Pillow Talk

This local designer has stitched together a career in interior design.

Angie Covington has had a few careers — from curating exhibitions at an American history museum to working for FEMA as a planning specialist — but she likes her current work the most. As a seamstress, designer and the owner of Blueprint, a local interior-design firm, Covington creates custom pillows, drapery and interior accents to personalize clients’ homes.

Covington founded Blueprint in 2013, coming up with the business name on accident. “I was talking to my mother in June 2013, and I told her what I wanted to do,” she remembers. “I said, ‘I’m just trying to get a blueprint’ — oh, that’s a good name.”

As an accomplished seamstress and entrepreneur, she’s following closely in her grandmother’s footsteps. “My grandmother had her own business,” she says. “When she was younger, she worked at one of Vanity Fair’s hosiery mills here. I always thought she was ahead of her time because she worked, and started her own business, when most women were getting married. She was truly amazing.”
Client-Inspired Design
Covington approaches each project from the client’s perspective. “I look at things that people already have in their homes that they really love and just go from there,” she says. “Some decorators walk in and say, ‘Here’s what we’re going to do.’ I think you should just enhance what someone already has.”

Sourcing fabric is a fun, though sometimes time-consuming, aspect of her work. “I go to Florida on buying trips — there are some great fabric stores in the Miami-Fort Lauderdale area,” she says. “And it’s amazing what great fabrics you can get on eBay.” She looks for fabrics that will hold up to regular use, and whose design sets them apart. “I don’t want everybody to have the same pillow,” she says. “I find fabric that’s high-quality, but a little different — so you feel like you’re getting what you pay for.”

Though Covington chooses different fabrics depending on what a given client will love, she shares the same vision for her clients’ homes as she does for her own. “You want to walk in your door and say, ‘Ah, I’m home,’” she says.

She’s Got It Covered
Blueprint is currently a one-woman operation. “At this point, I’ve only had to get someone to help me on a couple projects,” Covington says. “I have high-quality machines in my home, and my dining room table is my workshop.”

She’s looking forward to expanding her skills and services this spring. “What I want to get into is slipcovering,” she says. “So, I’m hopefully going to work with a couple people later this spring. I need to work with someone full-time, so I can learn from them.”
Sewing custom slipcovers will fit perfectly into Covington’s philosophy of enhancing décor without completely overhauling it. “A piece of furniture could be in great shape, but maybe you hate the color, or you’re tired of it,” she says. With a slipcover, clients can enjoy the comfort of their favorite chair, sofa or love seat without having to re-upholster it — and “when you take off the cover, it’s like a whole new piece,” Covington says. blueprint-home.com