Kelly McCants - At Home with Modern June: 27 Sewing Projects for Your Handmade Lifestyle

Publisher: Amy Marson

Creative Director: Gailen Runge

Art Director: Kristy Zacharias

Editor: S. Michele Fry

Technical Editors: Alison M. Schmidt and Gailen Runge

Cover/Book Designer: April Mostek

Production Coordinator: Zinnia Heinzmann

Production Editor: Joanna Burgarino

Illustrator: Wendy Mathson

Photo Assistant: Mary Peyton Peppo

Photography by Meghan McSweeney, unless othewise noted

Dedication

This pretty book is for the people who share my cozy little home: Don, Maddie, and Aidan! Thank you all for the love you give to me every single day and for putting up with my creative madness. Most of all, thank you for helping make my dreams come true. I couldnt do it without you three.

Acknowledgments

I couldnt have made this book without the help of many wonderful people.

I work with some of the most amazing ladies in the world! I lovingly call them my Junies! Kathie, Geneva, and Nicole have grown to be family, and I love them very much. Thanks for rising to the occasion and having my back through the months of crazy and tight deadlines. Thanks for teaching me how to delegate.

I am forever grateful to the fine people at Stash Books and C&T Publishing for supporting this endeavor. Its been an honor to work with Roxane Cerda, Michele Fry, Kristy Zacharias, Alison Schmidt, and Zinnia Heinzmann. Thanks for helping publish this lovely book!

I am so happy that the talented photographer Meghan McSweeney made my home and all the projects in this book look so darn great! I am glad to call you friend. Im so glad we got to work together again.

A special thanks goes out to all the companies that gave fabric, notions, and fluff to the cause: Wrights, Pellon, Moda Fabrics, Riley Blake, Fairfield, and Spoonflower. Working with their goods was fun and helpful!

foreword

The week my first book, Sewing with Oilcloth, was published, Hurricane Irene bullied her way up the East Coast. On August 27, 2011, I sat in my home studio sewing the day away, all the while watching the 100-year-old oak tree in our backyard swing back and forth. Out that window I saw a transformer blow, and the explosion split a huge branch off a neighbors walnut tree. At that point I was thankful that we still had power, and I joined my family for an evening of TV.

A few hours later, the old oak fell; it landed right on top of my studio and covered the entire back half of my house. I cant express how grateful I was that I was with my family and that all four of us were in one roomthe living room, which is as far from the tree as possible. Best of all, we were fine!

The next day I went to my book release party in a state of shock while my husband tried to figure out what was next. Long story short, it took seven months and $70,000 to get our home back to normal. But I was determined early on to make lemonade from the lemons that the hurricane left behind.

Thanks to a very good insurance policy, we were getting more than half our home repaired, and you know what that means, dont you? New walls and ceilings mean new paint! Of course new paint means makeover! It wasnt long before I realized that I had the makings of a new book.

Join me as I put my sewing and patterning skills to work and make over my 87-year-old home! Whether youre moving into a new home, launching a whole home makeover, or just sprucing up one room at a time, I hope that this book inspires you as much as that tree did me!

xoxox, Kelly

introduction:

My Design Credo

When my husband and I were newlyweds, we spent an afternoon wandering a cool neighborhood in Baltimore, Maryland, with another young couple. We slowly looked through thrift, gift, and antique stores until we came upon a rug shop. The charming man who owned the store overheard me say that a particular kilim rug would match my new sofa perfectly, and he set out to teach me an important life lesson.

He insisted that matching was a bad word! Then to our surprise he shepherded us up the stairs to his home. There above the shop was a lifetime of treasures, an eclectic mix of everything that the man and his family had ever loved.

That day he told me to buy only the things I truly loved, and that in the end my home would work in perfect harmony. Ive lived by this nontraditional design rule ever since, and I think its worked out for me quite nicely.

Ive kept a lot of tear sheets over the last ten to fourteen years, and the funny thing is, I still love most of them. Trends come and go, but if you go only for the ones that really speak to you, then they always fit in.

mood boards

Mood boards are amazing; they are a place for all your ideas to live. For me they hold an ever-changing assortment of visual goodness that helps guide me through my creative life. They can be very helpful to keep your home or work design projects inspired and on task.

My giant mood board hangs on the wall of my home studio. I use it for work and play! A mood board is an essential tool for me, so much so that Ive shown you how to make one ().

inspiration catch-all

For me a mood board spends most of its life as a feeling, as a mood. Its a place for all my little bits of inspiration to livea color swatch that caught my eye, an outfit, or a home from a magazine. A photo of a stack of dishes that I saw at a junk shop but didnt need to buy. A printed picture from a beloved design blog. Fabric swatchesfabrics always find their way onto my board.

When the board is filled up with goodies, it becomes something real. If you keep these bits and pieces as life goes by, the design process is much easier. You dont have to think as hard when its time to work.

board-inspired projects

I know its time for a project when I start looking around the house and I think, Meh! I dont know about you, but if a project is too big, I have a hard time getting started; so I like to start small. I think pillows.

Pillows are always a great pick-me-up. You can use them inside and out to spruce up your living spaces and to inspire you to move on to bigger projects. Shopping from your mood board for fabric or a new color combination is a great place to start, isnt it? A trip to the fabric shop for a bit of fabric or an online order later, and youre ready to start to make pretty.

project-based board

If youre making over an entire home as I did, youll want a giant mood board divided into sections or a smaller board per room. This way the mood board can become more task specific.

At this point the board can include the fabric swatches, specs, floor plans, and paint chips for each room. The best thing is that its all right there for you to see! Its like a functional art piece of its own.

terms and techniques glossary

fabrics

Batting: The inner layer of a quilt between the top and back; adds insulation and warmth. Usually cotton, wool, or polyester; gives the quilt its fluffiness and warmth. Newer types of batting are made from silk, cotton/polyester blends, soy fibers, and bamboo. Each type of batting material has different characteristics, giving dimension to the quilted surface.

Calico: A lightweight, woven cotton or cotton/polyester blend fabric with an allover print, usually a small floral pattern on a contrasting background color.