Friday, February 26, 2010

Window Mistreatments

Inspired by frugalandsimple's "window mistreatments," I made curtains yesterday.

Kevin had been hinting that we needed a curtain for the window at the top of the stairs for quite a while. (Mostly by flying to the light switch and shutting it off every time I walked by wearing my pjs.)

I don't really care for hand sewing, and don't have a sewing machine, so I put it off, waiting for a day when it would be convenient to borrow mom's machine and sew for 5 days straight. As if that's ever convenient. No wonder I procrastinated.

But yesterday, as I was about to head home from Moncton, I remembered those window mistreatments. I could do that.



So I went to Walmart and chose fabric.
"Three meters." I told the girl, guessing at the size of the window, and how much I would need for the other two windows at the back of the house.




While she was cutting, I picked out some iron-on hemming tape. I chose extra strength, just in case.








I picked up a curtain rod, too. (I had measured the window - three and 2/3 purses long, my purse being the only unit of measurement I was sure to have with me in the store)
I took it all home and got started. I didn't have a ruler or measuring tape, but that didn't matter. I held the fabric up to the window for approximate length and width, and used the lines on the floor to guide me as I cut.
This might not be a good idea if you haven't washed your floor in a while. Just saying.

Then I got out my trusty iron and ironed in hems with the tape around each piece of fabric. The tape worked really well! I decided that modern technology would drastically reduce demand for sewing machines.





I folded over the top of the curtain and made a long pocket for my curtain rod to slide through. And that was it! I hung them up.




My seams weren't perfect, but can you tell?










I didn't think so.


It took less than 2 hours, all told, including the time it took to find the screwdriver to mount the curtain rod.
With panel curtains selling for 20$ or more apiece, I figure that I saved 32$. And I got the fabric - somewhere between voile, linen, and cotton - that I really wanted.