A New Sewing Project

This Tuesday, I suddenly felt inspired to make a new kitchen curtain for our patio doors.  I've wanted to make one for a while as our current one, although pretty, is a little drab.  I bought it from a charity shop for £5 about 5 or 6 years ago when we got the patio doors installed and it fitted perfectly, so I've used it ever since.  Recently, however, I've been wanting to replace it with something a bit fresher and more modern. (I'm on a bit of a crusade to brighten up and de-clutter our kitchen - more in another post).  I'd bought the fabric on eBay a few months ago for £30 for 7 metres, which I thought was really good value, as it was a V&A Museum Print for Rowan Fabrics and was 100% cotton.  Here's a picture. 

The problem I had was, I've never made a proper lined curtain complete with curtain tape and all before, so I  was a bit apprehensive about doing a good job, and I couldn't afford to get it made professionally.  Anyway, after some procrastination, I finally decided to just get on with the job and give it a go.   I found some cotton thread that matched perfectly in my huge stash of reels and I already had some curtain tape, which I'd bought the last time we were up in Yorkshire, so I had no excuse.  I began by sewing two lengths of the cotton fabric together, to get the width I needed.  It was a bit tricky, but as the pattern was simple, it wasn't too bad.  Although it didn't turn out completely perfect, it was definitely passable and any imperfections weren't serious enough to be seen when it is hanging.  I then hemmed the curtain and was going to leave it at that, as I didn't have any lining fabric. 

I thought about heading out to the charity shop, as I'd seen a few metres of lining type fabric for sale in there the other week, for just a few pounds and I wanted to see if it was still there.  Before I did, however, I decided to take a look in my fabric stash and see if I had anything suitable.   By chance, I came across a great cotton/linen blend fabric I'd previously bought in a charity shop, and hadn't found a use for.  There was exactly the right length of it to line my new curtain and it was a perfect teal colour to boot.  It wasn't a traditional lining fabric, but I didn't mind that and anyway, it was great for stash busting, which I seriously need to do.

Lining fabric found, I carried on making the curtain.  I really just made it up as I went along, using my existing curtain as a reference point.  Three hours later, and I had a finished curtain.  Whoopee!  It was a bit difficult working with so much fabric in a small space, but the finished result, although not exactly made to a professional standard, was a pretty good attempt, even if I say so myself.  It was a little long (as I didn't bother to get a tape measure out and instead relied on a vague set of measurements I had in my head!), but I turned it up by hand later to get the right length.  I was going to do a proper job of this, but decided to do a temporary turn up, as I haven't washed either of these fabrics yet and if they do happen to shrink when washed, I've got a good 6" of hem to let down, should I need it. 

I've now put it up and even OH, who normally doesn't comment on my homemade projects, as we often have different fabric tastes, has declared that he likes it.  Praise indeed.  I'm not going to do a full reveal here, as I'm saving it for my de-cluttered kitchen reveal coming shortly, but I'll leave you with a sneaky peak though.