Makeover for Curtains

I haven't forgotten about the blog. It turns out that my continuing illness has been due to an allergic reaction to a medicine that I've been taking for a long time. And the past few months have been really, really rough. Fortunately, I am now off that medicine but it's going to take time for the body to heal the damage that was done.

But as my energy has been coming back, I've been working on my son's bedroom. And last week's project was modifying/recreating his curtains. He has room darkening curtains, for multiple reasons, and they've seen much better years. And he absolutely love Little Mermaid. So I found one of those underwater tapestries that has the reef and critters and ordered it. And then I ordered 8 yards of double sided fusing web. (Think 20" wide stitch witchery.)  

I'm going to be honest, this project took quite a bit longer than I expected and had some challenges. I decided to fuse it instead of sew it because of my son. Fused, he wouldn't be able to get the materials apart. Sewn, he'd be able to rip a seam and I'd come in one day to find him sitting inside his curtain.

The first thing to do is measure the curtains that you want to fuse the tapestry to. Then make sure you order a tapestry that will work. I was going to do double sided curtains but my brain flipped the numbers on the second tapestry. So that one got used elsewhere in his room. The one that got used is about 4" too short and wide, which was fine. I left borders of 2" on the outside edge of the curtains and let it stop about 4" from the bottom. If I did it again, I'd probably leave those 4" at the top instead.

Fusing large pieces of fabric takes a lot of patience. The second thing was to check and make sure that neither item was going to be damaged by the temperatures that are needed to fuse them. I probably should have done this before I ordered the webbing but I didn't have the tapestry at that point. Turns out the tapestry was very plastic-y. I really was worried about it melting. Fortunately, using a damp ironing cloth helped a lot.  In the case of mine, they would handle it without the damp ironing cloth but it caused the colors to bleed through onto the ironing pad and the light blocking portion of the curtain. And, to be honest, the ironing cloth helped me keep track of what areas I had done as I went along.

Third, wash the curtain and the tapestry. Once they are washed and dried, iron them. Get out every single crease/wrinkle/whatever.

Next, cut the tapestry to the size that you need for each curtain. For me, that was cutting it in half. Cut carefully and don't leave any frayed edges. The fusing web will anchor down things enough to stop any fraying in the future.

Now here comes the long part that requires a calm head and a lot of patience. After doing it two different ways, I can tell you that fusing from the top down is the best way to go. First, just to be sure, pin the tapestry to the curtain where you want it. Make any adjustments then because once you start fusing changes aren't happening. I pinned all three layers together, curtain on the bottom, fusing in the middle, and then tapestry on top. Then I very, very carefully laid the first top side section on the ironing mat and smoothed out every single wrinkle and fold. This takes time and you are going to be doing it repeatedly unless you are blessed with a surface and ironing mat large enough to do most of it at once.

Then you lay the damp ironing cloth on top and fuse that first section. Get close to the edge and the pins without actually hitting them. The slowly and carefully pull the pins. Once you pull those pins, get those edges fused solid. I didn't need the pins again after the first section on each curtain but if you need them go ahead and keep using them. Just don't make creases with them.

For the next few hours I just repeated the move, smooth, fuse steps. Over and over and over. I set the stopwatch on my phone and would move the iron to the next section every 20 seconds. The iron was on the hottest setting and using steam, which was probably overkill. When I'd finish the section that the ironing cloth covered, I would go rewet the cloth while allowing the section to cool a bit before I moved it.

When the one piece of webbing was completely fused, I'd fold the tapestry up, apply a new piece of webbing, and repeat. It took 3 sections of webbing to go from top to bottom.

This is long project and needs care taken to avoid wrinkles and creases, but it's not particularly hard. And the results, well he loves the results. So do I. (And that big blue blanket underneath? That's his quilt which he is also quite in love with.)