Teaching Zipper Tricks & Tips at Rocky Mountain Sewing Expo

Please join me in Denver on February 7 & 8 at 3pm to talk ZIPPERS! On Friday, we will talk about what you need to do to make your love of pillows into a business.  On Saturday I will tell you all my tricks to pick a zipper & install it in your projects.  So, bring all your questions or you can email questions to me at alicia@thezipperlady.com.

Custom Pillows

It's all about the details!
These pillows I made to the designer's specifications:

Notice how they look out of proportion to the headboard.  When you are designing pillows against a high headboard like this, think about making the back pillows higher or the center pillow higher to change the proportions. Squint at your design, like you would a painting, to check lights & darks.

End details of the neckrolls:

Great trim selection!  Trim is long & full.  Made the little button in the middle with leftover trim.

New Website For Dogwood Designs.

Cathy Cuddington's new website: Dogwood Designs

Custom Slipcovers

Just finished this house. 12 custom slipcovers in dining room & 5 2-piece slips in the breakfast area.

Roman shade in kitchen.

Friday at the Shop

The back pillow was made with boring brown upholstery fabric overlaid with patchwork from the other fabrics in the room.  Works!

The front pillows are gold chenille from Kravet with hand applied tapes in two colors sewn over the top.

Of course all the pillows have my #4 "new gold" invisible zippers along the bottom edge.

Body Art by a 19 year old Girl from Japan

Invisible SEPARATING Zippers

These zippers are really wonderful!  This size is a #6 invisible (size of coil) on a twill tape.  These would be good for costuming or a jacket.

This is the back of the zipper & the side that you sew from.

To stitch, separate the 2 sides of the zipper.  Start from the bottom & sew up to the top of your garment. Sew the side without the pull on first.

Then stitch the side of the zipper with the pull & box on it.  Start again from the bottom.  The REALLY COOL (or as my brother would say, "wicked") part of this zipper is the box moves out of the way so that you can stitch from the bottom. THEN the box snaps back over the bottom metal piece & you continue sewing up towards the top of your garment.

If your zipper is too long, then tuck the remainder or trim off to a couple of inches & tuck into the top of your garment.


Life is SHORT! Zip it UP!
Alicia

New Zippers

These are #15 molded tooth zippers.  In England, these are called 20 gauge.  I'm now stocking these in SEPARATING zippers & as yardage.  Only Black for right now, but am thinking red or purple teeth on black tape.  These are used a lot for costuming because they are so big (yes, that is a quarter next to the box & pin) & the quarter also fits inside the ring on the pull.  They are on my website: Monster Zippers

97 Yards of Hand Sewn Trim!

I was so happy to have my tacker needles for this project!  When done, this job didn't look too hard but the fabric is burn-out silk velvet that took over 7 months to get, it shipped in 13 pieces from about 3 mill runs.  All of the hems were reinforced then hand sewn.  All of the 97 yards of trim was then hand applied!  It took Mary, Kathleen & me 4 weeks of 10 hour days to complete.  Took Ted 3 hours to hang!

Zippers That are More Than Zippers

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Artist Kate Cusack’s Zippered Flower

All things zipper!  If you google Kate Cusack you will see how amazing her work is.  This is rather early in her exploration of zippers as art.

Life is SHORT! Zip up the Flowers!

FIRST SNOW!

OK, so it's not much, but snow on October 4th really surprised me.  My tomatoes are still producing beautifully & hopefully I'll be able to gentle them along for another month.

Life is SHORT! Savor your day!
Alicia

Just found this "innovative" duvet cover & bedskirt from Hunter Douglas Hospitality. Click this link:  HD Hospitality

I've been making bedskirts this way for about 12 years? Maybe 15?  Only I've been attaching them to a fitted sheet to keep the whole bedskirt from shifting.

Fall Already!

Can you believe the hot, dry summer is over?

I've always loved summers: dogs in the pool, checking the progress of my tomatoes, mint juleps under the apple tree, getting ready for the installations for Thanksgiving & Christmas (we do 60% of our sewing biz in Oct-Christmas for the year!)

