Some Bed Curtains - Five Years in the Making

In 2006 my husband went on a shopping centre tour of the United States (dream job huh?).  The one thing I asked for was the latest Pottery Barn catalogues (and some duty-free perfume).  On page 100 of the Pottery Barn Kids catalogue I saw this....

Pottery Barn Fall 2006 Catalogue

Oh how my daughter would love those curtains.  Back then Pottery Barn didn't ship to Australia, and there was nothing this pretty in the shops here.  I thought one day I'll make them.

Months (or more) rolled by but eventually I got motivated and found some plain white sheer curtains from IKEA, some good quality felt in blue, yellow, light pink and dark pink, and some bright DMC embroidery thread in co-ordinating colours.  I made templates for a flower, bird and butterfly and carefully cut out the felt.  Having never really done any applique/embroidery before I wasn't sure what to do next, so I packed it all away in a bag and conveniently forgot about it.

Then we were transferred to the UK for 2 years and everything went into storage.  I forgot all about these little felt shapes until I pulled out my sewing gear a few weeks ago.  Oh dear.  My little 5 year old girl is now 9.  My window of opportunity was closing.  Make these cute curtains now so she can enjoy them before we enter the pre-teen world of Justin Bieber.

So I grabbed my needle and DMC thread and started stitching.  I used a simple running stitch and some french knots (which I had to watch a You Tube video to work out how to do - Martha's pictures were confusing).

Once all the felt shapes were made, I played around with the placement.  I also cut small lengths of pink & white polka dot ribbon to tie the curtain to the curtain rail of the bed crown.  Then I glued the felt shapes to the curtain using clear drying washable fabric glue and finished the rest of the hand embroidery.

I had some pretty grosgrain ribbon which I sewed down the inside edge of each curtain.  Then I simply hemmed and pressed the curtains ready to hang.

We centred the bed crown above my daughter's bed and attached it to the wall.  Not a wall stud in sight of course, so we used many wall anchors to ensure it would not fall down.  Then with much anticipation we hung the curtains.

The bed crown was part of the Brittany collection at Recollections/Early Settler

Lastly I made this pillow.  It's white cotton on the front, hot pink on the back with green ric rac sewn into the seams and an iron-on applique that I like to call Shopping Girl.  So she has something cute and something a bit more grown up.

I can tell you that making these bed curtains was a labour of love and a long time in the making, but I am thrilled with them and so is my daughter.  When she does grow too old for them I am going to store them away and hopefully one day she might hang them above the cot (crib) of her daughter.  Made with Love.

Sharing all my hard work with these beautiful ladies:

French Country Cottage - Feathered Nest Friday

My Romantic Home - Show & Tell Friday

and

The Shabby Nest - Frugal Friday

Freckled Laundry - Air Your Laundry

Tattertots & Jello - Weekend Wrap Up Party