What I Did At School Today

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As promised!

April 14, 2008

The sun is finally shining, and the toddler is at Parent's Day Out today. I was happily able to take photos of things in and for his room without help.

That's one of his curtains up there. I'm very happy with how they turned out, but I will not be making them again. Please, no matter how much you love these, don't try this at home. But, just in case you can't heed my warning, I will tell you how they were made.

The base panel is a dark denim and the binding is twill. I cut the base panel to the finished size I wanted each panel. Then I cut 5 inch wide strips of brown twill across the width of the fabric to allow for a bit of bias type stretch. I had to piece a bit onto each of the strips for the length. Next, each of the strips was pressed into a peculiar form of "bias" tape that involved turning under a half inch, twice, to wrap around the back, on one edge and turning under a quarter inch once to provide for a finished front. When applying this odd trim, I started on the back, (I know, this is not typical protocol...) opened out my folds, and stitched it down by machine just like you would traditional bias trim. Finally, I wrapped it around the front and stitched it down by machine. I did the length first on all three panels, then I bound the width. Before I applied the width trim, I cut it to length and cut a 45 degree "miter" into each corner of the "bias" trim. When I did the sewing on the front of these width pieces, I used a wide satin stitch to cover the raw edge all the way down the 45 degree angle. I added 1 inch wide denim tabs to the top of each panel. Seriously, please, don't do this!

If I were to attempt these again? I would cut 8 or 10 inch wide strips of twill and press them just like regular bias tape. I'd apply them like bias tape too, but I think I'd still do each side separately and "miter" the corners the way I did. I think this would have made the whole process quicker and easier.

They make for a very dark room when closed, but they do let some light in. The light that comes in is a wonderful blue color; I'd take a three hour nap in that room too!

Back to knitting on the Hoover Blanket. It's officially over the hill; I measured it past half-way yesterday!

Oh, and I'm feeling fine. Very pregnant, but fine. I can tell that the baby is riding very low these days. I just might be able to make it one more week if I can actually stay off my feet enough. We'll see...

Pretty cool....I last made curtains ten years ago...haven't missed the experience, obviously. Hope to see you tonight, but if you're trying to stay off your feet, perhaps you should stay home on the couch!!