Elephant Curtains

Hello, hello! I hope you all had a great weekend! My mom and I traveled to Williamsburg this past weekend for a mother-daughter trip away. We had a really nice time there, mostly shopping, eating, and people-watching. Mostly, it was nice to just have time together, especially before baby Z makes his grand appearance. I also did something new this weekend -- I hired house cleaners. J was there when they arrived so I didn't get to see the results until we got back from our trip. My reaction? Why haven't we done this sooner? The house was sparkling! They did a fantastic job. I don't think the house has been this clean since we have lived here. I was really happy, so we'll be having them back on a monthly basis. I actually found them because they clean our neighbor's house and I caught them one day and asked for their business card. And with us both working and a baby on the way, I feel like it's the perfect time to enlist some extra help.

Anyway, back to the project I wanted to write about. As you probably have seen from previous posts, there are some new curtains in the baby room, made by yours truly.

I started with this fabric (Premier Prints Ele Storm), which I purchased online from fabric.com. I cut my length to the length of the window + 5 inches.

For the bottom hem, I folded down 3 inches and ironed the fabric.

Then I unfolded it and folded it in on itself, making a 1.5 inch hem.

And ironed that down.

I then sewed along my edge.

I did the same for the liner. I cut the length of the liner about an inch shorter and 4 inches narrower.

I then lined up my liner and my fabric edge to edge, with the good sides facing one another.

You'll sew about 1/2 inch in down the length. Then, scootch (sp?) the liner over to the other edge and repeat. This will give you fabric overlap on the back side of the curtain.

You then flip the curtain inside out, so that your seams do not show. This is the flipped curtain on the back side.

I then folded the top down about 2 inches and sewed. This became my pocket for the rod. I tucked the unfinished edge in as I sewed for a more finished look.

Finished panel.

Hanging in the room (tension rods).

I got really lazy about documenting the tie backs, but I got plain gray fabric (Premier Prints Storm) and cut it to a 6" x 25" size. I then folded it in half and sewed back the edges. I hand sewed plastic rings to the ends for hanging on the hooks.

Finished product.

In case you are wondering, there are blinds behind the curtains, which should make the room plenty dark. I didn't want to use blackout fabric in the hopes that the baby will be able to sleep in a light room (especially with day care on the horizon) and to let more natural light into the room. I'm really pleased with how everything turned out.

The next items on the to-do list include making the crib skirt from the same elephant print. I also need to do something about artwork in the room.

As for me, I'm doing about the same. I'm at the edge of being in my third trimester (or already in it depending on how you measure). Nausea is still around, and seems to be worse somedays (which is totally normal for the third trimester -- oh joy). But, only 3 months to go (maybe even less)!