But this year, summer was different.  Instead of lounging under the apple tree, the hills around Ft. Collins were burning.  Instead of enjoying the yard, my husband filed for divorce.  I moved back into my little 900 sq.ft. victorian house downtown from the fabulous 1920's tudor revival we were making into a bed and breakfast.  I closed the store in Denver, but we have enough sewing to keep Mary & Kathleen busy through Christmas.  The Zipper Lady is moving into the victorian stable/garage, just as soon as my carpenter gets finished updating the electric, putting in doors & windows and maybe some heat!

Change is good!  Every time I sell an antique, I buy more interesting zippers!  So you will start seeing some hard to find zippers on TheZipperLady.com shortly.  Plus I'm working on my website & videos.

Onward & Upward!
Alicia

Business Retreat Time Again!

August always sneaks up on me! This year I have really interesting speakers at the Business Retreat at my house.

August 3-7, 2011

Come to my house in Fort Collins, Colorado to talk business!

For the 4th year, let's talk about the biz end of our sewing business. We spend most of 4 days around the kitchen table with our laptops working on our websites & blogs; fine tuning our QuickBooks & accounting; having speakers come in about changes in the tax law, accounting, marketing, etc. You will take away a website that YOU can update, fast ways to market your business on the internet, ways to play the SEO (search engine optimization) game, a working blog, and social media submersion.

Learn from your peers! I've learned that we have the same customers, their names have been changed to protect the not-so-innocent. If you have a problem, bring it for discussion.

This year Ava Diamond from Feisty Women Rock (http://feistywomenrock.com), a nationally known motivational speaker, will spend Saturday morning with us helping us find balance in our lives. Her program, "How big is my but...." will surprise all of us.

Cost: $695

Includes:

-- breakfast, lunch, tea, coffee, goodies

-- dinner for 3 nights (we eat as organic as possible or there are 17 close restaurants)

-- Curtain Lady yoga

-- Curtain Lady sports massage

-- bikes to ride downtown for ice cream & dinner

-- all speakers

-- soft bed, might be double occupancy depending on who comes

-- pick up & delivery to Denver International Airport

I've lowered the price so that everyone can come.

Sign up today, so that you can grow your business in 2012!

Metal Zippers for Zipper Jewelry & Flowers

New Zippers!

I've just started to stock metal toothed zippers in both gold & silver teeth to make accessories, flowers & jewelry out of.

Available colors: hot & baby pink

red

black

lime green

taxi yellow

purple

turquoise

Either call or email for your samples today!

Creative Sewing Camp

Thanks Sew Much to Susan & Creative Sewing Camp! I had a REALLY good time!

Plan to attend next year. There are only 60 attendees, only 15 in a class & 3 really good square meals a day together.

I'm really sorry to have left early. I got the call that NO mother ever wants. My nephew was killed Saturday night in Boston. The cops still don't know why or how. But it doesn't matter. A great spirit has moved on.

Life is Short!

Kiss your Babies!

Alicia

I have these really great new zippers in stock!

They are SEPARATING & 24" long. They were originally purchased for a designer that put them in black velvet pillows. Instead of putting the zipper across the bottom of the pillow, he put it around the pillow as decoration.

What are others using these for? Jackets, sweaters & evening gowns.

Price is $16.95 each or if you purchase 6 they are $12.95 each.

Life is Short! Zip it Up!

Alicia

Applying a Zipper Through the Slipcover Skirt

I previously posted pictures of how I put the zipper through a slipcover skirt (2009). But looking back, the pictures aren't as clear as they could be.

I'll snap some new ones tomorrow & publish here.

If I get really creative, I'll put them on my video blog on my website.

Life is Short! Zip it Up!

Alicia

Chinese New Year

My New Year's Resolution is to post on my blog a couple of times per week!

Sew, am at the shop today. We have been moving things around at the shop to try to make machines & tables more accessible to all. Actually, we are slow this time of year & have taken the time to shovel out after the big job last fall when all paperwork & lining scraps got piled up.

This is a slipcover that we just finished for a nursery. The designer ordered 2 yards less than I asked for & said, "not to worry" about pattern matching. Come to find out, this is a hand printed fabric, drop repeat. Almost impossible to match. But so cute! Customer was thrilled!

