Wednesday

Patchwork Kitchen Curtains

Kitchen Curtains
Patchwork Curtains
Last week I took down my kitchen curtains to wash both the window and the curtains.  Once the curtains came out of the dryer I realized how faded they were and how much I disliked them.  They were once popular and in style but they've been hanging in my kitchen for almost 10 years now.  I was not going to put them back up.

I do like quality things that last but the reality is that taking on one room at a time means that it takes a while to get around to redoing things since there are 11 rooms in this house.  That's my best excuse. But it is time for a kitchen re-do.  Sadly and tragically, my painter committed suicide this spring.  He was a sweet and sensitive young man who was somewhat troubled.  I will miss him terribly not only for his painting skills but for the friendship and companionship he brought me while he worked here.

While I ponder how to go about finding another painter, the least I can do is make some new kitchen curtains. I don't want to spend a lot of money on replacements since I'm not totally ready to do a total re-do of the kitchen. So I went through my stash and pulled out some pretty yellows as well as a piece of muslin to use as backing.  

I washed and ironed my fabrics and cut 8 and a half inch squares. I used that size based on the width of the muslin that I was using for the lining.  I decided to leave the selvages on the muslin to give the lining a finished edge without any sewing.  I made two panels using 30 of the 8 and a half-inch squares (6 rows of 5 squares) for each panel totaling 60 squares. I had a large chunk of pretty flowered yellow fabric so I also made a 5 and a half-inch border along the bottom to tie the look of the squares together. Then I made a valence using 3-inch squares of the leftover fabric with a border of the same yellow fabric.  Once the squares were sewn together, I stitched the lining to the panels and made a casing to hang them.  

This was a quick and easy project that took very little time, no pattern or instructions, just a few math skills to make sure I had panels the right size to cover the window.  The yellow grosgrain ribbon I used to tie the curtains back were in use on the curtains I took down so I did recycle a small part of my old curtains. I like the fresh look they give my kitchen.  

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