SEWING - Bedroom Drapes
My husband hates light for some strange reason. I will wake up in the morning and go around the house opening all of the drapes and blinds and bask in the beautiful warm glow of the fresh morning sun. Next thing I know, my husband is going around the house closing all the drapes and blinds. He says it is too bright and it hurts his eyes. (He is from Washington state if that helps explain a little.) We will end up following each other around the house in circles. It is a silly dance we do. When it comes to windows, we both agree that we need blackout drapes in our bedroom. It is awesome sleeping in on the weekends in a dark room, not knowing if it is 5 AM, 7 AM, or 9 AM ... toddler permitting that is. I shopped around for a while, but I could not find anything that looked nice. I did have some leftover upholstery fabric from a project that never happened. It was the perfect amount to make two panels. I bought some blackout fabric at Joannes using a 60% off coupon to get a sweet deal. Now or the fun part!
Making the panels was easy. Lay the fabric out wrong sides facing and with the blackout fabric on top. The blackout fabric was slightly skinnier than the upholstery fabric so I did not need to trim anything. The bottom fabric needs to be about an inch wider on each side. Fold the upholstery fabric in half an inch and then again another half inch so that it is the same size as the blackout fabric and creates a hem. Pin it all the way around. I sewed the two long sides first, then the top and bottom. The bottom hem was folded up five inches instead of half and inch to create a nice weighted hem. Repeat those steps for the second panel.
The next step is deciding how to hang the panels. A few options include tabs, grommets, tucks, clips, and pocket. I chose to get some clips because that is the easiest and I have not tried that method yet.
Finally, hang the drapes. This is the step that took me the longest and was the most frustrating. I hate hanging curtain rods. It took me almost two months to hang my drapes. First I needed a curtain rod. I finally found one that I liked and had the hardware in place. As I was mounting the rod, I realized that I had gotten one that was too small. It was extremely frustrating because I thought I had double checked that part at the store. Apparently not. When installing the drapes, hang the rod at least 6 inches from the ceiling and give at least 3-4 inches on the sides of the windows. The most common and biggest mistake when hanging window treatments is placing them too close to the window. Drapes can create the illusion of a bigger and grander window so hang them accordingly. I hung mine about an inch too low. I forgot to take into account the clips into the overall length. It will get fixed if it starts to bother me. Now on to the next step to completing my bedroom. Nightstands: DIY or buy?
Enjoy sleeping in!
_Puku_