillows.

There's also foam that you can make.

- Sure.

But inside you recommend the softer.

- The feather is just really nice for interiors.

It's very soft.

It's very custom-feeling.

- Sure.

And doesn't necessarily sag.

I mean, this holds.

- It holds its shape.

- Do you make that insert?

You pre-buy those?

- Yes.

- You can pre-buy them, okay.

- Whatever size you're going to make your pillow.

I have a rule of thumb where whatever size my pillow is gonna be, the insert is going to be two inches wider and longer.

- Okay.

- And that fills out the cover.

- [Peggy] Two inches wider and longer.

- Yes.

- So it's kind of stuffed in- - Stuffed in there, yes.

- To get that stuffed effect.

- And that helps it keep its shape.

It rarely will lose its shape.

If it does, you just kind of fluff it back up.

- Got it.

So as long as I'm making a pillow, can't I do my bed as well?

- Absolutely.

- Can I do it?

Let's look at just some of those things you've done on this, because I think it's...

This is expensive.

This is really expensive to do.

- Custom bedding can be expensive.

A lot of it depends on the fabrics that you choose also.

- Okay.

- We've got a dust ruffle here.

This is a tailored dust ruffle.

We wanted to do a contrast in the pleats.

So right here at the foot pleat, we added this orange faux silk inside the kick pleat.

- And that was all just based on what the consumer wanted and kind of what they wanted.

- Absolutely.

We were trying to create, obviously a blue and orange theme.

So we chose this fabric, put the orange inside the pleats here.

We got a center pleat here.

- That's really cute.

And on a duvet, is there generally just pleats at the corner and then pleats in the middle?

- Again, that's personal preference.

- Okay.

- Nine times out of ten, we will make a dust ruffle like this that has the pleats in the center and at the corners.

It really depends on the size of the bed.

Sometimes a smaller twin, we don't do that.

It just a depends on if you want to add a contrast fabric inside- - I love that little contrast.

It's kinda like a little peekaboo.

- It is.

- It's like a secret.

- It's a nice little feature.

- The white fabric here, is that a special?

- This is just lining, because this will go, this is your dust ruffle and your mattress will be on top of this, so this will never show.

- Got it.

- But we add this four-inch band here.

So as you're walking into your bedroom, you don't see this.

You see the pretty fabric that you've chosen.

- And I noticed there's no piping on this.

So this is fairly straightforward as far as... - Mostly when we do bedding, all the drama's gonna be up top on your pillows.

- Sure, sure, sure.

- So this is a little more of a simple base to your bed.

- And then on this particular case, you've actually... - When we did this dust ruffle, we wanted to do some pillows that coordinated with it, so we chose the blue.

We did, as you can see, the same orange here before we even started the flange.

And this flange, as you can see, is about a two-inch flange, which is typical for a euro sham that goes on the bed.

- [Peggy] I got it.

And then those sizes are fairly standard also?

- This size actually is a little different.

On a typical bed, there are usually three euros in the back.

Euro pillow sham is about 26-inch square.

- Okay, so there are more square pillow.

- Yes, more square.

We thought we would do something different and only do two back pillows.

- [Peggy] Can you ever get too many pillows on a bed?

(Peggy laughing) Female versus male?

- That again, is personal preference.

We as women, I think like to add more and more.

- I think so, too.

- We like to decorate.

So I find that a lot of women do like to put lots of pillows on their beds.

Again, it's mainly for looks.

- Got it.

- So sometimes the husbands don't understand why there's so many pillows on the bed, but they do make beautiful statements.

- They do.

- absolutely.

- They do and you go to those stores and you see pillows, like there's a zillion, there are pillows all the way down to the end of the bed.

Is that too many?

- That's too many.

In my opinion.

- So you have your euro pillows.

There's generally three in there.

They're the back pillows.

- Those are the back pillows.

- Or is the sleeping pillow behind the duvets?

- You can do that.

You can hide your sleeping pillow back here behind the back euro shams.

- Okay.

- Then most times, we put, if you've got three euros, then we'll do like two queen shams in front of that.

Or you can do two king shams, decorative.

Then in front of that, you could have a third smaller pillow.

Any of these shapes would work.

- And that would be enough.

- And that would be enough.

- Okay.

So you just got your euro shams, your decorative and then one- - I say three layers.

The back pillow, the middle and the front.

- Okay.

And I know you don't mean for these to match, but tell us about... - Right.

We just threw this together so you could see the construction of a duvet.

- Okay.

That's much appreciated 'cause I love duvets.

I think they're the way to go simply because- - Duvets are nice.

I'm finding that a lot of people are moving away from duvets simply because you put the comforter inside and they shift around.

- They do.

- [Susan] So every morning, you're up shaking- - You're right.

- your duvet.

Trying to get the feathers and the comforter to shift around.

- It's really true.

