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Curtain projects in my new house and advice needed

9/8/2014

10 Comments

 
Hi everyone!
So, as some of you know my husband and I recently moved into our new house, on August 23 to be exact. We are loving it and the good thing about a new home is you get to decorate again :-)))
For our old apartment I had sewn up all the curtains and I was rather pleased to see that some of them would also fit the windows in the new house. At least anyway :) Most of the windows are a bit shorter now, so I decided to shorten the curtains which is hardly any work at all. I admit, I first even hung them up the way they are and I think I even could have lived with it but hubby hated it so much and repeately asked me to do something about it... So last week I fixed the issue.
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The curtains in our bedroom and in my husband's office (both are sheer organza fabrics), the one on the left side has soft green and purple stripes as a pattern). I can see how that is not really working...
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While still hanging I measured them to be about an inch longer than the edge of the window frame and then added another inch for seam allowance. Then I took them down and cut the excess fabric off. Next I folded down the raw edge twice again, which for organza always presents some kind of a challenge because the fabric is just sooo slippery. Not a big fan! With the bedroom curtains I could at least use the vertical colored lines for help. With the sheer fabric I had to trust my instincts that the bottom edge wouldn't end up crooked. I stitched along the bottom edge and as the last step inserted the leaded drapery tape which I had taken out of the old seam.
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The leaded tape ready to be taken out the old curtain seam.
When using light-weight fabric like organza for curtains you want to make sure to add some kind of curtain weight, so your curtains will drape in a nice way. I had used leaded tape in the bottom seam of the curtains which I only had to take out and insert into the new seam. I pulled it through the seam with the help of a safety needle and then simple handstitch the ends down to the curtain - on the wrong side, so it won't show.
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bedroom window #1
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bedroom window #2
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One of two office windows
Well, I gotta admit, this does look much better. The husband likes it a lot. And you know how they say "happy husband, happy..." no wait...?? :-P
So now I only have to figure out what to do with the curtains in my new sewing studio. As in the bedroom there are two window, so one of them is really short. I am not sure if I want to cut off that much of my gorgeous fabric... but have a look:
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This one doesn't even look wrong, does it?
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Well, the short window.. what to do? Cut off almost a yard of fabric?
The fabric is a mid-weight cotton fabric, so I am not even sure if it would look good when cut too short, especially with the large scale pattern. What do you think? Any advice? I appreciate any input you can give me. Just leave a comment below. Thank you so much for your help!
Happy sewing!
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10 Comments
Cindy Dahlgren
9/8/2014 02:10:41 pm

Can you raise the curtain rods up instead of cutting the fabric off? It would make the windows look taller, as well as the room, and you wouldn't have to cut your fabric. cdahlgren at live dot com

Reply
Anna
9/9/2014 02:27:04 am

Thanks for your input Cindy! I thought about that too but the problem is that this would only save me a couple inches since the ceiling is not very high up... I might still try it :)

Reply
Georgia Anderson
9/9/2014 06:11:43 am

Maybe you could make a cushion or two to add to your sewing room decor, or storage boxes.

Reply
Anna
9/10/2014 12:24:24 am

Great idea Georgia! That might be a good way to use all that beautiful fabric. I'll look into it!

Reply
Lucy
9/11/2014 02:29:51 am

If you shortened the curtains, would you have enough of your lovely fabric to do some sort of valance/topper for your windows?

Reply
Anna
9/12/2014 02:23:44 am

I like your idea, Lucy, I never even thought of that! Thank you so much for your comment!

Reply
Mary
9/15/2014 06:52:18 am

Would you have enough material to make roman shades?

Reply
Anna
9/17/2014 12:42:12 am

I never thought about that, sounds intriguing! Thanks Mary.

Reply
Nancy
9/16/2014 05:54:38 am

How about roman shades in the office? Very easy to make and give a nice look. Short windows are always a challenge. How about using rings or grommets on those bedroom curtains and just keep the curtains short? The grommets dress them up and add flair. Long curtains just don't work with those type windows.

Reply
Anna
9/17/2014 12:49:31 am

Thanks for your help Nancy. Adding gromments sounds like a nice idea too. I agree with you on the short windows. Long curtains just look a bit weird on them :)

Reply



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    Welcome to my blog! I am an accountant who once started out her "career" in the US by designing bag and wallet sewing  patterns! My patterns are available on Etsy and occasionally I will share some of my sewing projects that I work on in my spare free time on my website.  Happy sewing :)

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