A Small Sewing Project

My son's room is, unfortunately, a rather small room. Every bit of wall space is very important for the placement of even just his basic bedroom furniture. With such a compact room, it literally escapes me as to why the builder would have put a closet door that opens out into the room. (A pocket door would have actually been a great solution!)

I decided that his room would actually be much more functional without that closet door. In it's place, I have been hanging a variety of kid-friendly shower curtains simply by placing a suspension rod across the top of the door frame.

However, now that Charlie is going to be 15, I thought it was time to place something a bit more long-term and mature in the opening. Since my son is an outdoor, country kid at heart, I wanted some practical, earth tone colors to give a little update to his room decor.

I searched and searched until finally, at Target, I found just the right look I'd had in mind. And, it was also on clearance! I ended up getting 2 beautiful, 100% cotton curtain panels that were originally $20 each, for just $9 a piece! (I used the other panel for the curtain for his window.) All that needed to be done was a little hemming, and I was good to go. :)

So I pulled out my trusty Dressmaker space saver 100 sewing machine that I've had for over 20 years, and got to work. I forgot how fun and enjoyable a simple sewing project can be! ....I must get back into sewing.... Anyways, here are some pictures of the project.

Ziva needed to help Mommy with trying to plug in the cord. :)

The curtain panel laid out with the new hem to be sewn.

Old faithful, ready to go!

A picture of my cute sewing essentials container. Each section unscrews from the other.

The top of curtain with the suspension rod across the width of the opening.

The nicely finished new hem.

The complete finished look.

 I love the cream, tan, maroon and olive green colors of the curtain! It matches so nicely with his bedspread and a new throw blanket we gave him for Christmas. 

Not only am I very pleased with the new look, but Charlie is quite happy about the change as well. Now to frame some of those deer pictures he wanted me to hang on his walls!

Clothes Hooks For Curtain Tie Backs

I had been looking for the perfect curtain tie back hooks to no avail. The ones I came across were either too bulky, too gaudy or too pricey. After brainstorming for a few days, I came up with the perfect solution - clothes hooks. I chose one with double hooks to accommodate both my sheers and the solid colored panels. I couldn't be happier! If you're looking for a simple solution to the same sort of problem, maybe this will help.

Secure the hook sideways along the window casing.

Gather each curtain and tuck them behind each individual hook.

The finished results.

Making Curtains From Sheets

Did you know how easy this can be? I started thinking about uses for sheets when I came across so many separate flat sheets during my thrift store adventure the other day. (See post http://simplymekimberlymarie.blogspot.com/2013/04/thrift-store-find.html) I got to thinking 

that I'd like to make a nice table runner out of one with a pattern that I like. 

But I found this idea, too, which I think is really neat!

sheet curtains 1

sheet curtains 2

sheet curtains 3

It's as simple as knowing how to measure the finished length of each curtain panel that you want, stitching a hem with the sewing machine, and attaching clip-style curtain rings to the top edge. But for more detailed and precise information, the page where these curtain examples came from is very helpful.

http://www.craftstylish.com/item/39280/how-to-make-curtains-from-recycled-sheets