Life is Short!

Zip it Up!

Alicia

Workroom Biz Retreat

Workroom Business Retreat in Colorado
August 6, 7, & 8, 2010

Join your peers to talk BUSINESS! Find out what works in other businesses around the country. Build your own website with the resident Computer Guru. Learn about FREE internet advertising & what is worth paying for. Fire questions at my Tax Attorney, Business Attorney, Accountants (you can never have enough chocolate cake or accountants), Business Coach. Then to relax, we will learn yoga stretches, massage on demand, martinis (or just lemonade) on the veranda, no-guilt ice cream bike rides, organic food, and white water rafting on Sunday.

August 3 (Tuesday)
We'll pick you up at Denver Airport. Please try to schedule your arrival about 5-7 p.m. Come in a day early to have more time with the Computer Guru or to attend Wednesday's slipcover/cushion class.

August 4 (Wednesday)
Slipcover & fast cushion class. Or spend the day with the Computer Guru working on your website. (Breakfast & Lunch provided.)

August 5 (Thursday)
Everyone else arrives in Denver for the weekend! Please schedule to arrive between 2-4 pm & we'll bring the white van to pick you'all up.
If you are driving, spend the day getting settled & biking around Ft. Collins.
Evening: King Tut at the Denver Art Museum. Dinner in Denver.
Meals: whatever's in the frig

August 6 (Friday)
Start the day with YOGA for Curtain Ladies & breakfast. Coffee pot is on all day.
Put the attorneys on the spot! You may ask them any business questions you might have or tax questions. Contracts? New tax law & how it affects us? Tax planning? Employee issues?
Afternoon is set aside for accounting questions. Ask a certified QuickBooks accountant all those questions that will help you keep track of your biz better.
Evening: Work on your website, blog or just swap stories on the veranda.

August 7 (Saturday)
Keep loose with YOGA for Curtain Ladies & breakfast. Coffee on the veranda.
Morning: Internet marketing for Curtain Ladies. What works, what doesn't, what to pay for and how to make the internet work for your business specifically.
Afternoon: Talk to a Business Coach! She will have lots of ideas to move forward in a new economy.
Evening: Ride the bikes downtown for dinner. (Bring the head-lamp out of your tool box.)

August 8 (Sunday)
Eat breakfast fast & go RIVER RAFTING! Water is low in August. You don't need to know how to swim..... let me show you how beautiful Colorado really is.
Afternoon & Evening: relax on the veranda & talk biz with your new friends.

August 9 (Monday)
I'll take you to Denver International Airport in the morning (arrange your flights for 11-2pm) or you can stay an extra day to play in the mountains.

What's Included:
1) Breakfast, Lunch, Coffee, Lemonade, Tea, Chocolate Cake
2) A bed at my house & showers (don't laugh I tiled the bathrooms). Bed for your dog. Call if you're bringing your husband......
3) All the fees charged by my attorneys, accountants, business coach, yoga teacher.
4) Massage therapist. Did I mention a one hour Curtain Lady massage on Friday, Saturday or Sunday?
5) Bikes for all. Sun screen!
6) River Rafting on Sunday.
7) Pick up and delivery to DIA (Denver International Airport).
8) Access for 4 days to the Computer Guru so that you can leave with a website YOU can update. So bring your laptop!
9) All the laughs you can stand!

What's Extra:
1) Dinner, ice cream out, martinis
2) Any costs for software or stuff for your computer. (We have wifi in the house)
3) King Tut at the Denver Art Museum.

Cost: $720
Wednesday Class: $100

If you are bringing your husband or you need privacy, there is a Best Western 1/2 block away. We're putting all the snorers in the same room!

Husbands & kids are welcome at breakfast & lunch. Please call me for pricing. There are lots of things to do around town and the mountains are close (20 minutes). And of course, they can come river rafting with us.

We live comfortably, but not luxuriously. To keep costs down I'm offering my guest rooms for free. Beds are twins, doubles & queens. Towels are clean, one step up from the Best Western. Kitchen help is appreciated as I'll be doing the cooking.

Costs are based on 10 Curtain Ladies. I only know a couple of Curtain Guys.....you can come too!