How Wide Can You Go?

I want to start off by saying...this was really hard.  I mean really hard but I think it was well worth it in the end.  Not much story here for you just straight into the instructions.  If anything here doesnt make sense please let me know and I will be more than happy to try and articulate myself a little better, I feel like Im rambling a little today.

Remember yesterday when I showed you how to make a curtain longer?  Well if you dont remember just click here and you can see that post.  Today Im going to combine yesterday's post and add on to that.  I have curtains in my bedroom that I dont love, I liked them but the valance was throwing me off.  The picture below sucks but its hard to get a good picture when the sun is shining in through the window.

I decided to get rid of the valance but modify the curtain panels.  I wanted to add width to make a more lush look and then move the curtain panels up to where the valance was, which means I was going to have to make the curtain longer.  First things first, I had to cut the panel in half.

 Cutting the panel did need some help.  I dont have a large enough flat surface to cut on so I had m husband hold one end while I cut the other.  Be careful if your curtains have lining and make sure you cut the curtain and the lining at the same time so everything is the same size for hemming purposes.

**Side note, please note that the panels I am working on dont have the traditional pocket for the curtain rod but belt loop esk loops, so if you have the traditional pocket make sure you follow the instructions from my first curtain post found here**

 Remember from yesterday the hemming we did to the edges, but on this cut curtain you only have to hem the cut edge so that the fabric doenst come unraveled or anything on your seam.  Make sure its even all the way down, pin it in place, then iron it down, then hem it down.  Since I had a lining I actually had to hem the lining down then hem the fancy fabric down.  Honestly this probably would have been better to sew to save on hem tape but i cant sew in a straight line and thought that would be tackier than a lot of hem tape.

 Truth be told this took a lot of time...like 2 hours per panel...so I forgot to take some of the pictures because my back was hurting and my knees hurt and blah blah blah sorry!!!  So the above picture is all the pieces put together so let me explain what I did.  After I had the two sides of the original curtain hemmed.  I went on to the addition fabric.  I hemmed the top and bottom at the length to match the original panels.  Make sure it matches 100% so it doesnt look off when you hang the curtain, which means leave enough for a 1 inch hem but the rest should match up.  The 2 edges I hemmed to each panel one at a time the same (so back to back with the hem tape in the middle).  I didnt hem the unfinished edge of the new fabric because it was going to be covered in the seam.  After you hemmed the fabrics back to back, flip it over and iron out the seam.  Then on the front put a piece of hem tape where you ironed the seam, flip the curtain back over and iron the hem tape in place.  Repeat the same thing for the other side of the curtain.

For the bottom, thats going to be the easiest.  Measure your piece to be same length as the new curtain panel and to the width you want, then follow the instructions from yesterday's post (here)

I know a lot of steps with like no pictures to go with it and I have failed you!  I am sorry.  But if you are going to attempt this and want some extra help just email me!

The next step is to make the loops to hang the curtain from.  From the scrap fabric I cut 2 pieces on the edge of the fabric so the top was a loop.  I them hemmed the bottom edges together, then hemmed the top and bottom edges to the top of the curtain in line with the other loops.  This doesnt have to be an exact science just make the width you think works best and space it at what you think is best.  Make sure you let that sit for about 5 minutes before you hang it so it has time to set.

Now comes the most fun part, is hanging the curtains!!

 Wow looks cool right?!  I was pretty impressed that it looked better than I thought it was going to.  Oh and a side note I am going to paint the walls gray so there wont be so much purple soon!

Here is a longer view for you, I love these now they are much more what I had imagined and that makes me happy...now what to do with the valances?!

Project Housewife Out!

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The Rooster and the Hen

Raise the Roof!

Or raise the curtain height in this case.  I have been starting at the curtains in my living room for a year and a half wishing they were longer and finally go around to matching up the fabric to do so.  This week I actually have 2 curtain projects to share with you but today's is the simpler of the two and thats adding length to a curtain. 

Here is a before shot of the living room (kitchen has the same curtains at the same height)

I decided that it would look better if the curtains were at the ceiling height so off to Joann's I went in search of a fabric match.  It was pretty hard to find an exact match but the color match was very very close.  The store associate actually made a great suggestion to add ribbon to the seam to try and make it look pretty seamless so I decided to go with that idea.  As a side note...none of this requires a sewing machine.  Arguably it would have been better if I had sewn it, but since I cant sew a straight line to save my life I figured hem tape would work better.  Below is after the curtain rods were taken down, and you can see what a big difference even sheers make to a window.  It looks so boring and bland, but with the curtains it brings more life into the home.  Dont get me wrong its cool if you dont want curtains, I just happen to prefer having them.

