So when I came up with the idea to replace our back door curtain, I thought that would be no problem. It's even something simple so it should be a snap. But I was so very wrong. When it comes to me and sewing - there is nothing simple!
I had found a fabric that I loved awhile go from fabric.com, it matched our couch perfectly but added a bit of color. I just plain liked it. And for about two months, it laid over the back of the love seat like it was a blanket because I didn't know how to even get started on the project. But not because I wasn't sure I could do it - but because I wasn't sure what I wanted. Did I want it to puff out a bit like the old ones? Did I want to have it hang flat? Did I want to line the back of it or let the light come through it naturally?
But I finally made up my mind and got the brilliant idea to do it while Rob was gone on annual training. Then when he got home - SURPRISE - new back door curtain. I mean seriously what man when he comes home from being gone for three weeks and sleeping on the ground and not getting shower doesn't notice the back door curtain instantly?! That's not crazy...is it?
Well, that awesome plan of mine didn't exactly happen like I planned - or at all. I started out great. I took my before pictures (the pictures aren't the best because I only had my little digital camera because my nice one was out on loan).
I then measured the size I needed. And then I stopped taking pictures because everything headed down hill after that. I pulled open my sewing machine that is mostly used as an end table and got started. I got it pinned and started sewing. I finished then looked at what I did. It was horribly done and in black thread which stood out like a sore thumb. At this point I may or may not have thrown a fit. Of course no one can confirm [or deny] this happening since Addie was asleep, Rob was gone, and Stella will never talk (she knows what's best for her and who feeds her). So then I packed my sewing machine back up and made it back into my end table. I folded up my would-be curtain and all the other pieces left, took them downstairs out of my sight and that was that.
But that is never that, is it? As angry as I was that reality came crashing down on me on my sewing abilities, I got myself a seam ripper (also to take Rob's name off his uniform but let's be honest, mostly to fix my mistake) and the black thread was gone.
This is where I'm going to tell you that I have the most amazing husband. He's patient and has the ability to figure out or maybe just think through things that I just can't/won't/don't. He sat down with me and helped me figure out what I needed to do and how. But he did more than that, he ironed, he helped me pin, he even did some actual sewing - but the sewing part was because he thought it was a fun game to see if he could sew better and straighter than I could.
First as my wonderful husband pointed out - and something that didn't even occur to me making me feel pretty dang silly - is ironing it. There were some serious creases in it that needed to be worked out.
After it was ironed, we just needed to hem it and make pockets for the rods. But again the hubs pointed out that because we weren't using lining, you would be able to see the back side of the curtain from the outside. It's not that we have a lot of people standing outside our back door examining out curtain but we definitely wanted it to look nice. So he suggested we not just make a pocket and make the front side look good but hem the rough edges.
On the picture below you can see that towards the top of the picture was what I did originally and towards the bottom, I flipped up the under side as sort of a double hem type thing.
What I did know and didn't need Rob to point out for me is that we needed to do the long sides first (the ones without the pockets) so that we didn't end up sewing up where we needed the rods to go. So in order to make sure that the double hem stayed in place exactly how we wanted it to and also knowing that we didn't know any other way to do this to make it better, we sewed down both sides of the hem, like below.
We followed the same process for the other side and a similar one for the pockets, only making sure there was enough space to fit the rods in order to hang it back up on the door. Truthfully the entire project probably took longer than it needed to, but faster than if it had just been me working on it. It took us Addie's afternoon nap to complete the entire project and now it is done and looking so much better than what had previously been on the door.
Plus the back side looks pretty good. That man of mine is pretty much a genius. That's why I keep him around - he thinks of things I never do.
The change is a much needed improvement. It looks ten times better than before and much more us. It may not be perfect to anyone else, but to me it's exactly right. It's a project that Rob and I spent time doing together, so that makes it perfect exactly how it is!
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