I have a curtain fetish with every season. I tend to tire of the same curtains so I sew them to save on the cost of purchasing ones that are already made. They can run pretty expensive in the stores and online for nice ones. But the adventure of doing something myself, I adore trying my hand at… These are for my kids’ arts and crafts room, so the fabric has to be loud.
It’s a medium linen cotton, sturdy, and it will give a plume effect like a 50’s skirt when gathered. I got this fabric a year ago, marked down at the time of purchase. I do this: I buy material and put it away for whenever I will eventually find a use for it. This print is abstract with cat tails, cat ears, and anything feline. It’s just right for my kids’ room that they play in and create the strangest of things in that is artful and imaginative, the cat-lovers that they are.
I think you relive your childhood for the second time when you have kids of your own– It’s been my experience. What I thought I missed out on, tiny things that meant something to me as a kid, I’ve managed to retrieve with my own children… So, no, I did not miss a thing in my childhood, lol… and I will graduate when they do, all over again– someday, some year before I am old and gray.
What is typically easy to muster turned into a drawn-out process spanning over 2 1/2 weeks to complete due to the other irons in the fire that I am trying my hand at, so the making of these curtains was not a consistent effort. The main reason being, my sewing machine decided to take a rest, remained uncooperative, so I had to do this manually– the old way of sewing curtains that both my grandmothers had done at times. To do this, I used quilting thread for strength, stitching as straight and evenly as I could, then turning the fabric over to stitch the underside of the stitches. This can be done well and remain durable through washings. I have pieced a queen-sized quilt this very way from start to finish, and it is still long-lasting, now 15 years-old. When you think about it, that’s what they did in the olden days. It’s best to use a working machine but sometimes it’s not a bad thing to improvise and still make something that you can be content with.
Adapted from my mother-in-law, I cut 2 panels of each curtain to sew together then turn out, giving it more body, a block-out effect as well, and it looks nice from the road having the print through the windows. I never saw curtains this way until I saw the way hers hung so pristine. I knew I would sew mine the same way from that time forward because hers looked tailored and professionally made. Mine may not look as tailored but they will be cute for this room.
These are carefully cut 35 and 7 1/4 inches wide by 35 and 1/8 inches long for the lower halves of 2 windows. I like the upper portions of the panes to bring in plenty of natural light into the room.
A finished edge…
For the rod, just a simple stitch will do.
Pressed on both sides and hung, these are cheerful in a room.
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