Sewing

I have been creating a curtain this week, or at least the beginnings of one.  I have made all the curtains in our house but this only amounts to four so far, and one of those was a blind!  So I don't get much practice and I am working at a steady progress.

I bought the fabric some time ago when visiting friends in Wales.  They have a wonderful fabric shop near them and I was tempted by this fabric.  We have a lovely fabric shop near us but they do not sell curtain fabric.  I had no colour swatch of the paint we had used and the measurements of the window were a vague memory in my head.  Perhaps not the best start!  But I did buy enough and it was a perfect match. Phew!

So a week or so ago I measured the window to work out the width and drop measurements.  I then laid out the fabric on the floor to cut it to size.  When I laid the blackout mining fabric on top I discovered I had not bought enough.  I had enough for the drop but this fabric was not as wide as the actual curtain fabric.  I had a ratch through my fabric stash and discovered a small piece leftover from previous curtain making, it was a perfect fit.

I sewed the pieces together and then pinned the blackout lining, some ordinary lining and the curtain material together and sewed them.  It took ages to pin them just right so I was frustrated to realise after sewing that the linings were the wrong way round, the blackout material was on the outside, I wanted it sandwiched between.  This was the first of many unpickings!  Sewing the second side seam was more difficult.  I was lining using the tube method so I needed the linings to be shorter than the curtain fabric as I wanted a small amount of curtain fabric to be visible on the reverse side.  I experimented with a small piece of each fabric to work out the dimensions.  As this fabric has a square pattern on it it was easy to work out where to cut and pin the lining.  I am happy with the way it has turned out.

I now need to make tab headings, sew them on and sew the hem.  I need the tab headings to match in with the pattern of the curtain so I think it will take some time to make these! That is for another day.

Joining in with Nicole for this weeks sharing of creating and crafting, not sure if this project was very calming at times!