My first real sewing project was to construct some tab top curtains for the living room. Thanks to Calico Corners, I found a beautiful material with a Moroccan Damask print. The brick red, orange, brown, cream,and dark green colors work well with the furniture and paint colors we chose for the room and the grand scale of the print makes the room a bit more interesting.
Sewing the tab top curtains was not fun. The curtains themselves werent a problem and I found that making the pattern line up wasnt a problem at all. What was a pain in the ass was the tabs. After folding and sewing and folding and sewing, attaching the tabs to the top of the curtain was nothing short of a miracle. The fabric of the curtains is 100% flax which is a bit like a linen so it wasnt too thick but I guess after several layers of fabric the sewing machine didnt want to sew it. Part of the problem was that I didnt have a thick enough needle so I broke two of those in the process, but in the end the curtains look great and really do tie the room together.
The new curtains spurred me to rearrange the furniture. See, there was previously a couch in front of the window and it blocked the view of half the curtains and made closing and opening them a bit of a challenge. This new configuration sticks the desk/work space in the nook at the side of the fireplace and relocates a sofa in front of the fire. We still need a few rugs for the space and a slim coffee table to put your feet up on in front of the fire, but this configuration really seems to work well and you can now see the full length of the curtains behind the chairs.
Sewing the tab top curtains was not fun. The curtains themselves werent a problem and I found that making the pattern line up wasnt a problem at all. What was a pain in the ass was the tabs. After folding and sewing and folding and sewing, attaching the tabs to the top of the curtain was nothing short of a miracle. The fabric of the curtains is 100% flax which is a bit like a linen so it wasnt too thick but I guess after several layers of fabric the sewing machine didnt want to sew it. Part of the problem was that I didnt have a thick enough needle so I broke two of those in the process, but in the end the curtains look great and really do tie the room together.
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| BEFORE |
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| AFTER |
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| A closed view of the curtains |
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| The sofa in front of the fireplace |
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| The new location of the desk |
