The Curtains - Before and After

So I finished the curtains the other day. They were easy peasy. I was all angst about making them for nothing. I guess sewing is like riding a bike, once you learn, you never forget. I did 5 years of Home Ec, so I definately learned how to use a sewing machine and no matter how many years go by between uses, I can still remember how to do everything. Well almost everything. The basics, anyway.

Moving on... I thought you might like to see some before and afters. I have to admit that I'm not totally happy with the curtains. I think I need to make them a little narrower. They are thermal lined which makes them a heavy, stiff fabric which doesn't gather and hang very well. You will see what I mean in the photos. It's very hard to open them as there is too much gather at the top.

Bare windows that have been letting a lot of our heating disappear.

Monkey has never seen me use the sewing machine before. Being a very curious 3 year old, he was right in there a lot of the time. I had to constantly tell him to leave the machine alone. You should have seen the sheer delight on his beautiful face when the bobbin ran out of thread and I had to put some more on. He wanted me to do another one, and another one...

This machine actually belongs to my Mum. It must be at least 30 years old. My sister had it for awhile and now it is living at my house until I buy my own. Mum loves her Bernina. It is a beaut machine! She has been kind enough over the years to lend it to us girls as she has a Janome at her place..

I might add too, that Monkey would lie on the table behind the machine and insisted on pulling out the pins on the curtains as I was sewing. I had to call out the colour of the pin and then he would reach his little hand through the machine and pull it out. It made the process a little slower, but it kept him out of trouble.

Ta- da!

Looks better, huh? This end of the house keeps a lot warmer now that they are up. They will help to keep the hot, western sun at bay in summer too. I didn't really want thermal lined curtains here. I would have loved some heavy lace, but I had to be practical. Oh well...

~ Ky x