What a week. Sorry for no post yesterday. I was watching The Dark Knight Rises.
Today I ventured into making the curtains for the Super Hero Birthday Room Project (as I’ve taken to calling it…since now). I have two sewing books, and they both have lovely little explanations for how to sew curtains. There is also this amazing resource for crafters known as “the internet”, which has a ton of information for first-time crafts.
I used none of these.
Instead, I decided that what I needed was four hemmed edges and a hole to put a curtain rod through. This model worked fine. But because this is me, the project did not go off without a hitch.
Here is my journey through curtain making:
I started with fabric. I bought my fabric on Saturday; this was my second choice. I went with this Spider Man fabric because the fabric I had originally chosen was nearly gone, and they did not have enough.**
I pinned the bottom edge for the hem. I also ironed it down before I took it to the machine. Notice that I am not using my hand-made pin cushion. This is not because of any reason other than I keep forgetting about it.
I did have the wherewithal to realize that I had sewn multiple projects on the same needle and perhaps it was time for a change. So here’s to the needle that sewed many of my first failures and successes.
The first side is completed!
I did, just today. 🙂
At some point, I realized that I could pin and iron simultaneously. So that’s what I did. I pinned in two spots, then ironed. Then pulled the fabric up and pinned two spots, then ironed. And so on.
Although I was sewing on the dining room table for extra room, I still found it amazing difficult to keep all of that fabric from falling off the wooden surface.
Finally, after the 2 hour Tim Burton Batman, all sides were nice and neat, and I was ready to sew the loop for the curtain rod. In order to do this, I simply placed the rod on the fabric and folded it to see where I would need to sew.
You might remember, keen reader, two asterisks earlier when I mentioned forgoing a favored fabric because there was not enough. Well, I’m afraid the joke’s on me. The day I picked up the fabric, the internet had given Eric and I the finger and taken the day off, so I did not have access to my e-mail with the window and door measurements from my mom. So I called whilst in the fabric store to get them: 40in by 44in.
Somehow, in the midst of my searching for fabric and mom trying to juggle answering my questions and guests coming into the house at that very moment, I got it in my head that I needed at least 4 yards of fabric. Obviously, I only needed one and a half.
However, I bought 4, and so here are the 135 remaining, usable inches splayed on the floor.
Now my brother is getting a curtain for the door and a valance for his window. And I will be getting a Spider Man skirt, perhaps. Or tote. I’ll still have quite a bit left over.
Because my brother is the best person on this planet (and I do mean that), having a plain curtain rod is not good enough for him. Luckily, I grabbed some Spider Man duck tape for my dress form project the other week, so I used that to decorate the rod. Now he has a totally Spidey curtain rod to match his curtain(s).
With the curtain completed, I had to get a picture of it! Alas, at 5ft, I am too short to hang it up for a picture. In steps Eric to save the day. Thus, here is the completed curtain for the door.
I am going to do the valance tomorrow, probably, as it will take some actual skill to complete.
And when I finish whatever else I do with this fabric, I’ll be sure to post it and remind everyone of my yards of glory. Last day of work for the week tomorrow! Hooray! And then off to the lake Saturday. Even my days off seem busy. Hopefully next week, I’ll only work a few days. More craft time = a happy polymath.
In the meantime, keep it crafty.
You say Polymath like it's a bad thing... 