The Great Curtain Project

Why is it that it’s always the seemingly simple projects that turn into an exercise in patience and more money than you ever thought possible? After all, I’ve made a few articles of clothing, quilted and done a myriad of other sewing projects; how hard could two little plain curtains be?

So, off we went to the nearest fabric store. They had some nice fabrics but nothing that jumped out and said THIS ONE! We have a number of small quilt shops in the area but I wanted a bigger selection and perhaps a bit cheaper price.

Not that we need many excuses to take an adventure but I finally had one to check out this place in Gastonia (~2 hours away) called Mary Jo’s. Oh my goodness, what I’ve read about that place on the net was all true. Mary Jo’s is gigantic wall-to-wall sewing notions, fabrics, furs, trims and ideas. The area for patterns and buttons was as large as most fabric sections in the larger craft stores and what our WalMart used to have before they stopped carrying fabrics. The place is fantastic and the staff really know their business. Their website is – MaryJos.com. Be sure to check out the pictures of the shop, they give a pretty good idea of how huge the place is.

Picked out some great fabric and some cute little beaded trim for the bottom of my curtains and after a fun day figured I could start making my curtains in the morning.

Oh, but again, it was not to be. Mom had said she had some curtain rods that I could use. No good, they only had a 2.5 inch clearance and I needed my curtain/valance to go over a shade. So, it was off to the store to get the right sized rods. Another day shot.

Third day’s gonna be the charm I can feel it. This time it was the iron. Pulled my trusty iron out of the closet, went to fill the water reservoir and noticed the plate was full of gunk. Since my Mom’s been the only one using the iron lately, I was surprised to see she had not taken the mess off. Oh, what a mess it turned out to be. Seems the teflon coating had melted in places and was actually coming off the iron. Oh, joy.

Off to WalMart we go to find a new iron.

Fourth day and I finally can get to work on my curtains! Hurray.

Iron works good. Curtain rods are right size. Michele can’t seem to figure out the right way to pin the side pieces to maintain the pattern right. Almost 3 hours later…out comes the needle and thread. After hand sewing the seam to make the smaller curtain wide enough, using my sewing machine to seam the finished edges of the sides and beginning to seam the top and make the pocket for the bar it’s about 10 p.m. I did have breaks for lunch and dinner and about a two hour break when someone came to look at buying Mom’s car but otherwise the entire day was spent on the one curtain.

Fifth day dawns dark, rainy, gloomy and cold. Bed’s too tempting, so I just roll over rather than look at the weather. A client needs some writing done, so I suspect today will not mark the end of the curtain debacle either.

I suspect by the time all the expenses have been added up, I could have hired a seamstress and had professionally made, custom curtains for what this has cost between the raw materials and all of the trips for supplies. But, the curtains are for my office and when they’re finally done, assuming that ever happens, I can gaze up at them and laugh at what an adventure they turned out to be.

I’ll post pictures if I ever get the curtains finished; assuming that they actually look like something I’m willing to admit that I made.:D