Monday, July 13, 2015

Curtains

OK, so I bought a home. As I said before, a small modest home and it mine - all mine. Sometimes my mind races with things I want to do to decorate it. I moved in on January 1, 2014 so I have been here for 1 and a half years. After several moves and living in an apartment for several years I didn't have much in the way of decorative items. I go to the thrift store, usually once a week, and I have been gathering things along the way. Sometimes a find will change the whole way I look at a room. I have to take a picture of the red chair I found.

Today, I want to talk about curtains. I am not a sewer with experience but I do have my sewing machine set up and I have a dedicated area for it. My daughter doesn't like it but she is forced to share the basement with my craft area. I started with curtains for my bathroom which I don't have pictures of. They were made out of a sheet and they are orange. Now I have an orange bathroom! It is a bright and cheerful color to wake up to. Also, because I didn't line them, in the afternoon through a west facing window it gives the whole room a golden glow.

Next I did curtains for my kitchen.

Kitchen Curtains

My kitchen definitely has a retro 1950's look with those black gingham with red cherries curtains. The window that you are looking at is quite large. There is a second window over the sink that is smaller and also has these same curtains.

The gingham made it easy to follow straight lines and get a consistent hem so they were a good project for the beginning sewer that I am. Since the curtains are for my home, I wanted to take my time and personalize them. To that end, I crocheted a lace border on the valences and made matching ties. People at my work thought I was nuts because I brought them to work for me and crocheted during my lunch.

Since my kitchen was curtained, I decided to tackle my bedroom. I made white cotton sheers and covered them with a royal blue frame.


The opposite corner also has a window.


Not too bad for a beginner! I kind of wish that I had made fancier middles, but I still have some of the fabric and I might just tackle them.

I have to laugh at the memory of my husband watching me lay the fabric down the hallway. I put masking tape at the beginning point and the ending point so that I could cut the fabric the correct length. He thought I was nuts!

You can't see it in the pictures, but I would like to comment about the hems. I hemmed all of the pieces by hand.  I used the blind hem stitch. I have used the ladder stitch for quite a few finishes of projects that I have done through StitchMap. Blind hem stitch was a natural progression. For those of you who sew, you will understand that I am so proud that I was able to pickup just one or two threads while I was hemming. It felt like quite an accomplishment! 

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