Ruffle Curtains

I have always made my own curtains. But rarely anything ever complicated.

My sister asked me to make a set of curtains for her kitchen windows. 

She gave me the fabric, and said to make "Whatever."

I wanted to do something different, but cute. 

I own a Singer Simple sewing machine. (Which I LOVE)

And I looked everywhere for a ruffle foot attachment, 

only to find that for my model machine, they make no 

such attachment. 

So I decided to make my own ruffles,

 and shockingly enough,

it was very easy, although time consuming, to do.

 

 

I decided for larger ruffles.

I cut a back liner piece the size of the window.

And then cut 6 1/2" strips of material wide and almost double the lenght of the liner.

(I did cut off the excess on some pieces. Wasteful I know! LOL)

Here's where I do things the weird and wrong way.

I used my liner as my template. I attached my ruffle material to the liner on one end.

And then about every 1-2 inches I just folded the fabric on my ruffle material ONLY and pinned it to itself.

(DO NOT pin to the liner yet. I didn't want the liner would NOT bunch up)

I did this for every single strip of ruffle material.

I sewed each ruffle piece with a simple straight stitch on my sewing machine.

After I had sewn all of my ruffle pieces. I attached each piece to the liner.

And sewed it on, using a straight stitch. 

After I sewed each ruffle piece to the liner, I added a new row and overlapped it by about one inch or so to hide the previous ruffle thread.

I followed no template. Just a lot of guess work. And they turned out wonderfully, with no mistakes. 

Which is rare for me. :)

I know this is not very detailed. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask and I will answer the best I can. 

 Here are the finished curtains. 

 

Head Board from Old Window

While in Sugar Creek, (BEST place to shop for primitives)

I found a large, old window. And got it for a steal at $10.00!

Super happy that my sister let me cram it in to her brand new car. LOL 

It was perfect. So I just wiped it off a bit. 

I then decided that it needed a shelf attached to it. 

 I went and bought a thin, long board from Home Depot for under $5.00.

 

I was so happy with how I matched up the brand new board to the old window. I simply used a couple different colors of gray paint, along with black and white. And kept layering it. Also, want to know my other secret I found worked wonders? 

(I LOVE pinterest) 

I used Elmer's wood glue between each layer. And once it dried, it gave the paint an old cracked look.

I was also proud of the fact that I did this project 100% by myself. 

After I attached the shelf board, It was time to hang. 

Another wonderful tip I discovered thanks to pinterest, 

I placed a piece of  painters tape the length of the window.

(Doesn't that top shelf look all old and weathered?!)

I then took the piece of tape, and attached it on the wall where I wanted the head board.

I found where the studs where, and marked an X on the tape.

Also, take note of the pieces of blue tape on the top of the wall.

Those are where the studs are. I left those pieces of tape there so I knew exactly where to drill 

my headboard once it was ready to hang.

I took the tape and placed it back on my head board. 

And pre drilled my screws where I had marked the X's. 

All ready to be hung...

And here it is. It was so easy to hang because of the pre drilling! 

And I did it with NO help at all. 

And because of the blue tape I had left on the wall, I knew exactly where to start my screws. 

I'm sure it seems like an extra step, but it is what worked for me. LOL

And here it is, mostly finished. 

I have since added stuff to the shelf on top, and moved the love banner to the bottom of it.

I made the banner from burlap and tea stained material. 

And I used pictures of my husband and I and strung them on a piece of Jute.

Solar Log Stand

I found THIS photo on pinterest awhile back.

(It only links to the photo, no website could be found)

But I just loved them. 

The original photo below...

I just HAD to have a set of my own. 

So I showed my hubby, and he got right on it for me. 

We went and found a tree that was already down. 

And my wonderful Craig, cut me a bunch of pieces.

He also cut me bases for the bottom of them.

And drilled holes for the solar lights to sit in. 

I actually helped him drill the base to the log. And then nailed on the stars and the pip berries.

*The next set I make, will NOT have the pip berries. After one rain, the pip berries turned white! So disappointing. 

But here are my finished ones.