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Maureen Klein’s
Designs For Living Seminars
Saturday, February 17 and Sunday, February 18, 2001

Maureen Klein visited Haberman Fabrics and inspired all with countless ideas for using fabrics in our homes for walls, windows, table settings, bedrooms and accessories. Haberman Fabrics donated a portion of each seminar fee to support Habitat for Humanity.

Maureen Klein, New York interior designer and editor of Good Housekeeping Do-It-Yourself Magazine has inspired audiences for years through her lively seminars, features in decorating magazines, TV credits, and participation in excellent decorating books. Maureen, a home decorating expert for design trade events, is in constant touch with decorating product manufacturers and translates her knowledge into wonderful up-to-date projects that are sophisticated, fun and easy to follow.

The four highly visual, informative and entertaining seminars included:

Window Wonders (Saturday morning) The fabulous looks you’ve seen in magazines, including tips on selecting fabric and techniques on measuring, creating and installing wonderful window treatments and the products that can help you create gorgeous cornices, swags, drapes and shades. Students reviewed hardware, some "home-grown", for basic and challenging styles and shapes, even curvaceous arches, learned the tricks stylists use to make those magazine masterpieces look just right and were inspired by colorful slides and samples, emphasizing the importance of designer details and decorative trims.

Tablescapes (Saturday afternoon) Through slides, beautiful samples, demonstration, we saw a delightful collection of table linens, cloths, placemats, runners and napkins, that you can make, including lattice work, shirred, mitered, reversible, banded, easy jumbo welt and bullseye designs. We learned how to measure, match designs perfectly at the seam and hem a round, oval or other shape tablecloth. Some were machine techniques, some "sewn" with an iron!

Off the Wall…And On (Applying fabric to walls. Sunday morning) Maureen’s students learned how to cover a wall with fabric to insulate against the noise and cold, camouflage bumps and cracks, and just add beautiful pattern and texture to a new surface. Techniques discussed or demonstrated included the gathered or shirred wall, pasting, padding, pleating, quilting and tufting possibilities, even portable walls, and how to cover difficult walls, and work around windows, doors and arches, making decorative double welt, adding trims and borders and covering a vent or switch plate so it seems to disappear.

Designer Accessories and Details (Sunday afternoon) The last seminar taught how to create treasured fabric accessories to give your home a professional designer’s touch. There were beautiful wall hangings and framed fabrics using a variety of techniques, lampshades shirred, flat, punched and pleated, and folding screens made with different methods. Then Maureen demonstrated simple upholstery techniques, dust ruffles details, even fitting tricks for fabric throws, covering hard surface furniture with fabric too.