Last week my sewing machine came (you can read about that here if you'd like) and I didn't waste any time getting into my first project: curtains for our bedroom! But not just any kind of curtains, blackout curtains. Insert collective "ooo ahh" here. We purchased these shades from JCPenny which work great but we need a little more darkness since the edge of the shade doesn't come flesh against the window frame so we have a little light making its way through still. So let project curtain begin!
I went to JoAnn Fabrics last Wednesday which was a terrible idea. Homemade Halloween costume making was in full force and I was there for a good two hours to get six yards of blackout fabric and a good pair of scissors. I had coupons so I had to go there people! And because I'm always on the hunt for a good deal, the blackout fabric was 50 percent off (that deal I came across by accident), the scissors and fabric rotary cutter were also on sale and I had a 20 percent off my total purchase coupon! Go Me!! Six yards later I had my blackout fabric.
Then after our dinner date on Friday night, I forced introduced Joe to JoAnn. What a hot date! :) I was a little hesitant to go the Friday before Halloween but it was surprisingly calm (probably because they were closing within the half hour). We found a white fabric with a cool paisley print on it that both Joe and I liked so I rounded up six yards of that as well. I think it will look great with our green room and white trim.
If I could do it over again, I would have gone with a wider fabric. Cutting the blackout fabric straight down the middle would have given me two nice wide panels for each window. (I chose six yards of fabric cut at the three yard mark so I could have floor to ceiling curtains, two panels per window making it a grand total of four panels. Make sense? ha) The fabric we ended up picking was about 45 inches wide - at least a foot smaller (width wise) than the blackout fabric so I'm hoping the panels will still be wide enough (they should be...hopefully) for the windows. Bottom line, make sure the fabric width will be wide enough for your windows with a little wiggle room for the hem.
Moving on. I laid out our printed fabric and cut it down the middle to make my panels. Then did the same with the blackout fabric using a printed panel as my straight edge.
That ended my Friday night activities. Saturday morning I was right back at it. I took out the trusty iron and used it to help fold the edges of the printed fabric a half inch.
Then I laid it on the floor and put a panel of blackout fabric on top of the printed fabric and lined it up as best as I could with the folded edge.
Next, it was time for pinning. I pinned only one long edge and one short edge starting out.
Finally, I was ready for the sewing machine. I was nervous but Joe helped me get set up. He really likes putting things together and told me how he spent eight hours on a Saturday in his room setting up his Lego city when he was little. NERD ALERT! Jokes aside, I really appreciated his help. I started singing Celine Dion's "It's all coming back to me now" because of the flashbacks I was having from eighth grade home EC. He had no idea what I was singing about. Hello!? It's Celine Dion here people!
The machine fed through the fabric nicely. My lines weren't perfectly straight but they got better panel by panel. It's funny though...my worst panel was the third one in. I didn't make sure the fabric was smoothed out so it got a little bubbly but you probably won't be able to tell so I left it. Let's keep it our secret.
After I finished one long and short side, I laid the panels out and used my printed fabric edge as my guide while I cut the blackout fabric just short of the width of the printed fabric so I could tuck it into the fold edges. Once I tucked and pinned I was right back on the machine sewing away leaving the last short edge undone so I can figure out what length I want them when I get the curtain rod and clips.
Holy confusing. Sorry if I'm leaving anyone in the dust on this. I need to work on my "how to" tutorials. Finally, I was done with all four panels er, mostly done. Overall, I'm happy with the unfinished project so far! Joe also told me to make new curtains for our living room...OK! But maybe I shouldn't take on such a big project yet. Let me warm up to the machine first:) Baby steps.
Now the next step is to find curtain rods (thank goodness we still have Target gift cards from the wedding!) and clips, hang these babies up, mark where they touch the floor, finish the hem and enjoy! I'm nervous because I know they aren't going to be as wide as I would have liked but I'll have to take it as a lesson learned. What do you do?!
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