Welcome to Week #2 of our Romantic Bedroom Retreat, sponsored by our friends at Westminster Fibers Lifestyle Fabrics, the makers of Rowan and FreeSpirit fabric lines. We hope you've been glued to each weekday's installment, like the pages of summer romance novel, but if you're brand new to the Series, here's the scoop. We have nine tutorials (and five techniques) that beautifull portray how we took four new, and somewhat disparate, fabric collections, and brought them together into one harmonious theme. We also show you how to work with some of the new fabric substrates, such as voile, cotton sateen and laminates. Today is a luxurious coverlet, featuring a bold quilting cotton from Amy Butler's Cameo, sateen from Tina Givens' Pagoda Lullaby and a coordinating Designer Solid cotton for the back.These are blended with rich velveteen, satin bows and heavy chainette fringe. So - you're dying to know the difference between a bedspread and a coverlet aren't you? A bedspread is sized to completely cover the bed with the sides extending all the way to the floor and with enough fabric at the top to go up and over the pillows. A coverlet is a smaller version of a bedspread with sides that normally go only about halfway to the floor and of a size that stops below the pillows so you can feature some beautiful shams. We did exactly that with our Double Flange Shams introduced last week. In addition, coverlets can be various weights, depending on the season. We chose to add a layer of batting, which adds warmth and weight. You could leave out the batting for a summer weight coverlet.  

As you create a roomful of projects, you want to start with a focal point and flow outward from there. Our room centers on an ornate king bed and the beautiful, billowing Layered Bed Curtains and Valance, which we introduced on Monday of this week. Now we begin to add in the other projects that will continue to build an aura of comfort and romance. A dramatic bolster pillow is always a stand-out in any pile-o-pillows, and we took full advantage of our pillow's 30" length to showcase a bold fussy cut. The beautiful medallions of the Angelica design from Amy Butler's Cameo collection for Rowan Fabrics was the perfect choice. We then added elegant tasseled fringe (a match to the valance trim) and slinky stretch velvet knotted into flowing tails on either end. Our thanks to our friends at FreeSpirit and Rowan fabrics for sponsoring the Romantic Bedroom Retreat series, which covers three weeks of beauty and imagination: nine tutorials, five techniques and one Great Giveaway!

I think more things in life should be reversible. Having a string of bad luck? Flip it over, and win the lottery. Say something stupid to your best friend? Turn it inside out, and it never happened. Wake up to gray and rainy day for your family picnic? Reverse it to blue skies and sunshine. Sounds good, don't you think? Although I can't promise these awesome social swaps, I can guarantee you'll love today's project in our Weekend Wonders with Fabric.com series. Our reversible apron is made of three bright and happy Kokka cotton canvas prints. From cooking in the kitchen to gardening in the flower boxes, this apron is both hardworking and goodlooking. The front boasts deep pockets and pretty flat felled seam accents. And, as part of our Weekend Wonders series, you know it's fast and easy. Make one for yourself, and one (or more) as gifts.

Pillows are always the perfect fast and easy project, and outdoor pillows are no exception. For the second project in our Weekend Wonders with Fabric.com series, we designed a great trio of pillows in easy care outdoor fabric selections: there's a 24" x 24" jumbo pillow, an all-around 20" x 20" pillow and a comfy 12" x 20" lumbar pillow. By choosing an indoor/outdoor pillow form, polyester cording for the piping, outdoor thread, and plastic buttons for the back closure; you'll have a set of great-looking, long-wearing pillows that can live outside for the entire season. Quality indoor/outdoor fabric (like you'll find at Fabric.com!) is mildew, stain and water resistant, which makes it perfect for outdoor settings as well as to use indoors in sunny rooms. It's fade resistant for up to 500 hours of direct sun exposure.