New curtain pattern #1437

"Have needle will travel" is my motto ... I like to sew, pretty much, anything.

I was so happy to announce on Monday that I made it to the fashion department in Simplicity's most recent catalog.  But, I have a new pattern in the home decor section, too!

Is that the same as competing in the Summer and Winter Olympic games?  The sports announcers sound very impressed when they talk about an athlete who's done that.

These grommet curtains are part of a group of home decor patterns released in this issue.

I don't have a lot to say about these curtains because I completed this pattern a little over a year ago, well before I started blogging, so I didn't take any photos while I was working on them.

Sometimes Simplicity will have me make something they know they want in the future,  if I don't have any work and I bug them enough to give me a project.  So, during a slow period I made this pattern and it sat waiting for a few other designs to go with it.

But, this is what I can say.  First this pattern is designed to use standard width fabrics.  The turquoise and flower print panels are made with 45" home dec yardage (a cotton bottom weight) sold at Joann's.  The shear curtain and solid beige panels are made with 54" home dec fabric.  And the black and white panels were made with 60" wide fabric. And there are 4 panels there.  This pattern is for panels made of single widths of fabric, so if you have a very long window or doorway, just make several panels to get the effect needed.

Also, until 3 days ago, I didn't know that last view was going to be black and white.  Actually I like the print they scanned in. What I made was 4 very large panels made of soft blue and beige.  Simplicity likes to have some samples made in "mappable" colors, so in the future the print can be change for one of those photo spreads they put in the catalog to bring your attention to different designs and show how they can be combined, like the photo above.  This is called an "editorial."

Here is a link to a blog I wrote about another pattern I made that the prints were "mapped" in.

OH ... and this is the one useful thing I can say ... I asked Simplicity to send me an assortment of grommets for the top of these things.  Some were the snap together plastic kind that are designed for the home sewer and I, also, specifically asked for the metal kind professionals use along with the necessary tools for setting them in to give those a try.

Don't even bother to think about using these ... REALLY.  I have no clue how this guy below is successfully setting in those grommets all by himself, without breaking a sweat.   It took me AND my very strong husband together to get them hammered in correctly.  I devised a contraption to hold the tool steady while keeping my hands out of the way, while he hammered as hard as he could.  This was a project!  We did the final set of black and white curtains (really blue and beige!) this way and one other (can't remember which).  I think there were 64 of these monsters.

SUCH hard work and they don't look any better than the plastic ones up on the curtain rod.

There, that's my warning.

Tomorrow I'm going to tell stories about the tulle skirts ... promise.

I'm still scrambling to get the classes I'm teaching on Saturday ready!