We bought this place 3 years ago in the late fall, and I planned on making curtains for every window. As it turned out, other things demanded our imediate attention. Like heat. but that’s another story, so I hung blankets in the windows, and took care of other things. I always had the design in my head, which I altered, and re altered many times. Last summer, while trying to sleep with the windows open and one fan blowing in and the other fan sucking out, it hit me that it was too darn light in here. If I had made those pairs of curtains half and half to match the glass, I would still have too much light in the room! Thank God I had procrastinated!
In actuality, I had sewing issues soon after moving in. The best area to cut or sew in had either no light or too much light during the time I was home to do it. So first I had to make curtains to block the light out of my eyes where I’d be sewing in the evening, and then, find a way to light up where I’d be cutting. and that’s why it took so long to get to these bedroom curtains. Life is like a puzzle sometimes. You have to put one piece in place before the others will fall in.
So what some call procrastination, I call “planning”
Problems to solve in this room: Too hot and too light in summer at 8pm when I go to bed, and too cold in winter due to having only one heat vent.
So that means I want room darkening, plus very thick. Yet another Job for my Viking Husqarna with low gear to punch through all the layers. Now, I already have window treatments, so these will fit inside the window frames, under the other treatments. Both windows are the same size, but one has blinds, and one has oversized drapes to effectively “move” the window to center it behind the bed. Each window will have a 20″ fan in it during the summer.
Now that you know how I got there, here are the curtains I ended up with. Notice the 60/40 split for the window fan.
I wanted a clean look on this wall, hence the neutral upholstery fabric. Above is with blinds open, below is with them closed. I can still add a valence after I reupholster the one armed couch – yet another project – which will go below this window.
Here is the window with fan installed, and one side rolled up.
How they are hanging. I used 1 1/4″ wood closet rods, because the curtains are heavy, and those handy “Cup Style” rod holders, which is 2 plastic end caps, one of which has a cut out to slide the rod in. This open cup also spins, so you can simply turn it to be open at the top once the rod is in place, to lock it in.
The layers: Upolstery fabric [faces inside room], cheap dark grey blanket, thick [1/2″ to 3/4″] quilt batting, and med to heavy high thread count cotton for the back.
To make the rod pocket and maintain the desired overlap without bunching, I added a strip of fabric with a cutout on each side.
I made the finished size 1″ bigger on all 4 sides so they will overlap against each other and the frame. The seams are 3/4″ to create fullness, and they are sewn pillowcase style, and turned right sides out through as small an opening as I can stand to hand sew afterwards. Painters tape works well for the quilting when you don’t want to mark the fabric. Just stick it down, pin it in a couple of places, sew next to it, and then pull it off.
The first step to perfection is procrastination! Brought to you by Viking 21a and me.
#InsulatedCurtains #WindowTreatments #DontCallMeAHotHead #SunIsNotKickingMyButt #Ahhhhhh
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