curtains and sheets
October 19th, 2010
I made a curtain for my kids’ closet this weekend. Not a big deal, but I hate making curtains, no, haaaaaate making them, so it’s a big deal for me. It’s just so much hemming and I kind of suck at hemming, but the curtain isn’t as bad as it looks–though it is a little straighter on one side. There are more curtains that need to be made and I’m trying to psych myself up for it. I finally after three years of living here have picked out fabric, but haven’t ordered it yet. I want to try this roller shade hack, which looks easy enough, and roman blinds, which look hard. Has anyone had any luck with them?
I also cranked out some fitted sheets for the kids’ beds. I simplified the process a bunch from last time I made sheets. The edges are serged not hemmed and the elastic is only around the corners. I was able to get two fitted sheets (for my kids’ weird size beds) out of one full size flat sheet. That means the pattern is sideways, but they couldn’t care less. The flannel sheet has deer and bunnies and someone about to get pelted by a snowball right in the butt.
Oh and I have some of that ikea bunting fabric left, do you think it would be ridiculous to make my son pants out of it? Would dying it gray help? or should I just make pillows and call it a day?
Curtains are the worst. I think I’d rather reupholster a couch.
I think the bunting fabric is pretty great; even if it’s a bit silly (which I’m not even sure about), I think your kids are young enough to wear ridiculous pants. This is what I tell myself, at least.
I’d go for pillows before pants…I think the “bunting-ness” of the fabric would be lost on little pants. Maybe that’s just me.
Anywho, this is an easy way to make a roman shade:
http://www.aprettycoollife.com/2009/08/diy-roman-shade-mistreatment-no-sewing.html
Sorry the pictures stink…it’s from my very first days blogging. :)
Me too! They suck so much! We have the exact same doorway and no door too. Me, genius I am, made our closet curtain out of knit fabric, with some Katie Jump Rope on the ends, to make the hem easier, ya know. Did you also know that knit REALLY stretches when hung? Yep. So much for all my work. I hate curtains even more now!
I would soooo make pants. I made some out of mattress ticking and Echino a few weeks back – very loud but still fun.
:)
Roman blinds are easy! You’ll have no trouble.
Ooooh, I didn’t know that bunting fabric was at IKEA. Will have to check that out. I’m thinking make some pillow covers or wrap a couple of small canvasses with what’s left. Everyone needs sheets with someone about to get pelted in the butt with a snowball. Ought to be mandatory, in fact.
I sooooooo would make pants out of the bunting, but I guess I’ve been known to make some strange pants for the baby. Roman shades are really easy to make. I actually have made about 6 in my life (the last set was 7 years ago though), and I don’t recall much trouble. I’ve done the structured style with skinny dowels inserted in pockets and the kind that just bunch up. Two are still in current use in my house.
Are pants *and* a pillow an option?? I really like the sound of dying it gray… but that might just be because I have been itching to dye something lately. I think it would look really cool!
ps – If you have an Ikea handy (and they still have some of that fabric left), I would totally pay you to send me some!! :)
thank you for the roller blind link! and i looove the winter scene sheets.
I adore the sheet fabric with winter on it. Ive never seen anything quite like it.
tomorrow i will send you the pics of my son’s room – same ikea fabric!
Both of these fabrics are super cute. Pants would be interesting. I’m not sure the scale of the flags, but it might actually look kinda cool.
Roman shades really aren’t that hard, and I’m not a very experienced sew-person. Just measure carefully! Oh, and buy the tape with the loops instead of the rings – less measuring.
I’m totally with you on curtains. The last time I made them it took me at least a year to get the second panel done. Even hemming curtains annoys me. I’m so glad someone is with me on this because I’m sick of hearing “But it’s just straight lines” – yes, and FOREVER…and who says I can sew straight for that long?!
But I have done a Roman Shade – I can’t seem to get my blog post on it to load up this morning but here’s a post from our family blog of the nursery which includes the blind. http://thehootsnest.blogspot.com/2009/10/nursery.html
I was working from an actual pattern, something cheap I picked up somewhere. Obviously I only needed the directions, I can cut rectangles on my own, mostly. :-) The trickiest part was the mounting I thought, and sewing the rings got old, but it was decently easy and more fun than curtains.
I like you curtain . The print is really nice.It looks more like a modern painting!! Roman blinds are great ; It’s not that difficult as it looks. Worth the effort. Try it first for a small window ( If you have one). A curtain can be a display your work . Check pojagi ( Japanese patch work )
I made triple pleat sheer draperies for two rooms in my house–one to cover a double window and the other to cover a triple. I must have been out of my mind. Is there anything harder than trying to square off fabric that size??
I wanted to put on the really wide hem–ten inches. I love the look. Turns out that the wider the hem, the more you need to have nailed that squaring. The hems are not quite the 10 inches I wanted.
Next time, I will be putting up cheater panels that don’t actually close.
I’ve done six roman shades. They are actually fairly easy and inexpensive. Just be sure to put them up to the window before hemming both sides. I used a curtain panel I found on sale for the last set. It was cheaper than buying the fabric. It also has the advantage of being room darkening. I’ve only done the kind with dowels.
i say if he’ll wear them, make them ;o)
and then dye them later when they’re stained…. (ahem, not that your kids would be flithy little monkeys like mine…. )
thank you so much for sharing your projects, so much fun!
Love the bunting fabric – I think it would make fun pants. My son wears crazy pants – but, if you can’t pull it off when you’re 2, when can you?!
I have done Roman shades and they are not too bad (though it is a lot of hemming). I would recommend the tape with the rings attached – they are evenly spaced then you don’t have to sew each ring on individually. I am considering the roller shade hack for my son’s room.
Good luck!
I have a hard time doing anything in a straight line…so none of my curtains match up quite right.
I have done roller blinds – I bottom mounted mine actually, as they are upstairs and we decided coverage from the bottom was much more important. Really easy actually, again, with the straightness on the sides (argh) but I bought wooden parts (per my husband’s request to do it ‘nice’) and he took care of staplegunning the fabric to the roller. And mounting…
I was going to do roman shades, but got intimidated.
Just this evening I hung some Tupplur http://bit.ly/dlswok roller blinds from Ikea. I was completely skeptical about the quality, but after dying at the cost of custom blinds, I gave them a try in one room. Very pleasantly surprised!
I think that they would be great for stenciling: the fabric is very canvas-like. And that would be a much easier / faster / less-swearing way to get a patterned roller blind than the D*S project.
hummmmm pants?? only if they are pjs.
good luck with the blinds.
Pants would be great! They would be, however, really thick and sturdy. But they would make great knee-patches (because of the thick and sturdy-part), and fancy up any old boring pair of pants. I’m also seeing a hat with a soft fluffy inside, but that may just be me…
Too bad that fabric isn’t available in the Netherlands anymore!
I think bunting pillows would be adorable!
I’m crap at sewing but I have successfully made roman blinds before, using this site. http://www.alternative-windows.com/roman-blind.htm
It’s just a lot of measuring (which is hard) and a lot of straight stitching (which is easy).
I feel your pain with the curtains…the curtains in my living room have needed to be hemmed FOREVER. It’s kind of embarrassing. Hemming curtains ranks right up there with hemming pants (I hate that too!)