I'm on a roll! I finally sat down and sewed up a drapery panel for the living room. I didn't want a full curtain that actually worked and went all the way across the living room window - we prefer to just leave it open to the city view all the time. But we did need something in the corner for texture and warmth and to give the apartment a more "finished" look. Not like the apartment is finished, or will ever be finished, but..... you get what I'm saying.
Here are some pics and descriptions of my little DIY project. Overall rating - thumbs up!
Before pic - empty corner. Ignore desk with crap in and around. The clean up comes later.
Have the right tool. This sewing machine belonged to my mother who had it in high school and college and in fact sewed her own wedding dress with it. This thing is a beast! It never stops working, it is heavy and does a great job, and I hope never to have to trade it in for the newer high-tech-y plastic models. I love this thing and it pretty much sews any fabric I ask it too. Once in a while it needs a good vacuuming out, but works like a charm. Old school = awesome!
Fabric! I got this fabric in 2 colors at Britex in San Francisco last month. I thought the colors would be good in our living room, and the texture was nice and meaty - and my idea was to sew horizontal stripes in alternating colors and that it would hopefully turn out.
Measure and cut, then pin it, pin it, pin it and pin it. You can't pin it enough - especially if you are sewing straight lines. It's pretty important to cut as straight and square as you can, and to take your time to pin it together carefully. This will prevent you from getting sloppy at the sewing machine. I am sort of a "go for it" type of seamstress, I am not nearly as professional as my mom or my sister - but I have a pretty good understanding of patience and doing it right the first time so I don't end up ripping things out and starting over, or getting frustrated and having it look like crap in the end. Go slow, be patient, get it right. Set your machine to small stitches, especially for heavy or large pieces. Keeps things tight, and reduces the opportunity for saggy seams.
Sew all your panels together. I don't have very much room in the apartment to spread out, so I usually am using the floor as a table, but that's ok.
Iron all the seams on the backside so they lay flat. Hem the top and the sides. I like to double over the top where the grommets are going to go, so that I get a stiffer top edge. You can use interfacing between the fabric too, but this fabric was stiff enough that it wasn't going to be a problem. I want to make sure I don't have sagging at the top.
Now for the grommets. I got these at Joann's, they have lots of colors to choose from, I thought these were pretty subtle, and they are the kind that just snap together. They look like metal but they are plastic and really easy to work with. As you can see, they come with a little tool to help line up and draw the circle outlines. First decide where you're putting your grommets, then draw in your circles at exactly the same intervals across (so that your drapery ends face the window on their last turn and make sure they are exactly the same distance from the top, and then cut out the circle and snap on the grommet.
One grommet down, a bunch to go.
I won't show you the pics of getting the rod up, it wasn't hard, just high and on a rickety ladder, looking down toward the sidewalk - ugh. Worked out fine though. Oh, one other thing. I wanted the length of the rod shorter that the rod actually comes - so I got the metal hack saw and cut the rod down so it would be short. I think it looks better than having the rod go further down the window than the curtains (in this case anyway).
Next step - hem the drapes. I hung them up first to mark them at the floor. I hate if drapes are too short, so I like to wait until the end to hem them. So, I pinned them while hanging, then took them off again and ironed them into place at the hem and then hand hemmed. Once they were back up, I steamed most of the creases out. I think I will let the rest of the creases just hang their way out, but overall, pretty happy with the color, texture and how they turned out. Next, pillows for the sofa with the excess fabric.
