A plan for fifteen yards of silk dupioni

If I didn’t scare you sufficiently with my last post, allow me to repeat myself:

I PLAN TO MAKE CURTAINS.

As there was some ambiguity, I should state that I do not plan to crochet curtains (my wrist would not stand for that), but rather to sew them. Some of you have suggested that I’ve fallen off the edge of Boringville and into the depths of Lake Snoozington with this latest planned endeavor, but believe me, the cunning Selfish Seamstress is too sharp to let that happen. You know how I feel about home dec sewing, but that doesn’t mean I can’t use still it to incite envy among the sewing masses, and I plan to. With fifteen yards of blue and ivory striped silk dupioni that I hope will arrive at my door any day now.

Here are my inspiration photos:

Okay, that last one isn’t blue and white, but I like the pooling at the bottom. Suddenly curtains don’t look so boring, right?

Dan and I, after having bounced from cookie cutter shoebox to cookie cutter shoebox all over the globe for years, have finally signed a lease on a grown-up apartment- a whole floor of a rather lovely 1894 villa, complete with original parquet floors, Art Nouveau moldings on the ceilings, wainscoting for miles, our own garden with an apricot tree, climbing roses, and grapevines (prepare for yawn-inducing posts about gardening, readers), and giant windows and glass French doors to the garden, all of which will need CURTAINS. (An apartment that didn’t come with ugly Venetian blinds already installed in each window? Who knew??)

The fifteen yards of silk should be good for at least two windows (4 panels of 50″ x 108″ plus extra for hems, tiebacks, and matching cushions if necessary), and if all goes well, I’ll do the rest of the windows in other colors of silk or perhaps in cotton velvet. I plan on lining the silk with cream cotton muslin to prevent sun rot, doing a simple pole pocket top (not the biggest fan of pinched pleats at the moment) and using drapery rings to hang them from the curtain rods (not the biggest fan of pole pockets used as pole pockets at the moment.) And I’ll likely eschew the frou-frou tassel tiebacks that I see with most silk drapes in favor of a more tailored-looking self fabric sash.

And one more great thing about the grown-up apartment… finally– my own sewing room! Well, okay, it will double as a guest room, but given the unpopularity and extraordinary unlikeable-ness of the Selfish Seamstress, you can imagine how infrequently she has visitors. If you do insist on visiting, you’ll have to content yourself with unrolling a sleeping bag under my sewing table. Voilà! Welcome to the guest room. Don’t touch my foot pedal.

You should wear curtains

The Selfish Seamstress must be feverish today. Nothing else could possibly explain the sudden overwhelming burst of generosity that has overcome her- a generosity that she suspects she will come to regret, a generosity that tastes foreign and bilious in her mouth, a generosity that she will probably later decide you did not deserve. But by then it will be too late.

First, a word on wearing curtains.  If it’s good enough for Scarlett O’Hara…

And it’s good enough for the Von Trapp family…

And it’s good enough for the magnificent Melissa of Fehr Trade (okay, to be fair, her beautiful Burda dress is made from a shower curtain, rather than drapes per se, but same concept)…

… isn’t it good enough for you too?

Most notably, don’t you think you need the new spring Vogue 1174 Cynthia Steffe dress…

… sewn up in these vintage new old stock (i.e. they’re vintage but have never been used) drapes?

As of the time of writing this post, these lovely pristine drapes are available on eBay (yep, to the folks who were asking where I get my vintage fabric, that’s my main source).  Two panels of 24″ by 84″ (though I’m guessing that width would probably be greater once if you let out the pleats, not exactly sure how pleated drapes are measured) for a not too unreasonable $59.99. It’s a Buy it Now, so first come, first served! (If you’re reading this post and someone already got to them first, haha, sucka!)

No, I’m not the one selling them so I can’t tell you anything more about them other than what’s on the eBay description.  I have, however, eyed them longingly a couple of times in the last few days before reminding myself that I don’t need any more dressy fabric.  Or any more fabric that matter.  But if you want them, get them now before I have a change of heart.  I can already feel the selfishness bubbling up inside of me, and it’s starting to make me wonder if maybe you just don’t deserve them.  Go!