I have been dreaming about moving into this house for almost a year now, and dreaming about making curtains for a house for almost two years. Now that we are actually moving in, I better get cracking on that job! The hardest part about this whole process of making curtains, for me, is picking out the fabric for them. I can’t decide if I want to get decorating fabric, upholstery fabric, or drapery fabric. Because you know, they aren’t the same.

Decorating fabric is a lighter weight, and would let light shine through, so the room wouldn’t be as dark as if I used drapery fabric, unless I made the curtains with a lining. So, I have to ask myself if I want to get a lighter weight fabric and line them, or get a heavier drapery fabric and not have to line them. It is so hard to decide what to do. But, because I can make them myself, I can change them any time I want to without much expense.  And, I really do like some of the lighter weight fabrics.

The type of fabric to use also depends on the type of curtains I decide to make. I have been thinking about making some pricillas for the living room, but that is a lot of ruffles to make. I would also have to pick a really lightweight fabric to make those. But, if I make some casual tab top curtains, I can get a heavier weight fabric. Those tab tops would also use less fabric to make.

I am going to try to make a fabric decision tomorrow, at least for the bedroom and living room. If I can decide which fabric to get, then I can get it ordered and have in here so that I can spend time sewing next week. I just wish there weren’t so many choices!

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My new baby

I know I teased y’all with some new sewing projects in April, but then life happened and time got away from me, and I just packed them up and brought them with me when we came back to the Canyon. I am hoping to get started on some sewing this week, before I have to go back to work on Monday.

Quite a while back, I think it was in December, I bought a new sewing machine. I had it delivered to my daughter’s house in Georgia because I didn’t have a place for it. I picked it up from her after we closed on the house, but I have not used it until today. The old one I had, a White 970, was a good little machine and I used it for 12 years. It was showing signs of wear though, and on the last backpack I made, it was skipping stitches quite a bit and caused me to have to use the seam ripper A LOT. So, when I was getting ready to come back out west, I packed up the new one to bring with me. Today was the first time I used it, and I have to say, it is a MUCH better machine than the other one ever was.

This new machine is a Singer Scholastic 5523. It is a little heavier than the White was, and because of that, it doesn’t jump around on the table like the White did. It is so much easier to sew with than the other machine! The best part of was the price: I got it in a Woot Deal for $284, which included shipping AND a Singer Serger. It sells for around $250 just for the sewing machine, so I think I got a really good deal on the pair. I have never used a serger before, so I didn’t bring it with me on this trip.

This is the patch on the inside

The reason I got the sewing machine out today was because I had to repair my pajama pants. I made them back in 2010, and have worn them almost constantly since then. They developed a little hole in the seat a couple of months ago, that just got bigger and bigger as time went on. Last night, Fabgrandpa said to me, “I wouldn’t wear those outside if I were you, because people would be snickering about seeing your hiney.” I took that as sign that I really needed to fix them.

The patch from the outside. You really can't sew it from a distance

I decided that I needed to re-enforce the seat because it was wearing really thin, so I got a piece of fabric to stitch to the inside, then did some zigzag stitching randomly on the outside to hold the patch in place. These ought to be good for another few months now!

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