The Sewing Room

hart44

nykied wrote: »

Any tips on making normal curtains into tab-top curtains? I'm assuming I'd just cut a strip off them and make them into tabs or am I looking at this too simply?

Im making a tabtop curtain for my shelf unit my OH built in the corner of my living room (hide all my clutter :rotfl:). I am just going to work out how many tab bits I need for the curtain and just sew them on.
The tab curtains I have at my room window has a band on the back to hide the edge of the tabs, they are spaced 5'' apart and are 2'' wide tabs so Im using them as a guide

sethsgran

Well, how crazy am I?? Don't answer that! I went in my cupboard where my stash of all things craft is kept, there was a huge piece of white fabric exactly what I want for the white stretch newborn hats! Then in Dunnes and they had a set of 3 burp cloths reduced to £1 I can cut one up for the contrast brim on the hat

Kaz2904

hart44 wrote: »

Kaz I have been following crazymom for nearly a year now and keep meaning to give her quilt alongs a go but so far have not managed it
I have been collecting fabric ready to make my shabby chic quilt (pic's on my homepage ) I would love to join you in doing the squares, it might give me the push I need doing it with someone else :rotfl:
Im having the op on my other hand on the 10th of May so realy need to do as many squares as poss before them

So, are you telling me that we need to produce a finished quilt by 10th May? Eeep, I'll try my best!
How about we start the star quilt along on the 1st May then? That will give everyone a little time to amass their quilting fabric and mojo before then.

I will endeavour to finish this quilt before 10th May (Pah!) and will start the other one on 1st May. I have a sneaking suspiscion that the start quilt along is going to be supremely taxing for a newbie such as myself.

Ooh, this is quite exciting really isn't it?:o

hart44

Kaz2904 wrote: »

So, are you telling me that we need to produce a finished quilt by 10th May? Eeep, I'll try my best!
How about we start the star quilt along on the 1st May then? That will give everyone a little time to amass their quilting fabric and mojo before then.

I will endeavour to finish this quilt before 10th May (Pah!) and will start the other one on 1st May. I have a sneaking suspiscion that the start quilt along is going to be supremely taxing for a newbie such as myself.

Ooh, this is quite exciting really isn't it?:o

:rotfl::rotfl:
No you are ok to finish yours in a bit slower pace, I will just do as many as I can before then and finish the rest after

1st of May sounds a great time to start and I am looking forward to doing this as Ive only ever put squares together

avstar

sethsgran wrote: »

Well, how crazy am I?? Don't answer that! I went in my cupboard where my stash of all things craft is kept, there was a huge piece of white fabric exactly what I want for the white stretch newborn hats! Then in Dunnes and they had a set of 3 burp cloths reduced to £1 I can cut one up for the contrast brim on the hat

Dunnes at Kirkstall? I love it in there :T

sethsgran

Yes Kirkstall. Take my mum to Morrisons on Fridays and usually she likes to wander in Dunnes as she is almost 89 so bit of an outing for her

PootleFlump_3

Thanks so much Rufus! Ive pasted your post into a word document so I have it to hand.

Cant wait to see all your quilts folks! x

In_Search_Of_Me

I would definately buy a machine if you are making curtains - handstitching would take and age!
Very excited about quilt along even though I wont do this one! Looking forward to seeing your progress...mind on handstitched one very slow but am really chuffed with it.
Pootle I have great advice from the shop re fabric requirements as no way could work out what I needed...I would measure where you want the quilt to drape to (mine I like to cover the duvet and go half way down the bed sides...cant stand it when they just sit on top-just dont get the point and dont think it looks good at all personally but thats just me!). Mine looked vast when I basted it and is actually quite heavy but I love it!! A good quilt/fabric shop will help you with measurements and what you need of what fabric! I can recc two - Cotton Angel (Monmouth) and Pelenna fabrics-both have online and in my experience are very helpful and have a good range! hth?
Right back to the stitchin! Will upload piccy later of the first row!

Tamster150

well after saying that I wont be attempting anymore quilts for a while, I have booked myself on another quilting course:rotfl::rotfl:

This one is called "quilting on the go" I will be constructing the quilt is small sections, which are quilted "as I go" and then joined together.

I am hoping to make a large King size quilt for my bed, using all the lovely vintage linens that I have been buying at car boots.

Only thing is that I need a fat quarter of random pattened fabric for the backing of each block! That will be quite a bit!! So I need to have a good rumage in the CS for some florally sheets!

Savvy_sewing

Clicksim, making curtains is not hard, but its very time consuming if you plan on doing it by hand.
The most important thing is that the fabric hangs correctly when you have made them. So cutting them on the grain is important.
Also you have to make sure that you have extra fabric for the pattern repeat.
If your making a curtain that has a repeat pattern of 76cm then you need to have at least that much extra so that you can start both curtains in the set at the same part of the pattern.
Turning over about 1 1/2" to 2" on the top of the fabric, you can then place the header tapes in line with that. Sewing over the folded down fabric.
Once you have your header tape on, then you can do the side seams and the hems.
If you are lining your fabric, then the best way is to sew the two sides, face right sides together, sew down both sides, turn and then iron them flat, then turn both layers of the curtain over at the top, and stitch your tape to it.

If your making Tab tops then its a little bit easier. You turn over a smaller hem, twice, at the top. Then you attatch the taps to the top, measuring them carefully so that they are evenly spaced. (Usually odd number of tabs in my opinion).

Hope this helps?

It is possible to sew by hand but it is very time consuming. I nearly always hand sew the hems on my curtains. But sewing them by machine is much faster.! Can you borrow a machine from someone?