This is my bestie's classroom. When she asked me to sew the curtains, I have to say the trepidation was high because now something I made was now going to be seen by LOTS of people. I had made rag quilts before, but those don't require any real technical skill. I don't mean any insult by that. I truly admire those that make the extravagant ones with the ability to be envied. I used to watch my mom piece quilts and get so frustrated when the points didn't match up and I know now why she sounded like Yosemite Sam while holding pins in her teeth.
The trip to pick out the curtains took more strategy and logistics than a precision strike in the Middle East. My best friend is my opposite in a lot of ways; she is very structured. She is very organized. She is very matchy/matchy. I am artistic, freestyle, not one to follow convention very closely. I envy her in many ways. That's why we're best friends. There weren't enough chevron colors to go across the cabinets. They were either different sizes, different fabric, different base color, just wrong. We could only come up with three viable bolts to use and they were all too feminine. We needed four. So I came up with the idea of coordinating the base colors and mixing in a new pattern. If we didn't keep it to the same sizes, it would be overwhelming. You would be surprised that Hobby Lobby is limited with the types of polka dot prints they carry. The orange and green polkas fit in perfectly, in my humble opinion.
The dimensions for the cabinet tops were 21x60 for each of the three sections. Since she wanted a gather on the curtains, I cut each of the curtains to 67.5" (60"*3=180 180*.5=90 90+180=270 270/4=67.5)
In regards to construction, it was beyond easy! I sewed a 1/4" hem on both sides. The panel has to hang 21", but it has to have a pocket for the rod and a hem. I folded 2.5" down with a 1/2 seam allowance, repeating at the bottom, but 2" and 1/2 seam allowance (24.5" cut). I used contrasting thread for each hem and for the bottom, I used a decorative scallop stitch.
I have to say, this was probably the easiest project ever!
Also in this photo are the letters I painted for her. The letters come from Hobby Lobby, and the circles are hand painted. Then I painted the edges blue and purple. These were my favorite.
Here are the ones in the photo:
These are ones she sold to another teacher:
