Blackout!

At the beginning of the summer, a friend of mine decided to get blackout curtains for her little boy, who was sleeping very little due to the extended sunshine hours. His curtains are black, but very see-through.

Having purchased an entire roll (!) of blackout fabric for our curtains, I offered to help her...with the hope that it would spur me on to making the ones we need. It took me an hour and a half to have her curtains ready to hang. Then I started on the shop curtains. Three months ago. I know.

Why do we need curtains for the shop? After all, it's basically a glorified garage. But - there is no air conditioning in that shop, and those windows face south. It gets really hot in there in the summer. Also, when Doug works in there at night, those windows are like a beacon: watch me! watch me! Which means he wants blackout curtains. And since Doug doesn't really care what they look like, I am repurposing some curtains made for Collin's room back in South Carolina.

These particular curtains were made to be hung with curtain rings. It does look a little fancy for the shop, with the insulation poking out of the framing next to it.

You can see the light...if you want to...

Just sewed the blackout material right on the back...wasn't too neat about it.

The curtains look great from the inside of the shop. They are the "thing that doesn't belong" (remember that song from Sesame Street?), but they are functional. Maybe once that shop is drywalled, they'll even fit in. Sort of.

And this is what I get to see, since I almost never go in the shop:

Yup, that's why I wasn't too fussed about making the sewing job perfect. But just in case you want to know, this is how I did it:

1. Took my curtains as a pattern and cut blackout fabric to the same size as the curtain.
2. Laid the blackout fabric on the ground, then the curtain on top of it. Since the seams will be seen from the front, but not from the back, I was more focused on getting those right. 
3. Pulled the curtain tight over the blackout fabric, then pinned.
4. Turned the blackout fabric under (towards the curtain), and pinned it on the front side.
5. Sewed all the way around the curtain, using the previous seams as my sewing line.
6. Hung the curtains in the shop (I actually made Doug put the rods up, since he was there, and those curtains are for him anyway. So there).

I also learned a few things...

• Don't try pinning curtains on carpet. The carpet gives too much, leaving you with too much to too little fabric - there are a few places I didn't sew because I would have ended up ruining how the curtain draped.

See, I am such a cheater. I just didn't sew one area so I wouldn't end up with a pleat in the curtains.

• Blackout fabric does not fray. If I were more careful cutting it to size, I wouldn't have to fold it under...or even sew the bottom of the curtain. Note to self: stop making things harder than they have to be!
• It is definitely easier to hang curtains when  you're not the one actually hanging them. 

So there we are, one step closer to starting Malena's Halloween costume. She's still asking me about it. Every day.