The title for this post is a quote from Betty, who said that about some old run down house in Australia. I happened to see the need for a curtain in a run-down old room in my house, and truly it does make a difference!
The photo below is a portion of the laundry room. It is awaiting its "Cinderella" moment and so little has been done in the decorating department, excepting for a few shelves put up, and a couple of paintings done by a neighbor placed to brighten laundry chores. The window is sadly lacking in a lot of ways-- it unfortunately looks out on a tyvek covered wall, the sacrifice for having another room built beyond it. I'm sure that there was a covering intended for the window, perhaps waiting for that day when the laundry room gets its overhaul. I thought it was time to make a temporary covering for it; and as we all know that anything temporary tends to stay in houses for the next ten years, I thought I should have fun and make it decorative.
Before
After!
This is a lot more "playful" of a look than I am used to making, but since the paintings (done by a folk artist next door) are so bright, I thought the curtain should reflect that brightness. I had a lot of scraps of pretty prints that went perfectly.
Banner Curtain Tutorial
Here's how I made the curtains:
Some of the prints were cut into 4" squares and made into prairie points. I know that isn't the most efficient way to make triangles, but prairie points are such a delightful waste of fabric!
Fold the square in half on the diagonal,
and in half again. Voila, a prairie point.
For the scallops, trace half a teacup on cardboard, to make a template. Trace around the template on two layers of fabric. sew around the curved part and leave the straight edge open for turning. I simply folded some of the scraps in half, or used other scraps to back the scallops. Trim after sewing. I started out snipping around the curve to make a nice flat scallop, but after a few times of doing that, I started trimming them within 1/8 of the stitching line. Turn and press.
Here are all the points and scallops right sides out and pressed.
The finished size of each was close to 3" across.
Pin them to the curtain upside down, and slightly overlapping each other.
I used eyelet for the curtain, which gave me a sort of "grid" to lay these out on. Otherwise, I would have ironed a crease or marked my fabric with the lines needed for placement.
Sew across the bottoms of the scallops and points, with a 1/4 seam allowance.
Carefully iron the scallops and points over, to show the right sides.
Stitch along the top of the line of scallops and points. I used a decorative stitch for the fun of it.
Stand back and squeal at what a cute project this is turning out to be! Ooh, wouldn't it make a cute table cloth for a playhouse or birthday party? Or a playful tea cozy? What else could I do with these?
Using bigger scraps, I sewed a casing across the top of the curtain after hemming the sides.
Someday when the laundry room is renovated, the exposed water-pipes covered nicely, and paint slapped on everything in sight, there may be new curtains. I think, though, that this curtain is so utterly cute it will be a "keeper!"