Posts Tagged ‘bed room decor’
Sew tabs with café curtains
November 7, 2011 | 
Author A method more usually associated with café curtains is to sew tabs along the top edge for the pole to go through. Make up the basic curtain first. The length will be from a point about 7.5cm below the rod to the bottom point of the finished curtain. Add 15cm for a double 7.5cm bottom hem, and 2.5 cm for a top hem. Café curtains should not be too full, so 1 ½ times the width of the pole is ample. Add 10cm for a double 2.5cm hem at each side. Café curtain look best from the outside if they are lined – bagged type of lining works well. Make up the curtains except for the top edge. Make the tabs from the same fabric as the curtains. Cut enough tabs to fit at 15cm intervals along the width of the curtain. Measure the circumference of the pole; add on a total of 2.5cm for seam allowances and another 5cm for movement.
This will be the length of the piece of material to cut for each tab. The finished width will be about 6 or 7cm, so double that for the two sides and add 2.5cm for seam allowances. Fold each piece in two along its length, right sides together, without creasing the fold. Sew along the seam 1.5cm in from the edge. Open out the seam and press it. Turn the tab inside out, position the seam down the center of the tab, and press down the side folds. Press towards each other by 2.5cm. Pin the tabs 15cm apart and ensure that all the raw edges are enclosed allow a 1.25cm seam allowances at each end of the tab. Try the curtain on the pole to see that all the tabs lie comfortably. Then remove it and stitch along the top edge of the curtain so that the tabs are fixed in place and the top edge is closed.
Café Curtains
Café curtains are an attractive and well established way of dressing a window. They fit over the bottom half of the window which gives privacy to people sitting in the room, traditionally, of course to diners eating at café tables. At the same time they let in daylight through the top half of the window. In some circumstances you could consider them as an alternative to net curtains. Café curtains look especially good on sash windows where the frame is divided by a horizontal bar. The curtains can be fitted to the height of this bar for a neat visual effect. You could consider hanging café curtains with a matching pelmet. There are many ways of making café curtains.
Most types fit into two end sockets, after the curtain is hung on it, or you can use other arrangements. A d-i-y or department store should be able to provide you with a good range of rods and fittings. One of the simplest methods is to attach clip-on rings through which the pole is slotted. You make up the curtain in the usual way, but also turn down the top heading into a double hem, forming mitered corners there too. Then clip on the rings at regular intervals across the top. Or you can sew large curtain rings along the top edge, at intervals of about 10cm, with a neat buttonhole stitch. Again, the top hem should be completed first in the same way as the bottom hem. A cased heading is the next easiest method and suitable for sheer fabrics.
Bedspreads and Valances
The traditional bedspread offers an almost limit less range of design possibilities. The instructions here cover a variety of types from a simple throw over bed spread to more complicate fitted styles. By adapting them you will be able to achieve exactly the effect you want, whether you are designing your bedspread or copying one from a magazine or shop display. A valance covers the base of the bed when a duvet or a half-length throw over bedspread is used. It can be made from the same material as the sheets and duvet cover, probably polyester cotton sheeting in the same or a contrasting color or a heavier fabric.
The part of the valance that covers the base of the bed under the mattress is never seen, so it can be made from lining fabric, calico, or a piece of old sheeting as long as it is not worn. If it stretched out right to the sides of the bed it might just be visible between the mattress and the base, so it is surrounded by a narrow border in the same fabric as the sides. There are various styles a simple gathered frill, box-pleats, or kick pleats at the corners of a straight-sided valance. It can go all round the bed or just round the sides and bottom if the head of the bed is against a wall.
Duvet cover and Cot Lining
By comparison, making an outer cover for the duvet is simple. Buy polyester/cotton sheeting as large as the duvet, adding a 10cm margin to both the width and length to avoid restricting the duvet itself. Sew it round the top and two sides making a French seam. Turn in the allowance at the bottom edge into a double 2cm seam, stitch up about 10cm at each side and attach poppered tape or Velcro to close the opening.
Cot Lining
Washable and reversible cotton/polyester quilting is by far the best material for lining a cot as its padding will prevent the baby hurting itself against the cot bars, and it will keep out draughts. You will need fabric to go round the four sides of the cot but it need not go right up to the top of the bars about 30cm high is easily enough to protect a baby’s head. The base of the cot lining goes under the mattress so it can be made from lining material, calico or other washable left-over fabric. You will also need 2.5m of ribbon to match the quilting. Cut the fabric for the four sides and the base, including seam allowances of 1.25cm. Join the two short ends to one of the long sides so that the right side of the seams will face in towards the cot. Trim the seams, press them and cover them with binding to neaten them. Also bind the raw edges of the two end pieces and round the top edge. Sew the base to these three sides, right side of quilting to under side of the base – all the raw edges will eventually be hidden by the mattress. Turn the structure so that the seams are inside. Then deal with the remaining long side, first binding its side and top edges and then sewing it to the open edge of the base, wrong sides together. The fourth side has to be unattached, except at the base, so that when the side of the cot is let down it doesn’t get in the way. Cut the ribbon into 12 equal lengths and attach six in three pairs down each long side of the cot lining at each corner and at or near the middle to correspond with a cot bar. The ribbons are tied round the bars to keep the lining in place.
Posted in Soft Furnishings | 
Tags: bed room decor, bedding, decorating your home, home care, home maintenance | 
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