My First Sewing Project: The Big Reveal

I've actually dreaded writing this post because I know it's going to be a long one but we must conquer and overcome! Ready?? We can do this.

Last Wednesday I finally found a curtain rod style and price that worked well within my spending range. Why are some curtain rods $50+? And of course, I found them at my favorite store, Lowe's. No I do not get paid for talking about Lowe's but if they want to pay me fore it, call me!!

The winner...this guy (and may I once again remind you to not stare at the ugly green wall...I should really work on finding a setting on my camera that captures the true color of our walls.)

I bought two 24-48 inch rods for the windows and these clips to hang the curtains with.

Not only did I find curtain rods and clips I liked, I also had a coupon for "Spend $50, Save $10. Double bonus. When I gave it to the lady at the register, it wasn't scanning and when she started punching in the numbers of the coupon I realized that it expired 10/14 and all along I thought it was 11/14. Do you know what happened? She honored it anyway and gave me the $10 off! Whoop! Whoop!

So then I had the hubby help me put everything up on Friday. We don't believe in ladders as you can tell. haha

The first reveal looked, well...pathetic. The curtains still needed to be finished but they looked skimpy.

Especially when you pulled them shut.

Even with the minor disappointment, I pushed forward and had him put up the other curtain rod for me. Which only to lead to another disheartening moment. I knew the window was a little wider than the other one but I still thought the rod would be long enough. Nope, it was barely holding together. Luckily for me, Lowe's came through for me yet again! I was able to keep the hardware up on the wall but just return the rod for the bigger size rod. Booya.

After Joe and I starred at the semi-finished curtains, we decided that there needed to be more fabric on each panel. They just didn't look right and to be honest I was sad my first attempt at making curtains didn't go as I had hoped. I guess that's the beauty of DIY, you just never know what you're going to end up with.

Saturday morning I set out on my mission early. I went to Lowe's to return the rod and get the bigger size rod and then headed to JoAnn to see if they still had the fabric I used for our curtains. It must have been my lucky day because it was there! I picked up another six yards of the white patterned fabric and another six yards of the blackout fabric. Oh and the white fabric was 30% off and I had a 40% off coupon for the blackout fabric. Not that it's a big deal though... :)

After I got back home I went to work on making two new panels for the one window and sewing the four panels I already had made together. (Two panels sewn together to make one panel and the other two panels sewn together to make my second panel for the window.)

So there I was, laying, ironing and cutting fabric again. Instead of cutting the patterned fabric down the middle (like I did the first time) I left the width and cut the blackout fabric down to be the same width.

I used a fabric cutting board underneath, a fabric rotary cutter which works so much better than scissors and a ruler to keep my edge straight.

Then I put the panels together just like I did the first time around. You can see all of the details here. After I made the two new ones, I was on to fixing the first ones I made.

I pinned the two pannels together down the middle and sewed those right up. And to figure out the length I hung them up and marked with a pin where they hit the floor.

Next, I chopped the extra fabric off and hemmed up the bottom edges. Bada Bing Bada Boom. DONEZO!

This is what could have been and what is. Notice how the new, wider curtains look ten times better because of the extra fabric! So glad I decided to make bigger panels!

The final look!!

They probably could be up off the ground like a half inch more so they hang better but after an eight hour day of sewing curtains I had had enough. Maybe I'll save that for a snowy day. So there you have it. Our curtains are done (for now) and we couldn't be more happier with them. They aren't perfect by any means. I notice little things that I wish were different but it is what it is. Now, onto the next project and I'm crossing "make curtains" off my to do list for our bedroom.

The "To Do" List 

• Paint
• New Bed
• Install Blinds
• Refinish Dresser
• Paint Window Trim
• New Closet Hardware
• Make Curtains
• Paint Closet Trim/Base Trim
• Get Nightstands
• Add Closet Storage
• Find Beside Lighting
• Add Mirror
• Add Photos/Art
• Get Hamper
• Add Rug?

My First Sewing Project: Part I

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?!

Sew Me Some More!

For the past few months I have been wanting to get a sewing machine. Yes, it's just another indication that I am turning into a homemaker and I love it! Joe kept asking me when I would actually have the time to use it with school coming up but I ignored his legitimate concern and kept looking for one. Even if I just dabbled in little projects here and there I felt it would be worth it. And I'm not going to be in school forever (I hope) so eventually I'll really get into it and then ask for a sewing/craft room in the house. JK.

I knew I didn't want anything overly expensive and you can find beginner basic machines for around $100 that would work for any of the projects I'll ever want to do. I told Joe I could make all his clothes from now on and he said, "not a chance". Rightfully so. I haven't used a sewing machine since our seventh or eighth grade home ec class.

I went back and forth between a Brother XL 2600I and a Brother XL 3750 for a long time. The XL 2600I was only around $84 and the XL 3750 hovered around $120. The only difference (that I could tell) between the two were that the XL 3750 had about 10 more stitch options and they advertised it for your every day sewing needs as well as for quilting. I read many reviews on both of them and many reviewers who had the 2600I said for their quilting projects the machine worked just fine. I plan on using our table runners from the wedding one day to make a quilt, so that's why I was paying attention to the "quilting" features on the machines. Some machines can't handle the thickness of some quilting material so if I ever get really into quilting I wanted to make sure the machine I picked could handle it.

I eventually decided I was going to get the XL 2600I and figured it would do everything I needed it to do. Although they didn't advertise it for quilting, I knew the quilts I'll eventually make won't need a fancy machine and they won't be two inches thick so why not save $40 and get the basic machine.

Then, I went onto Amazon and the price of the XL 3750 dropped down to $101! Whaaat?! Twenty bucks cheaper and I would get more stitch options and the quilting perks of it too? SOLD. I ordered that baby up in two minutes and anxiously waited for it to arrive on my porch. Which it did two days earlier than it was suppose to!!

I am excited! I finally took it out of the box last night!

It's first breath out of the box. (Yes, I know I am weird and I am ok with that.)

Look at those stitches! I have no idea how/why to use any of them but can't wait to learn!

And it even came with a handy cover for it.

My list of sewing projects keeps getting longer:

• curtains for our room and all the other bedrooms
• roman curtains for the kitchen
• christmas tree skirt
• christmas stockings
• quilt made from runners

Oh yes. This is going to be good. As Joe likes to put things, it's an "investment in our future". I'll be DIYing all over the place and trying to save all sorts of money on our home improvement projects. Wow, I'm making it sound like this sewing machine will replace everything in the world. I just hope I'm good at it.