Making Curtains For the Sliding Glass Door

The Doors!
The Problem:  I have this huge door with nothing to prevent the sun from streaming in (in the rare event that I need a break from it) and at night when we're feeling a little exposed.

Luckily, there's no direct view into a neighbor's house. There was an ugly vertical blind on it when we moved in, but Maggie and I got rid of that in the first week. Yuck.

The Solution: Fabulous curtains! As mentioned previously, I found the perfect fabric at a shop in Montclair. They sent it to me. Then, I had to find a liner and hardware. Which I picked up at JoAnn's last weekend (special shout-out to the Albertons for a great Christmas gift).

Ready to be a Curtain!
I started the project this morning and it's taken me all day to finish (ignoring the children all day -- the house is a mess). But it's well worth it. Here is a quick outline of the steps.

1) Hang rod (that took a few days -- I got the wrong size first, then the holes were impossible to make. These walls are made of tissue paper!)
2) Measure distance from rod to floor (twice) and add seam allowances to top and bottom.
3) Measure out the fabric and liner on the floor (twice) and cut.
4) Pin lining to fabric.
5) Hang from rod and double-check the length.
6) Sew! All but the hem.
7) Iron and hang again. Make decision on using 1. ring clips or 2. pocket tabs.
For Step 7 -- the ring clips made it look too much like a shower curtain. Tabs it is!
8) Hang and hem -- like it's a huge dress!

Working with a large piece of fabric is much different then working with a yard or two to make a little girl's dress. But I loved the long straight sewing -- zipping it right through the machine. Good practice for sewing straight lines.

Big reveal photo coming tomorrow.....





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