Friday, June 1, 2012

What do you do on a rainy day?

It is raining......a lot.........buckets!

In fact we are supposed to be getting even more and even heavier tonight. My garden needs it as it's been way too hot for the month of May. The grass is very brown and dead looking already which is usually something you see in the heavy hot days of August.

With nothing much else to do I decided I needed to do something I have been putting off for awhile. A very long while:)

Make some lined curtains for my son's bedroom....arrrggghhh

I'm a very adept seamstress. I couldn't be anything else with a mother who was a tailoress by trade. I started using her treadle sewing machine...an old Singer.... by the time I was about seven. I could just reach one foot on the treadle and get it going and feed the material under the needle.

I grew up in the "trade" in that we lived above my family's wholesale/retail fabric store. We lived in a lovely Victorian house in a very tiny village along a highway. The front and back parlours of the house were the store front and we lived in all the rest. The highway was fairly busy in the day and we would get lots of passing by business. Lots of tourists and such. We had a very large clientele despite our remote location that included of course the villagers and the local farmers. We even were the go to store for the local Mennonite community.

With that kind of background you know I can sew.....I can make almost anything.


However...........I very rarely "sew" now and I absolutely despise making curtains with a passion. I would always get my mum to make them.....:) My mum was a whiz at making anything. I do regret that I didn't learn more of her tricks of the trade. She sewed constantly right up until three days before she died at the age of 90. I really think that's why she lived as long as she did because she had so many ideas in her head of what she wanted to make.

But... I have made a promise so I bought the fabric on Monday. I took the son to Fabricland. He wasn't too comfortable about being there but I figure he had to have some input as he would have to live with it.

I got a bargoon too.........60 inch wide material for $4.75 a yard (it was in metric but I only work in inches and yards).....so for $19.00 plus tax he will have curtains.

It was in the bargain section.....it's really dress or shirt fabric but you can really use anything to make curtains.......my mum did:)


It's kind of a beige grey natural linen looking fabric with a white stripe.....ooops I just realized this is the wrong side...oh well.


Masculine enough and not too dark for the room it's going into. Here is one panel done and dusted waiting to be pressed and hung.


I already had the material that I used for the lining. It's a dress/suit weight material that was left over from our store so it's at least 35 plus years old. I made a promise to use up all my stash of material one way or another.

The material I bought made up beautifully.....I'm really pleased with how it turned out.....


Not bad for someone who hasn't done any major sewing in years... I haven't lost the knack.

Ummm...no comments please about the fact that I bought the fabric Monday and I didn't start until Friday....I had to psyche myself up first.

Okay....one more panel to go........I can do it:)

Take care.

9 comments:

  1. Oh dear.. curtain making(slight shudder!!).You are lucky your mum taught you to sew.My mother was an excellent sewer, but she always told me I was hopeless, so I never started sewing until well into my 40's.It took me that long to get over my fear/distaste.
    Now I really enjoy it.The folks on the Net are wonderful inspiration, and offer so much encouragement.I liked hearing a bit about your background.
    Cheers
    Judy

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  2. oye, better these than the sheer ones! Yes, you can do it!

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  3. I've had fabric I've waited years before making into curtains. And I never hem them, since my mother told me I had to hang them for two weeks before hemming and once the curtains are up, they're done!

    Yours look wonderfully neat and professional and a lovely choice of fabric.

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  4. I used to make all our curtainns, but rarely make them these days. The last ones I made were for my son - and now he wants a Roman blind for the kitchen in his new house, as it's an odd size, so he can't buy a ready made one. The curtain looks good - very smart and masculine.

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  5. Boooo rain!!

    But look at the fantastic curtains you made Mary Ann! Well done!

    Wishing you a perfect weathered June!
    xo Catherine

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  6. it's raining here too..... my golf game may be rained out..... I'm waiting til the last minute to decide....

    I can't really sew ...and, curtains.... wow.... can you come make some for me once my new windows are in place? ...... yours look great.

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  7. it looks lovely and the fabric looks just right too.
    well done!
    xxx

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  8. Lovely. I made the curtains for my boys rooms but no sewing! Just ironing. You've done a lovely job x

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