Drapes are the Eyeshadow to the Eyes of my House

Today was very rainy, so I only felt it fitting to stay inside and check out my brand new sewing machine that Eric got me for my impending birthday.  In the past whenever I needed to sew something I'd have to drive over to my moms to abscond with her machine and then return it after.  Thankfully she doesn't live too far but still, not overly convenient when you're in the middle of a project. 

Another sweet Kijiji find for $50.00.  Hadn't even been taken out of the box yet.

A couple of weeks ago there was a sale on bed sheets at our lovely Giant Tiger.  Ten bucks got you set of twin sheets.  The advertisement showed navy blue and white striped sheets which I thought would go perfectly in my den.  What's that you ask?  Why would I need sheets for my new den?  Well I'm not going to use them on a bed silly!  I'm going to turn the flat sheets into window coverings!  Drapes to frame the window in fact.  And, as an added bonus, Roan just scored two brand new fitted sheets for his bed and since he doesn't use the flat sheets anyway, it was totally win-win!

So today seemed to be the day to break my new machine in and get those drapes made.  And so it was.

I started out by taking 2 inches off the bottom of the 'drapes'.  I then folded one flat sheet in half vertically and cut it so it was now two long rectangles (one for each side of my window, makes sense right?).  I then hemmed the raw sides (where I cut) of the rectangle to clean them up and stop them from fraying.  Following this I folded over the large 'hem' that would have been the top of the sheet if you were to put it on your bed (you know the finished part up by your chin?) and stitched it.  Following that, I ran a seam about an 1 1/2 in from the top to create a bias so there will be some material above the curtain rod.

Et voila!  New curtains for the den for about 10 bucks total if you consider that the other 10 is allotted to Roan's new sheets.  I know they aren't high fashion or anything but they are totally acceptable for my den and they serve no purpose but to frame my windows.  The added bonus is because they are sheets, they are made to be laundered without huge fears of ruining them. 

**I even took my old broken bamboo blinds and fixed them with some new navy cording!  Look at me being efficient and frugal.  No use buying new blinds when these were salvageable.  I'm glad I didn't end up tossing them.

***This photo makes them look stupid.  But I assure you, they don't come off this hokey in real life.  I'll post more pictures once the room is completed and re-furnished.  I'm thinking new curtain rods might help too, oh and ironing them.  I just wanted to get them up to check length.