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Well, this has been my longest absence since I joined blogland – as regards postings anyway – I've still been looking!! However, I can now show my latest creation – yes, it’s a pair of curtains!! I’ve had a week off work and set myself the task of finishing painting my lounge and making the curtains. I have to say though that I HATE making curtains, but I am very pleased with the result. My lounge isn’t very big and in keeping with my preferred ‘Country’ theme, I chose a large check pattern to match the 3-piece suite I have been given by my lovely aunt and uncle.
Has anyone ever made inter-lined curtains (which these are)? They feel beautiful and it’s like having quilts at your window, which, believe me, we need here in the UK during winter months. The inter-lining (which is a bit like quilt batting) is locked to the back of the main fabric, with little stitches just catching a thread of the main fabric and then picking up a bit of the inter-lining. Stitches are only needed about every 30cms or so. Then the ordinary lining is attached in the usual way. The difficulty with curtain making is dealing with the sheer size of them in order to keep them smooth and straight for hemming and you end up either working on the floor, or as in my case, across the bed, which still isn’t big enough, and it’s back-breaking work. What you really need for curtain making is a large workroom with a very large table at waist height so that a curtain can be laid out flat to work on.
Now if anyone has taken a closer look and thinks “oh dear, she’s made them too long”, this is a design idea (not mine) – they are meant to be long so that they ‘puddle’ (No, not piddle!!) on the floor. I like the look of them and it also helps as a draught excluder. And at the top, there is a deliberate overhang above the header tape so that when they’re gathered, they form a frill effect, which again I like.
As I said before, I loathed doing them, but it was worth the effort. And now that they’re finished, I can use what little is left of my week off to do the kind of sewing I do enjoy – so that’s where I’m off to now - to soothe my withdrawal symptoms!!
Has anyone ever made inter-lined curtains (which these are)? They feel beautiful and it’s like having quilts at your window, which, believe me, we need here in the UK during winter months. The inter-lining (which is a bit like quilt batting) is locked to the back of the main fabric, with little stitches just catching a thread of the main fabric and then picking up a bit of the inter-lining. Stitches are only needed about every 30cms or so. Then the ordinary lining is attached in the usual way. The difficulty with curtain making is dealing with the sheer size of them in order to keep them smooth and straight for hemming and you end up either working on the floor, or as in my case, across the bed, which still isn’t big enough, and it’s back-breaking work. What you really need for curtain making is a large workroom with a very large table at waist height so that a curtain can be laid out flat to work on.
Now if anyone has taken a closer look and thinks “oh dear, she’s made them too long”, this is a design idea (not mine) – they are meant to be long so that they ‘puddle’ (No, not piddle!!) on the floor. I like the look of them and it also helps as a draught excluder. And at the top, there is a deliberate overhang above the header tape so that when they’re gathered, they form a frill effect, which again I like.
As I said before, I loathed doing them, but it was worth the effort. And now that they’re finished, I can use what little is left of my week off to do the kind of sewing I do enjoy – so that’s where I’m off to now - to soothe my withdrawal symptoms!!
4 comments:
You should be quite pleased indeed. The curtains add a wonderful touch to your beautiful window. I've never made interlined curtains before, I've always tried to stay away from making curtains as it seems quite daunting. I'd love to see a picture of the completed room :-)
I once made a pair of unlined curtains. They were patterned and I didn't match up the pattern so they looked very odd indeed. I HATED making curtains too!!! I am glad that you are back blogging and not curtain making. Well done by the way!
Gorgeous curtains love the fabric.....
Julia,
They look fabulous and the fullness and length are perfect. Well done you!
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