All-American Decorating Ideas

A few good accessories are all that's needed to get a room in a seasonal mood. For high impact wall art, consider hanging a new or vintage quilt by hook-and-loop fastening tape. Roll out a decorative area rug to play up your theme. Lampshades, folk art, and toss pillows can all get in the act if the colors blend. Be sure to layer textiles using pillows, rugs, and throws. Here, a wooden Uncle Sam stands against a World War II-era star quilt, which has names sewn onto the stars. Rotating old quilts seasonally has the added benefit of extending their wear. Layers of red-white-and-blue textiles build up to a star-spangled bedroom that offers fresh spirit even after the smoke of fireworks clears.

• Erasable fabric marker
• 1-1/4 yards of 45-inch-wide striped pillow-ticking fabric
• 1 yard of fusible polyester fleece
• 1-1/2 yards of 56-inch-wide white wool fabric or equivalent in scraps
• 1-1/4 yards of 56-inch-wide red wool fabric or equivalent in scraps
• Rotary cutter; cutting mat
• White sewing thread
• Liquid latex rug backing

1. Make the base. From ticking and fleece, cut 32-1/2 x 43-inch rectangles. Fuse fleece to wrong side of ticking. Clean-finish edges. Print star pattern and enlarge; cut out. With erasable fabric marker, draw pattern on ticking. Draw lines from star points to indicate blue/red color change.

2. Cut wool. Using rotary cutter, cut wool fabrics into 2-inch squares. Cut 752 white squares, 588 red squares, and 504 blue squares.

3. Attach wool to base. For first row, fold two opposite edges of each of about 40 blue squares to center and finger-press. Pin folded squares side by side with one short edge aligned to a ticking stripe 2-1/2 inches from edge; leave 1-1/2 inches on each end empty. Machine-stitch squares to ticking, sewing across center of each folded square. Finger-press stitched squares toward outside of rug. Fold a second row of blue squares and align with next ticking strip; stitch.

4. Continue adding rows, changing colors as indicated by star outline. Last row of stitching should be 1-1/2 inches from edge.

5. Finish. Turn seam allowance to wrong side, miter corners, and whipstitch in place. Paint back of rug with liquid latex rug backing.