I’ve come over all Kirstie Allsopp recently and am the proud owner of a knitting bag and also a sewing box. Unfortunately for the unlucky recipients of my handmade offerings at the moment I am a little bit ‘all the gear and no idea’ which really is a bit of a shame! Undaunted, I am continuing with my efforts however and my latest idea is to stop making silly nick knacks and to take on a proper project that will be of benefit around the house.
My chosen nemesis is curtain making, and right from the off I am cheating by borrowing my Mum’s sewing machine. Well, not cheating exactly but certainly making the stitching part much, much easier. I am also only attempting a tab top design to begin with as the thought of all that gathering is enough to make me feel queasy; the fabric quantity calculations involved alone require a degree level understanding of maths. Not me at all.
Anyway, so off I head to the kitchen with my tape measure and once installed on the worktop, yes you read that right, I am able to measure the space across the window between the kitchen cabinets. I even remember to measure the ‘drop’ – look at me with all the lingo! – at the same time before climbing down. With a bit of jiggery pokery to add on for hems etc I get going with the scissors and am soon sewing the whole lot together.
Now I am not saying the result screams ‘luxury kitchen’ but I have certainly achieved a functioning pair of curtains which are more or less straight and do the job of covering the window. What’s next I wonder – swag and tails for the curved bay window in the lounge? Perhaps I’ll leave that until next week…! Give sewing a go if you fancy some crafty DIY, it certainly is most satisfying.