that's curtains

Hello folks,

hope you have all had a good week. I am still waiting on news on the job front, but have become very keen on the thought of trying my hand at making a business out of millinery and associated things, so I really am hoping now that I get the VR. I should know by the end of the week so fingers crossed.

But on to the real question of the day, have I got round to those curtains yet?.....

Well the answer is yes, I have and they already up in position as later photos will testify. I am very pleased with the way they have come out. 

We needed curtains on this particular cupboard because it is too close to the cooker to open a door, you could have argued that we could have bought a smaller cooker, or rearranged the kitchen a bit, but to be honest there are 3 of us in the house who love to cook; and my daughter's cup cakes are to die for, so a smaller cooker was never really an option.  I do have to thank my wonderful other half for pandering to us in cookers and fridges and the entire kitchen really.  We managed most of the house on a tight budget and I am fairly adept at getting a bargain, eBay is a firm friend, but the range cooker was a must.  While I am on about the kitchen, we have a pink Smeg fridge, how wonderful is that, and the other half did choose the colour, we didn't force him.  The plumbing behind the curtain needs to be seen too really, I am really rather proud of the other half for this, all his own work, and although it can't quite be seen on the photo, it does have a real feel of Wallace and Grommet to it that I love and fits the house perfectly.

Any way the curtains got sewn up in record time, once I got going on them and discouraged the dog from helping too much.

so helpful x

Being gingham they were a breeze to cut, just following the lines of the check, 4 simple edge seams, 2 bottom hems and at the top I did a slightly larger top and added a second row of stitching to make a channel for the wire to thread through for hanging, then a once over with the iron and up they went. I really don't know why it took so long to get round to it.

Don't cut the thread when you finish one bit,

In this photo you can see how I start the next bit of sewing without cutting the last off the thread yet.  This is a marvellous tip, I can’t remember were I picked it up, but I have been doing it for years now.  It saves time and a lot of cotton too.  I have a really annoying habit if I haven’t done this of loosing the thread back though the needle when I first start sewing, so I’m not sewing and I have to stop and rethread the machine, probably cause I forget to ensure there enough thread or hold on to it, the other problem this method alleviates is the bunching of thread under the material ie:

What you do is leave the last item attached to the machine, just do a couple of back stitches to fastening the stitching and then sew to the edge of the material, next get your next bit of sewing and line it up and start sewing as normal.  The thread will just carry on and your two bits of sewing will be joined together, you can do this for awhile and I often leave them all joined up till I need to use them again.  Then simply snip the thread between the pieces and you’re done, no waste thread and in my case no wasting time re threading the machine again and again.  Sometimes I try and see if I can sew a whole garment without cutting the thread between pieces, it does get tricky towards the end when most of the pieces are already joined together though.

the finished curtains, and just look at my bread x

I hope that made sense, please let me know if not and I’ll put up more photos to explain what I mean.

My daughter and more about her cupcakes can be found on http://theprettyeyes.blogspot.co.uk/. Anyone who knows us personally and has tried her caramel and salted cupcake, or lemon drizzle one, will know they are a real treat.

Next week will see me making a brown felt hat for an afternoon tea dance. I’m looking forward to that.

More soon

Ally x x