It’s curtains for you!

After struggling mightily with sewing winch covers, it was time to tackle a sewing project that was easier – curtains.  No sewing circles into tubes this time.  After watching the Sailrite video on YouTube it was obvious that all I needed was to make a few straight cuts, a few straight hems, and I’d be all set.  Well, close but not quite.

Pegu Club came with white patterned curtains that I liked, but unfortunately they were stained with mildew that I couldn’t remove so I decided to make new ones.  I have a weakness for stripes, but I had read that stripes can promote seasickness which I certainly didn’t want to encourage.  I spent some time looking for fabric with either a single stripe or a suitable nautical theme, but when I couldn’t find anything that I really liked I decided to try to listen to my inner Martha Stewart (who had previously never made herself known to me) and make my own fabric.  I ordered up some white Sunbrella upholstery fabric and 2″ navy acrylic facing from Sailrite, and a few days later I had at it.

The plan was to make four wide curtains (two for each side of the cabin), so I began by using the measurements from the original curtains and adding a seam allowance.  I cut the white fabric, sewed the hems, and added the sew-on tab tape.  Somehow I had underestimated how much tab tape and navy facing I would need, so there was a several-day delay while I ordered some more and waited for them to to arrive.  Once they did I was off and running again.  So far so good.

Hemmed white curtain.

Tab tape sewn in.

Next I decided where I wanted to place the navy facing and sewed it on.  I wrapped the edge of the facing over the fabric and sewed a bit onto the back so I wouldn’t have to match the exact same width as the curtain fabric.  After sewing four curtain ties, I was all set!  Or so I thought.

I brought the curtains along on our next trip down to the boat and hung them with great excitement.  But wait!  They weren’t wide enough!!  Even though I had used the measurements from the old curtains!!!  WTF!!!!  The only reason I could think of was that the old curtains must have somehow shrunk when I washed them, even though I used cold water.  My fault for not double-checking.

Jeff saved the day when he suggested that I make a third, smaller panel for the middle window.  He assured me it would look great with three panels.  Fortunately I had enough white fabric, so I only needed to order some more tab tape and navy facing.  It’s obvious that any increase in Sailrite’s 2016 earnings will be directly attributable to me.

After the materials arrived it didn’t take long to sew up two more curtain and ties.  On our next trip down to the boat I tried again, and fortunately Jeff was right.  It does look good with three panels on each side.  My only quibble at this point is that they don’t bunch up very easily because of the stiff facing, but as we open and close them each weekend the facing is loosening up.  Overall I consider this project to be a success.