Curtains!

Welcome to my newest followers, Andy and Raspberry! So glad you stopped by!

As you can see, today I made some curtains! It's my second attempt following the same instructions from Sue Heaser's book 'Dolls House Do-It-Yourself: Curtains' as the first time I used cotton fabric and it simply didn't fall right.

This time, I used beautiful dupion silk *apologies if it's spelt incorrectly* and they have hung perfectly. Don't you just love the green rod? haha. I didn't have any plain wood ones so my grandad kindly donated this one to me from his greenhouse supplies!

I'm going to make a matching pair for the other upstairs window and am planning to leave the bottom windows without curtains or blinds as most shops windows are bare (I think- please correct me otherwise!). I think for the top attic windows I shall make little curtains that just pull to the side rather than meet in the middle. I have tiny hoops left over from jewellery making which should come in useful for that! According to Sue Heaser's book, curtains in the Edwardian times were very plain (in style and print) so I thought this fabric would be perfect.

To make your own curtains:

Note...this will make curtains like mine :)

1. Measure the window and cut two pieces of fabric each as wide as the length of the window and the length of the drop required, plus 25mm (1inch). Ensure the fabric won't fray by running some PVA glue mixed with water along the material where you've cut it. Sew or glue a hem (I sewed) of 3mm along the sides of each curtain and a 13mm hem along the bottom edges.

2. Press down a 13mm hem at the top of each curtain. Sew a line of fine stitching 1.5mm from the raw edge of the hem. Place a skewer or dowelling in the resulting casing and push it against the stitching with the side of a ruler. Mark a line between the ruler and the skewer with the pencil. Remove the skewer and sew along the line to make a snug casing that fits the skewer.

3. Thread both curtains on to the skewer and push the sides of each together to gather them up to about one third of their original width.

4. The final stage involves starching the curtains and adding the finishing touches such as tiny little fimo clay knobs on both ends of the rod. I haven't done this section yet but I will.

^^ The above is taken from Sue Heaser's book as mentioned at the start of the post :)

I haven't done that little bit at the top of the curtains because I'd measured the drop incorrectly (typical of me, naturally) but I think they look ok like this!

Jess x


P.S The glue on the ivy did not work! Back to the drawing board!