Curtains, Anyone?

Our front room has been needing curtains since...oh, I don't know...we moved in.

And there really wasn't much of an excuse after my mother, in an effort to get me to make some curtains, bought some very nice fabric while in Hawaii about 4 years ago. It has dragons and bamboo--quite nice indeed.

If you have ever seen our living room, then you know that this design fits right in

But the timing couldn't have been worse. Despite the beautiful fabric, my sewing machine and I were going through a battle to end all battles. Some things were said (by me), some needles were broken (by the machine), tension issues arose (machine again), I got angry and put it in storage. It was time to take a break from sewing for awhile.

Well, since I finally dug my sewing machine out of hibernation (after almost 3 years!) this month, I thought that I had better make good on the promise to my husband to make those curtains.

Sorry for the plants in the way, but that is where they live

And I did.

Isn't that red accent on them nice? Oh yes, I agree. I didn't mean to do that, but I made a dumb move and did some needless sewing.

Now, I could have ripped stitches, but let's be honest here. I hate ripping stitches. Especially ones made by sewing machines. So I opted for another option: Add a color coordinating border!

The original plan was to have the border go around the whole outside, but I like it better just in the middle. And since I'm the creator, that is how it stays!

Since these were such a long time coming, my husband even watched the kids so I could hammer these out. Normally crafting must wait until after the munchkins have gone to bed, but not this day. This day I got to live the dream while making...curtains? Oh well, it was still nice.

With the mistake and all, this project took me about 5 hours. I'd say the mistake took at least an hour and a half of that time. Yes, I know, costly mistake. The bulk of the rest of the time was spent pinning and ironing.

This is not labor intensive work. There is a whole lot of ironing, pinning, and straight seam sewing going on when making curtains.

One tip that I would like to pass on:
My mother gave me this tip the first time I made curtains and it has saved me a ton of frustration.

Wait to sew the bottom of your curtains until after you hang them for the first time.

Then pin the bottom of the curtains while they are still hanging. That way you can be sure that the finished bottom looks straight when they are hung up. You would be surprised how many windows there are out there that aren't perfectly straight and square. Save yourself some seam ripping and do this extra step.

I made these in my free time (with a little bit of child care help). Imagine all the things you could do in yours!