Monday, April 23, 2012

Jade's Drapes

This all started when I decided to update my baby girl's bedroom from baby to "big girl". I personally had loved her nursery. I loved the colors and how no one really uses peach anymore. Her paint was fabulous! I started looking for fabrics that went with what she already had because it was so pretty to me.

I love the peach walls and custom swing cover...all the baby gifts I hadn't had time to open yet




So Sweet



Just look at that awesome dust ruffle my precious mother made! Insanely gorgeous raspberry satin and top to bottom ruffles. I loved it and have never seen its equal.


The Changing table area


I thought it was great and I just needed to find a few more fabrics to go with it and some good furniture to go along with her new big girl bed and that would be that. Jade Reese, aka 'The Duchess' as she's known around here, had different ideas. She wanted her room to be pink and purple...
Yes, immediately my stomach turned. Pink and purple? Seriously??? Now I could have been mean and just done what I wanted. I mean what can she really do, pout? But, I decided I would see if she could handle actually being a big girl and earn her choices. If she couldn't do it then she wouldn't have her color choices. So I made a sticker chart and she had to keep her room clean for 30 days. The little booger did it! Not gonna lie, I was hoping that she would fail...pink and purple.
So like all things good, the new scheme started with a fabric. 

This Fabric


It was great, Jade loved it, and the purple had enough grey in it that it didn't make me nauseous. Now to find coordinating fabrics and paint (insert a horror movie scream here). I didn't want bubble gum sweetness, I'm not that kind of girl myself. We eventually found other fabrics and her scheme is something I am happy with now. This fabric was well suited for drapes and so that is what I decided to make.
I don't sew, my mother is incredible and has made many things but mostly clothing. She had made a few drapes and window treatments, but never any pinch pleat. Of course I wanted pinch pleat. Hey, I like what I like. So I researched it, bought a couple books, watched a few tutorials, talked to people at the fabric store, and called to price out having them made. Um, no! The fabric was expensive enough on a half price sale and I was NOT paying $200 for someone else to make them. NO WAY! So, I bucked it up and told my mom that it didn't look too hard, and surely we could manage it together. I'm good at tricking her, I've done it a lot, and somehow it always ends up working out fine. Only when it works out fine do I tell her that I really wasn't sure to begin with. It works well for both of us :)
So we got started.

Cutting the fabric



Testing it out before sewing it down






It really wasn't too bad. I did do a lot on the first drape myself, but had to leave before the second one was completed. My mother finished it up for me and brought it over the next evening. I prefer natural light pictures, but that doesn't always work out so well with drapes. Sunlight does crazy things to my phone camera. I really need to invest in a good camera for my work, but that's another whole topic.

Here they are finally hung in place





There are no longer wood blinds in the window either, but I didn't want a black hole in the picture so I left them until I was finished. I'm looking forward to posting her finished space soon.

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