Saturday 30 May 2009

The saga that is curtain making ...

I have made many curtains in my life: small ones and large ones; floral ones and stripy ones; ones I am very happy with and ones I'm not so happy with, but none have vexed me as much as the pair I'm making at the moment!




The material looks innocuous enough. In fact I was very pleased to find it because it was on special at $6/metre. It's lovely good quality, thick material. And therein lies the problem - it wasn't really curtain material but I thought I would use it as such! There have been several casualties. First off two needles.



This is unheard of for me. In fact I'm somewhat ignorant about needles and their various functions. I learnt to sew from my mother and she doesn't believe in changing needles very often. In fact she only ever used to change them when one broke, hence why she never liked altering jeans because inevitably the heavy denim would break one of her needles! Now I guess I just thought that they were very expensive but they're not! One lady's since told me that one needle lasts for 10 hours of sewing and then last week another lady said she uses a new needle for every project!! So the silver lining to my broken needles was that I actually then used the right needle for the material and how much easier the sewing was. Note to self - always use the right needle for the right project! The next casualty? My finger!


A pin hook went straight into my finger joint - now I know it doesn't look much but it really hurt! The last casualty has been my head!!! I've not enjoyed making these curtains at all. They have already taken me a week and I've still only finished one!!!

Here's the proof! Tying up the curtains to set the pleats is a great use for the selvedges, however I've always wondered what else I can do with it when I cut it off. Do any of you crafty people have any ideas?


OK I know there's only one up there but I guess it was worth it when I see them up.



2 comments:

Kylie said...

Hi! Thanks for stopping by my blog today. I've never attempted curtains so I'm in awe of your endeavours! Re what to do with the selvedge bits, thought you might be inspired by this wonderful blog:

http://vintagericrac.blogspot.com/2008/10/big-selvedge-project.html

K :)

Charlotte Scott said...

Nice fabric, even if it isn't curtaining. I am a reformed non-needle changer too! And now I'm a reformed non-clean-and-oil-machiner. You'd be amazed at the difference!