SO hunker down for a good long post about curtains and sewing and cutting and curtains. The end result is this . . .

So it does end up well in my humble opinion. But it took us a minute to get there. That minute was 4 days long. In my defense this was my first major sewing project . . . and the first time with my new sewing machine . . .

We started with 6 yards of 100% cotton fabric from Joann’s. I folded the fabric in half and cut it down to 3 yards each for 2 panels. Then I took each panel measured in half an inch ironed that flat and pinned. Then to my sewing machine we went to stitch that in. Easy peasy . . . For the top of each panel I did the same thing just 3 inches in. And for the bottom I used hem tape for a nice even line. and I was done. WRONG! Whatever you do  . . . do not use those instructions . . . here’s where I went wrong :

when I cut the panels . . . I forgot to be sure they were the same size. So for a few days they looked like this . . .

You can’t tell very well because of the puddle, but the farthest panel is quite a bit longer than the nearest panel. So to fix it I cut off the hem tape and re-measured each panel to be sure they were the same length . . . unfortunately because of my mistake I didn’t have enough fabric to cover the length I needed, but I had an idea using the curtains that used to be here. So here’s how to make the curtains that you see in the after picture. I needed them to reach 90″ – be sure to measure your walls and windows accordingly for your measurements.

1. Cut 5 yards of fabric in half. Be sure to measure that each is the same length. They will be around 90″.

2. Measure each long side in by half an inch. iron that flat. pin it. and stitch.

3. At the bottom of each panel measure in for a 3″ seam. iron that flat. pin it. and stitch. each panel will be 87″ at this point.

4. Cut each panel down to 81″ – measure and be sure they are the same length.

5. Repeat step 3 on your new cut – except only a 1″ seam.

6. Take your old curtain panel and cut down to 12″ using the hem at the top. This way you can reuse the grommets/holes that are already premade for hanging. I cut 12″ because I wanted 10″ to be seen.

7. Take the bottom of your small piece and pin 2″ down on the top of your longer piece. iron it for a smooth finish. pin it. stitch the two together. I only stitched at the top of the longer piece so there was no gap.

8. Enjoy.

This is definitely a project that turned out for the better. It also taught me a lot about sewing and my sewing machine. This room has a lot of dark furniture. The accessories brighten it up a little, but that pop of light blue at the top of the curtains sets it off where as a straight line of the peacock blue made it feel even darker.

What do you think? Have you ever had a project go terribly wrong but you were able to fix it?