Domesticated

Never did I ever think I would become one of those really domestic people. Not that there is anything against it, I just didn't think I had it in me. Well, I think that might be changing, and I think I like it!

Here is what started it all....

Birthday present from Mom!!!!!

So, I had these curtains in the guest bedroom.  I got them at Ross for about $6.00 the day we moved in. I really just got them because Dad was here helping us move in and he needed something to cover up the windows for privacy while he was using the room, and had no extra time to shop for some I liked.  Well, they were AWFUL! They were about a foot too short and did not block any light at all. 

So after searching for new ones that I loved unsuccessfully, I decided I would add some fabric and line them myself!

But I had no sewing machine. A couple days after asking my mom if i could maybe borrow her sewing machine, this showed up on my doorstep!!!! I was SO excited.  She got this refurbished BROTHER sewing machine at overstock.com for a great price.  Sewing machines are NOT cheap so I would recommend going this route if you are just learning to sew, and it works beautifully! 

I looked everywhere for a great book to read to help me learn how to make curtains and this is the one that I ended up with.  It was amazing! It teaches you how to so all of the basic skills you need to know for curtains, and has everything from really simple designs to elaborate window treatments (I am dying to make some of these for our bedroom).

Heather Luke's Complete Curtain-Making Course

I also used this site to help me when I got confused reading the book.  Reading the same instructions from two different resources helped figure out what they were talking about.

About the fabric: I chose a really heavy black embossed fabric for the bottom third of the curtains to make them look more elegant.  I got this fabric at Hobby Lobby. It is pretty expensive at $21.99/yard, but it was on a 30% off sale, plus since I was just using it for the bottom of the curtains, I didn't need much. Here it is.

I also bought the curtain lining at Hobby Lobby. The book talks about lining curtains with another color or pattern of fabric, to keep it more decorative, but since the curtains I had were so light in color, I wanted to use real curtain lining to block out as much light as possible. The lining was $5.99/yard and was not on sale, plus I needed 9 yards of it.  BUT did you know if you go to the Hobby Lobby website, there is ALWAYS a 40% off coupon for on regular priced item? Well there is, and it works on fabric too! They will even let you pull it up on your phone if you don't feel like printing it out.  

When I finished the first panel, I realized I accidentally sewed through the black fabric with my ivory thread. I was bound to mess up something on my first curtain-making experience, right? There was no way I was going to take it out and re-sew it, so I went to JoAnn's fabric store and bought some trim for $2.99/yard. I glued it on with Liquid Stitch and it looks great! Easy fix, and I think whenever I make curtains with separate blocks of fabric, I will always add trim now. It just makes it look more finished.

Finished product!!! The ivory part on the top is what I already had hanging. I just added to them.

The lining.

Close up of the trim.

I am overall really happy with how they turned out! It was a little overwhelming at first. But I just took it one step at a time and after making one panel, I hardly had to look back at the directions, and the second panel took about half the time of the first one.

I am so excited about this...Now I can start making curtains exactly how I want instead of just finding ones that are just okay. Thanks so much mom for my sewing machine! I will be able to make so many things with it for so many years! I love it!

Happy curtain-making!

Love,

Mrs. Wise