Catch Up on projects (the curtains)...... and New Years resolutions, this is a long post
Here we are December and my Christmas project sits, not because I haven't been busy, but because I haven't been busy on this project. I've been working on a number of things a cutting table, working on a house that will need to sell quickly, long planned projects, time with family and an eventful drive to Houston.
Today mother nature has delivered a day, which will keep me inside. Thank you.
So before I jump into my projects, I've been thinking about how I want to change things for 2022. I always feel like I'm behind the gun at New Years, as Christmas melts into the New Year like a time robbing thief. The celebration on New Years drops you into the first of the new year, with resolutions being pushed back because..... I need to clean up, I need to rest... time ticks away and the new goal post for getting things done is Chinese New Year. I always seem to think about the things I want for next year the day before the actual new year, mostly it involves starting the first of the year organized with a clean house, unhindered by clutter and with a clear focus for what I want my life to be going forward. There's been a trend to say, oh I don't make New Year resolutions, but January 1st, just feels like a marker, a turning of the page, for better or worse. So I'm changing that today. I will have that clean house, I will have decluttered my pantry and closets before the new year this year.
The Long Planned Curtains for a House I Didn't Own Yet....
Onto the good stuff... I purchased my home in 2014, it was a derelict house. It had not been lived in for 10 years before I purchased it, but it had potential. I was still living in South Florida, and had a thrift store nearby where I happened upon a few rolls of fabric (10), that were a clear out from an interior designer. I purchased the fabric, and tried to coordinate colors so that I could use them in the future. The first practical use of this fabric booty is a project recently completed.... bedroom curtains.
Preliminary Measuring and Cutting...
Five years ago I laid the fabric out and cut panels with enough extra length so that when I finally made the curtains that part would be done. I did this partly because the rolls were unmarked, and I had no idea if there would be enough to make the curtains. Well, not having curtains in my bedroom, those panels ended up draped over the rod, instead of actually sewn up. The rest of the fabric was neatly folded up in a corner in my bedroom, taking up floor space. So push came to shove, when I hosted Thanksgiving and started cleaning and got so fed up looking at the pile, I had decided cleaning for Thanksgiving was going to include making the curtains, and cleaning up the bedroom floor.
There is a Craftsy class for making curtains, I had watched it some time ago, because I used their seam allowance guidance to generously cut those first panels. I sat, watched the video again, made notes for the fourth time and started. I had considered that it would take only a week to get the curtains done and hung. I would have been wrong.
The fabric is a polyester silk dupioni, which would be interlined in flannel, as well as lined. Even though I have the silk dupioni, I opted for the polyester because the sun here is brutal, and after all this work, did not want to see the curtains shredding from sun exposure, so that will be reserved for another purpose. The thing to know about the polyester dupioni is that it will not train as well as the silk, which means the pleats from top to bottom will not be as tidy or sharp. Also the interlining will make the pleats softer and they tend to curl out more at the hem.
Onto the curtain making.... one thing to keep in mind is that you will need some space to do this, and for me it was the living room floor. In retrospect, when I cut the panels, it would have been useful to pull the thread and have the first cut perfectly straight across the grain, so that you don't chase the straight of the grain later. The first crude cutting of the panels made more work for me in the end.
Inspiration....
I've always had pretty bedrooms, not so much these past years. Since I've been watching my fair share of history bounding and just general costume research, I wanted my curtains to remind me of a Robe à la Française. Partly because I don't think I will ever make one, and this is the most practical application I could think of.... and remember I need to get back to a pretty bedroom.
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