- What we have done is we put ties inside in the corner, the center and at every corner and center, and then we add ties to the insert.

- Oh, I see.

- So we tie them all together.

- Is it fair to say this is a big pillow?

- This is... - Kind of?

- Absolutely, yes.

- A big pillow?

A big pillow like- - It's constructed the same way.

- So you don't have to, I could still do the corners and butterfly those corners.

- You could.

On this particular duvet, we've got a sample here.

We chose to put one fabric on top, a contrasting fabric on the bottom, and then a third fabric, which pulls together the blue.

- [Peggy] Yeah, that's pretty.

It's very pretty.

- [Susan] Here's, again, a sample of the mitered corner.

On this particular piece, we did a double flange.

- That's really pretty.

- Like the pink pillow here.

- [Peggy] I love the depth that it adds to that.

- It really does.

- And that really is not found in something you buy in a store, ever.

- [Susan] Typically not.

- Yeah, so that's a real custom look.

- Exactly.

- It's really pretty.

- [Susan] It just kind of frames out the end product, just like on the pillows.

It's just another little added feature- - Sure.

- that makes it special.

- I noticed the two corners.

Are they the same?

Did you do all the corners the same?

- Well, I did two mitered corners.

And then, and again, this was just for a sample.

Here's the butterfly.

- [Peggy] So that butterfly, you just go in, back, to the other one.

So it's just two pleats that come together.

- [Susan] Two pleats that come together.

- [Peggy] We kind of, we always in fashion anyway, you call that an inverted pleat.

- That's what it is.

- Yeah, an inverted pleat.

- Absolutely.

- And it comes together and it just, but it looks so pretty on there just because that corner is turning.

I've never thought about putting an inverted pleat on a curve.

- Yes.

- It's very pretty.

It shows off the corner.

And I noticed on the backside and I know it's not full size, but if I have that bed and it's so many inches, where do I put my seams?

'Cause I'm not gonna find a fabric that goes all the way across.

- Absolutely.

Most fabrics are about 54 inches wide.

And a king bed is about 79 inches wide, so you take that center cut.

I'll flip this over and I'll kind of give you an example.

- Yeah.

So how do I split those seams up, I guess is- - Well, you will take- - Well, that's pretty.

- You'll take one cut of your fabric, the length of your bed.

- Okay.

- That will be your center.

- So that will be my 54.

- That will be your- - Oh, so I leave that at the natural width that it is.

- Yes.

- Oh, okay.

- So the center cut is about 54 with a little seam allowance.

Then you take another cut and cut it in half, so you've got two seams.

Here and over here.

And that's where you get the rest of your width.

- I see, all right.

So tell me a couple more tips I wanna know about this.

Like I know this is not size bed-related.

You just made these samples for us.

But how far should that duvet hang over?

If I'm making it, I have ultimate choice.

Is there kind of a guide that I wanna go by?

- Really, there's a million different ways to make a bed.

Some people like their duvets to come all the way down the sides of their mattress.

- I see.

- Some people just like it to cover the top.

- Okay, like a topper kind of almost.

- Like a topper.

- Okay.

- So it's really just a personal preference, again.

We typically do them where they come to the top of the dust ruffle.

- Oh, I see, okay.

So that's the purpose of the four inches here is to just give a base to where the dust ruffle goes.

- Exactly, right.

And there are other ways that you can close up a duvet.

This one has a zipper.

- Okay.

- And again, it's just very similar to the pillows.

- [Peggy] Right, just open it up and slide it in.

- Open it up and there's your comforter inside.

- [Peggy] Yeah.

- Here's an example of the tie in the corner.

- Okay.

These are just great little tips that I think a lot of times I'm just not sure of, or I just, you know, I really appreciate it, Susan.

- Absolutely.

- You being here and showing us all these things.

It's just amazing.

- A lot of times, you can also do buttons at the foot.

- Oh yeah, I've seen that.

- I think that's the old way that a lot of people had made their duvets, which is still a beautiful way to do it, too.

You can do decorative buttons or just- - All the way across.

- Yes.

- Susan, thanks so much for being here.

I really appreciate you sharing your secrets with us all.

You really help.

- Thank you, Peggy, my pleasure.

- Thank you.

I think I'm just excited to kind of know more about pillows because I really wanna make 'em and I really wanna make 'em to where they look really good, so that was great.

Today we've learned about designers bedding and pillows.

Next time, we'll learn the correct measurements and a few other tips to help you make drapery choices that will truly enhance your home.

Learn design details in drapery next time on "Fit 2 Stitch."

(gentle music) - [Announcer] "Fit 2 Stitch" is made possible by Kai Scissors.

Bennos Buttons.

OC Sewing, Orange County.

Vogue Fabrics.

Pendleton.

Imitation of Life.

And Clutch Nails.

To order a four DVD set of "Fit 2 Stitch" series 10, please visit our website at fit2stitch.com.

(upbeat music)