"Oh, those old things?"

"...I just whipped them up one Saturday afternoon."

That's what I figured I would say when someone asked me about the curtain panels that are now hanging in my office.  The reality?  They were a tad more work than I thought.

I have been wanting to sew some curtain for my office/craft area, and I have been greatly encouraged by both the tutorials I have found all over the internet and by my budding sewing skills.  So, I figured picking out the fabric would be the hardest part.  I found this lovely floral/paisley-ish fabric at Joann's for $10/yard and 30% off.  So far so good.  I needed 5 yards, so for $35 I could have beautiful custom window treatments.

The first thing I did when brought the fabric home was clip it up on the already hanging rods to make sure I liked the colors, etc.  (Not that I had a plan of what to do with it if I didn't like the fabric in the office, but you know.)  Oh, and the fabric was already in 2 2 1/2 yard pieces, because it came from 2 different bolts.  Yes, there was a minute (or 10) of panic at the cutting counter when we discovered the first bolt had only about 4 1/2 yards of fabric on it when I needed 5.  But, we found another bolt with exactly 2 1/2 yards, so I got 2 pieces- each 2 1/2 yards in size.  The fabric cutting lady said I must be a good girl to have things work out so perfectly.  Meanwhile, I was wondering if I really wanted to use all my good luck on fabric, but oh well.  So, when I got them in the office with the already yellow walls and various other things that already live in there, it was love.

Yep, it was perfect!  Here's a picture I snapped before I had done any sewing at all.  Just raw fabric clipped onto the curtain rod and puddled on the floor.  I actually didn't think it was half bad, haha.

But, I knew I needed and wanted them to be finished properly.  So, I decided to hem all four sides all nice and neat.  Of course, any successful sewing project begins with a call to my mom, so I made sure to consult her about where to start.  Since I was going to be using clips and didn't need any rod pockets or anything fancy, I wasn't sure if there was an advantage to hemming the top/bottom first or the sides first.  She confirmed my suspicions and said that it didn't matter.  I figured the top would be hardest, so I started there.  When it came to evening out the cut edge so my curtains would hang straight and not be all wonky, I kind of just winged it.  I made sure to mark the line and iron it very well.  I even did the double fold thing where you keep the raw edge from being visible.  Go me.

Seeing as how I am not a sewer, I am very impressed with myself.  They're not perfect, but they look pretty sweet from a distance.  Oh, and they hang straight which is always a bonus.

So, once I hemmed the top, I cut the selvage off the edges, and zipped up the sides.  Then, it was time to figure out how long they should be.  This was a really time consuming part of the process, which included me crouching on the floor with about 400 straight pins.  Finally, I did get it all pinned up, and I actually just pulled the ironing board over to the wall and ironed the hem while the curtains were still hanging.  But, I did take them down to sew that last hem.  And, here they are all hemmed up and hanging.

Aren't they purty?!  I even tried the trick when you put 2 sets of curtains on the same rod.  I already had the gauzey white ones from a million years ago from Ikea, so I hung them on the same rod to the inside of my new panels, overlapping them with a couple clips.  The white curtains give the windows a bit more interest and soften the edges a little.  So, yeah, I totally love them, I'm glad I got them up and that I blogged about it.  The part I didn't tell you yet, though, is that I've only done one panel.  I didn't think I would stop after only one panel, but it took quite a while and I'm also in the middle of 2 other projects AND I have episodes of Grey's Anatomy and Private Practice to watch.  Priorities, people!  I hope to get the other done tomorrow.  Maybe once I do, I will show off the whole office, which has been undergoing quite a few changes lately!

So, all in all, I am glad I sewed myself some curtains.  But, it was time consuming and I found it to be somewhat tedious.  Frankly, I might- in the future- really just look for a reason to use the almighty drop cloth as window treatments like I have in my living room.

xo,

Emily