Making Kitchen Curtains Makes Me Happy

I have to admit that I have had a hard time adjusting the last 4 weeks since my work world changed with half of the staff in the office were sent home to work remotely.  Since then I have been sent home to work remotely on the order of the Governor.

It was time to do something that would make me happy and that I have been dreaming of since December.  I have been wanting to buy a bolt of navy blue gingham to make kitchen curtains and a back door curtain.  I was waiting until I had enough money to buy the bolt, and that happened at the end of last month.

I bought my fabric from Fabric.com and I got the navy gingham that is a 60" wide cotton/poly blend.  I think I paid about $4.50 a yard for it. The more yardage you buy on Fabric.com the cheaper the price.

I'm hoping the cotton/poly blend with keep the curtains from fading too bad in the hot sun.

I make my kitchen curtains double sided with the right side of the fabric on the inside and outside.  I sew two pieces together leaving an opening at the top on each side for the casing and an opening at the top for turning the curtain right side out.  I turn the curtain right side out, sew up the opening that I used for turning, then I sew two seams across the top to create the casing.  So simple.  I also make a tie for each curtain and position it about half way down in the center.  I made six panels for my wide kitchen window.

I also made a curtain for my back door using the same method so I can have the right side of the fabric on both sides of the curtain.

I didn't use the entire bold for the curtains.   The rest of the fabric will keep me busy while I make some items to decorate in my kitchen.  Some hanging dishtowels, a new stand mixer cover, some decoupage projects, and a plastic bag holder. 

Glowing Dining Room Curtains

   So I finished the dining room curtain panels yesterday.  I made all 6 in one day.  It was a triumph of spirit.  I ironed them this morning and hung them.  You can see from the picture I took about an hour ago that with the light coming through they fairly glow.   One day  I will find a paler yellow to make lots of curtains out of but until then these will have to do because I'm not going to waste the money I paid for this fabric.

  Speaking of paying a lot of money for something, yesterday I mailed my Secret Santa Swap package to Western Australia.  The person I sent this package to knows she will get a package but she doesn't know where it will come from or who will send it.  It's a fun game, or at least it was a fun game until I found out the price of postage yesterday.  To send a 12" x 12" x 10" box that weighs 6 lbs. 2.9 oz., from Florida to Western Australia cost me $72.30.  Ouch!  That's a lot money.  I sure hope that box arrives safely because I can not afford to replace it.  I did volunteer to send international this year but I didn't expect the shipping to cost over $50.00.  If I had known shipping was going to cost that much I would have sent a smaller package with the required four fat quarters and a few smaller items.

   I have my fabric cut to make my 4 tote bags and a couple of potholders.   I was invited to have Thanksgiving dinner with some friends and I thought a couple of homemade potholders would make a nice hostess gift.   So I'll be sewing up the tote bags and potholders over the rest of the week.

Curtains and Tote Bags

   I haven't broken out my new quilt project yet.  I want to finish up my ugly yellow cotton curtains first.  I finished the living room curtains.  You can see the bright yellow behind Merlin's head in the picture below.  They didn't turn out like I wanted, but they will do until I find something I like better. I thought the yellow would have been softer, more pale, but it is really YELLOW! and you should see it when the sun shines through in the evenings.  I have to make 6 more panels for the dining room which I will finish this week.

   Merlin is sitting on my sewing extension table for my Janome 7700.  He likes to sit there when I'm on the computer.  This morning he was concentrating on doing a mind meld with me and telling me to go into the kitchen to turn on the faucet so he can drink and get wet.  He puts the side of his face under the light stream of water and lets the water run into his mouth.  His face is all wet when he finishes.  That's the highlight of his cat day.

  After I finish the dining room curtains, I'm going to make four tote bags using Crafty Gemini's Must Have Tote Bag pattern.  I bought it for $3.00 from her website.  Here is a link to the pattern page.  It comes with .pdf instructions you can print out and a video.  These tote bags are super fun to make.  I have about 4 that I keep in my car for groceries and I make them for gifts as well.  The pattern calls for a thicker fabric like decorator cotton and I have some fabric leftover from my bedroom drapes that I'm using to make three of them and I also have a yard of decorator cotton that I bought in the spring to make another.

   I packed up my secret Santa package this morning to take to the post office.  Boy I wish I were getting this box.  I sent my secret pal a quilting book (It's Quilting Cats and Dogs by Lynnette Anderson), a wool pincushion I made, some pretty pearl topped pins, 4 - 1/2 yard cuts of fall fabric, 4 1/2 yard cuts of Christmas fabric, 5 colorful fat quarters, a spool of thread, buttons, ribbon, cat charms, a pocket calendar, a journal, a pack of post it notes, a small Boyds Bear, a Christmas kitchen towel set, and the cute scrappy Christmas stocking I made.  This package has to go all the way to Western Australia.  I hope it gets there okay.

Curtain Project

    I'm making new curtains for my dining room, living room, and bedroom.  When I moved into this house I bought ready made curtains because I didn't have time to make them myself, but now I have the time and I purchased some fun fabric to make them.

    This floral will go into the bedroom.  I currently have some dark green drapes in there and it makes the room really dark.  This fabric will definitely lighten up my bedroom.

 

    This fabric will go into the dining room and living room.  I can't wait to see it when the sun shines into it.

      I took Martha, my Bernina 1530, in for a check up at the local Bernina store.  I haven't had her serviced since spring 2011.  I've asked them to check the electrical cord.  There is a short in her electrical cord and sometimes when the cord is moved or jostled the machine turns off, then I have to jostled the cord some more to get the right position for it to turn on and then reset my settings.  So I hope the tech can fix this problem.  I should be getting her back in a couple of weeks.  

Twin Needle/Stretch Stitch Research on My Sewing Machines

    I pulled out the owner's manual on my Singer 3400 XL (computerized, 2001) and the Bernina 1530 (computerized, 1992) this morning so I could research twin needle stitching and stretch stitches on these machines.

    I read a LOT of quilting, sewing, and crafting blogs and lots of those blogs are about garment sewing, which is something I did when I first started sewing in my teens when I was taking a sewing course almost every semester in high school.

     All the reading about garment sewing reminds me of the first sewing machine I ever owned.  It was given to me for Christmas or my birthday (my birthday is a few days after Christmas so they kind of run together) when I was about 15 years old by my oldest brother.  It was a Singer (I don't remember what model) that did twin needle stitching and it also had a stretch stitch which was super cool.  I wish I still had that machine but I don't.  I lent that machine to someone who broke it and I couldn't afford to get it fixed so I threw it away.  Shame on me.

   My brother did have an ulterior motive for giving me that sewing machine.  He wanted me to make a few things for him.  I made curtains for his room, I made curtains for his van, and I made his girlfriend a really cool stuffed teddy bear made from fake fur.  He supplied the money for all the materials and I did all the work, measuring, shopping, cutting and sewing.  It wasn't a bad way to spend my free time in high school.

   So, back to the research on my current machines.  My Singer 3400 XL doesn't have anything in the manual about twin needle stitching, but I may try it after I check my needle plate to make sure I have enough room for the twin needles to pass through.  The Singer does have a lovely stretch stitch as well as an overcast stitch and and an overcast foot.  My Bernina 1530 manual does not mention twin needle stitching, but after I check my needle plate, I may play with this carefully.  It does have a couple of stretch stitches.

   My hands on research will continue this evening and I'll give you results tonight.