...and more blue 04/16/23

One set of the new curtains arrived. The second pair seem to be somewhere in transit, shipped from a different location, at a different time. 

Of course! they are too long. I experimented a bit and finally came up with a no-sew way to gather the curtains. Using safety pins, I gathered the curtains in an old style of balloon gathers at the top. Every 5 inches or so, I measured 17 inches down from the rod pocket seam and then again to 5 inches from the rod pocket seam. I gathered the fabric up from the 17 inch spot to the 5 inch spot above and used a large safety pin to secure the fabric to create the balloon effect, fluffing the fabric when hung. I also used a set of pins above the rod pocket to give it a gathered look. (Normally these curtains hung straight from the rod pocket.) The navy trim is at the sides and bottom but the bottom lace wasn't visible until I gathered it at the top. Osteoarthritis sucks! I was never a great seamstress but when younger I pulled off quite a few transformations now unavailable thanks to joint disfigurement.

Rehanging the curtain rods in the dining room is impossible because MurderCactus has grown even more blocking access to the hardware. I suspect one day the cactus will have to be sectioned apart when it has outgrown the space. The curtains hang at the edge of the windows. A second set of room darkening, thermal beige drapes between the new b&w curtains are drawn back daily.

I'm changing the room on a shoestring budget. All I get to spend is the money for the curtains. The fabric below, that I used to line the back of the hutch, is a piece I already owned ($3 from Goodwill). I had just enough fabric remaining to create a top border to block off and finish the hung fabric on the backboard. 

Because I decided to keep the red cabbage rose fabric in place, I hung the blue and white stripe fabric with double sided mounting tape over the older fabric. The tape is rated to hold 15 lbs. Not only does it hold the fabric up, it provided a simple way to mount the border. The double sided tape was the last of a two pack I had from a previous project. I used dressmaker pins to secure the border through the fabric and sideways into the mounting tape. The trim rests over 6 feet and above eye level, behind the hutch doors, so a random string or bit of a pin doesn't bother me too much.