Here is what i started with...

 Thats the bottom of the curtain and the fabric that I used to make it longer.  First I measured with width of the original and cut the new fabric plus 1 inch on either side to match.  The 1 inch on either side is to make the hem so that the unfinished edges dont show.

 Here you can see the pinning of the hem.  What I do is first pin the hem, then iron over it so the hem stays down then I insert the hem tape between the fabric and the edge.  Make sure you read the instructions on the hem tape so you know how long to leave the heat on for.

 Here is a closer shot of the edges hemmed down.  Not the best shot but you get the idea.  I did the 1 inch hem on 3 edges to make sure there were not going to be any unfinished edges showing.

 Above is a better picture of all 3 edges hemmed and ready for the next step

 To attach the extra length put the original curtain face down and the new addition face up so they are back to back.  The white line you see at the bottom of the brown is the hem tape before I put it in between the 2 fabrics.  Once you have both fabrics as close to perfectly lined up as you can, put the hem tape between the 2 pieces of fabric and iron away.

 Once them hem tape has had about 1 minute to cool flip the extra length piece down and then iron at the seam to help it lay flat.  As an extra step I also flipped the curtain over and put a piece of them tape at the seam as well.  Since both fabrics were pretty heavy it helped to have the extra bonding to keep it from flopping around.  If you have a lighter fabric this wont be necessary.

Now for the decoration.  I have a hard time with straight lines so ribbon really is my best friend and helps me hide a host of problems.  Same is the case here, so I put hem tape on the curtain where I wanted the ribbon to go (aka cover up a mess haha), put the ribbon on top of that and ironed it all together.  Below you see the sheers have also magically grown in length as well...well I spent another 2 hours taking a seam ripper to them to make them longer.  These babies had like a 6 inch hem on them which was great because that meant I didnt have to add any length to them I just had to take the seam out.  Major score on that one.

All in all I had 4 curtains to do and it took about 3 hours to do all 4...and thats including distractions from the dog and the TV shows I was watching...oh and another 2 for the sheers.  Truth be told I am actually going to move these curtains to the kitchen with their sisters because i want to make a sheer valance for in here...but seeing as I used all my fabric allowance in here and the bedroom that will have to wait a few more weeks.  Oh and cost on this, the fabric was $13.50 for 3 yards, $5 for 2 spools of ribbon and $3 for 2 rolls of hem tape.  Total for this project of 4 curtains is $21.50.  Not bad considering you cant really buy a 100" length curtain for that price!

My back is killing me from all the sitting on the floor but I think its worth it, makes the room look taller and it was pretty cheap to do as well which always makes me happy.  Do you have curtains you like but would love to make longer?  Whats holding you back?!

Project Housewife Out!

Im Linking Up!  Come check me out at Add a Pinch, Alderberry Hill, Flour me with Love, Six Sisters Stuff 
The Rooster and the Hen
Joy in the Jumble, Tidy Mom, Bacon Time, Blissful and Domestic, Create Craft Love, Addicted2Decorating, Petals to Picots, Serenity Now, While He was Napping, 
Not Just a Housewife, Romance on a Dime, Southern Lovely 
Lil Pink Pocket, My Girlish Whims 
Tip Junkie, Ginger Snap Crafts 
Beyond the Picket Fence, House of Hepworths, Michelle's tasty Creations, A Bowl Full of Lemons

Oh Christmas Tree!

Today is shopping day for my weekend project.  This weekend I am going to be making my own advent calendar.  When I was a kid my mom (supremely crafty woman) made us an advent calendar with all these cute little ornaments that you stuck on a tree, one each day.  Well, unfortunately I cant sew a stitch so I had to be a little more simplistic when I decided to make mine.  Through Pinterest I found this great idea to have "christmas experiences" rather than christmas treats.  Since I dont have any kids I thought this would be a great mix up from the original advent calendar idea.  Although this post http://kimmccrary.blogspot.com/2010/12/activities-advent.html had mostly ideas to do with the kids it gave me a stepping stone to make my own ideas (which I am still working on).  Now I just had to find the perfect calendar idea.  After much searching and finding a few very LAME calendars (and when I say lame, I mean they were out of a cupcake tin).  I came acorss this awesomeness... http://shannonmakesstuff.blogspot.com/2009/11/felt-advent-calendar.html .  On first glance this looked like it would be perfect!  Ornaments on a tree how easy...boy was I wrong!  This was sewing at its finest, but I decided that the bare bones of this project was perfect for what I was looking for and went on making my adjustments.  Rather than sew I will be using my trusty hem tape.  Rather than handing each ornament on the tree, I am going to use said hem tape to "sew" the ornaments to the tree and make pockets for the "experiences" I come up with.  Other than those slight (*cough* major *cough*) changes everything else will be the same.  So today the shopping begins for my many shades of felt and some ribbon.  Stay tuned as I update on this hopefully easy project.

Run Away with Me!

Yesterday was craft night for myself and my friend Lauren.  We decided to tackle making table runners since neither one of us could find a runner that matched what we were looking for.  So thank you pinterest.com for having articles on how to make a table runner!  Im going to walk you through my 2 hour table runner night of fun!

First things first, you need to go out and get your supplies!  I bought 2 yards (too much is better than not enough!) of a fabric that I thought would best fit what i was going for.  I also bought 2 packages of fusable hem tape beacuse I cant sew to save my life, and 2 tassles for something fancy on the ends.  All the supplies can be found at Hobby Lobby or Joanns, although Joanns has by far the larger fabric selection.  Other supplies you will need is an iron, fabric scissors, and fabric pins.  All of the supplies I used are in the picture below.

To get started you need to measure out the length and width you want your runner to be, add 2 inches to each side to be sure you have enough to make the hem.  Cut the fabric to your dimensions.  I didnt double the fabric up to make it puffier since mine was just going on the dresser and I honestly didnt want a thick table runner, but you can leaver the fabric doubles if you want to.  Once you cut your fabric now we can make the triangle points on each end.  I just did a freehand triangle from the sheet of 8.5x11 plain white paper, but you can always do something more precise if you are a perfectionist (if one day I sell these then I will but since this was just for me and I didnt have all the right tools I made do with what I had).  To cut the triangle out, I taped the template to the back side of the fabric (always make the cuts on the backside, well at least thats what I do) and cute about 1 inch away from the actual template.  So there was a black edge all around the triangle so that I could make my hem.  Below is a picture of the "finished" step

You can see I already pinned, but here is how I pinned the triangle:  I left the triangle template in place and folded the fabric over the template.  Carefully slide the template out from under the fabric and pin the edges together all the way down the edge, do the same for both edges of the triangle.  Now repeat this step for the other end of the runner.  Now you are ready to do the length of the runner.  I do have to admit that my lines were not as straight as they could have been, but again I dont have a fancy table with lines like some major crafters do so I just made do with a table top, but if you have one of those big boards with all the lines on them, I would suggest using it as it will help you make great straight lines.  Remember from earlier you have 2 inches of extra fabric on each side of your runner, fold over 1 inch and pin in place all the way down the runner.  Repeat that step for the other side of the runner.  Now with everything pinner you are ready to iron.  This step is really important because once you remove the pins, if you didnt iron your fabric, it will just flip back over and you will have to do your work all over again.  Now take your iron and iron down all the edges, removing the pins as you go.  I always keep my iron on high heat so I make sure it gets pressed down really well.  Run your iron over the fabric for about 10 seconds each lengh and that should be good.  Once you have ironed the whole runner and taken out all the pins you are ready to seal your hems.  Cut the hem tape in strips that fit the triangle tips and the entire length of the runner.  Hem take has a sticker like backing that you have to remove before you iron it on so make sure you remove that before you iron.  Once you have your strips of hem tape and the backing removed, stick that between the bottom of the fabric and the folded over edge of the fabric.  Once all the hem tape is in place you can start ironing.  Make sure you give about 30 seconds per each section of the iron so the hem tape gets melted in place.  If you feel like 30 seconds isnt long enough then leave it on a little longer.  Below is a picture of the sealed edges, its not perfect but hey it looks good to me!! 

Once you get all the way around and all your edges are sealed you are ready to put the tassles on, if you decided tassles were the way to go for you (and why wouldnt you they are so much fun!)  What I did, since like I said I cant sew to save my life, I used the hem tape again to seal them to the runner.  I make 2 strips of hem tape the length of the ribbon that was attached to my tassle and ironed it to the runner.  The ribbon that was on my tassle was not satin ribbon but the kind where the glue can come through, so I let that sit for about 10 minutes to make sure it was dry before I did anything with it.  Once your tassles are on, you are ready to put your beautiful runner wherever you want!  I hope this was easy for you, and if it wasnt, let me know how I can make it easier!!  Below is a picture of my runner before it went on the dresser (the dresser in the previous posts that is getting a makeover, come back for the completed project soon)

Project Houewife out!!