Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Sew wrong.

I had a curtain incident Monday night.

Our kitchen window is really bare... and while I like the light coming in, I do think we need SOMETHING there to soften all the fake wood paneling we've got going on. So I looked at all the pre-made curtains and didn't like a single one. Sew boring!!! So I decided I would make something from scratch! I found a really cute fabric shower curtain that would do the trick. It's a brown and white "toile like" pattern, but the birds in the pattern are blue. I got it at Target...


Adorable!

Well it's been sitting in a closet for weeks... just waiting for me to rip it in half and sew a straight line. Monday night I decided to get down to it. So I dragged it out, measured the window, and marked the fabric. Now where are my GOOD scissors? HHhmmmm......

That proved to be my first task. I could not find my sewing scissors for the life of me. I think they got "recycled" to the garage when it was clear I was not doing much sewing in my free time. So I had to make do with regular scissors that we use to cut ribbon, wrapping paper, wires, tags off of shirts, photos, gum out my hair - you get the picture. A true seamstress will tell you that you should "always cut fabric with a pair of very very sharp sewing scissors that are used for nothing else in the house." Why? Well I'll tell you why... As I found out Monday night, dull scissors will shred your fabric as you try to cut it!! So there I was on the floor with 2 pieces of fabric successfully cut, but both ends looking like they had fancy fringe attached.

Then I set up the sewing machine that I got at a garage sale 2 years ago (and have yet to use). This was my second disappointment of the night. Either I was threading it the wrong way, or the thread was so old it was breaking; I ended up with what looked like a nice straight line on the top of the fabric but when I flipped it over it was one long knot! Completely stumped on how to fix that - I ripped it all out and decided to hand sew it.

After God-knows-how-long that took me, I was FINALLY ready to just hang that dang thing up there!! The hem looked terrible but at this point, 3 hours into my project, I was ready to hang up my dull scissors and go to bed. So I found the tension rod that I intended to use that was re purposed from a different window..... threaded the curtain and went to the kitchen window and........................ the rod was too short!!!!!!!!!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!

I only needed 2 more inches. Totally frustrated, I threw the entire contraption into the guest bedroom, poured myself a BIG glass of wine, and vowed to buy pre made curtains from here to eternity. There's a reason they sell them in the store.

3 comments:

Kathie said...

If you have nothing but a big knot on the bottom your tension may not be right on the machine. Take some test fabric and play around with the knobs.

Kevin said...

ha ha ha ha ha ha!

Note to self... don't ask Kristen to sew a blanket for the baby...

Vicki said...

Next time you go to target.. stick to buying flip flops and bathing suits!