Christine Sews

Shower curtains don’t have to be ugly plastic, or used to hide the shower stall.  I use one as a closet door.  That allows for the maximum amount of space to be available for the closet contents.  And I get to look at a pretty pattern.

How to Make a Toile Shower Curtain:

1. If you have a shower curtain that fits your space, use it as a pattern.  If not measure your door space.  Add four and a half inches at the length and two at the width.
2. Turn in an inch at either side and sew.  Press and trim.
3. Turn under the bottom hem two inches.  Trim the corners and stitch.
4. Turn under the top hem and press.  Set aside.
5. Cut a strip of fusible interfacing two inches by the width of your curtain.  For example, two by 54 inches.
6. Slip fusible interfacing under the top hem of the curtain and press in place.  Stitch near the hem edge.  Trim any excess interfacing that peeks out.
7. Edge stitch at the top hem.
8. Make seven or more buttonhole markings at the top hem, depending upon the width of your curtain.  Markings should be evenly spaced and of the same depth.
9. Stitch the buttonholes .

Sewing Tips and Notes:

• Shower curtains are a great home decor opportunity - you get to bring a pattern into the bathroom.
• Make sure that all edges and hems are deep enough.  Bathrooms get steamy.  And edges will curl if the hems are too narrow; even if you are not using your curtain directly in front of the shower.
• Don’t forget the interfacing.  Use an additional piece of cotton broadcloth to reinforce your top hem, if you dislike the fusible adhesive.
• This project is simple.  But because it is simple, sloppiness will really show.  Carefully cut and press.

Just in case you were wondering, I am married.  And my husband owns shoes.  Right.  That was the only way I could get that much of the shower curtain into the photo.

Speaking of the husband, he says the giraffe print is atrociously ugly.  I think it is terribly amusing.  I know that the hamper doesn’t match.

The bathroom is one of those fun places where the fabric doesn’t necessarily need to match the rest of the house.  So when the last remaining plastic hamper broke.  I decided to make a new canvas hamper out of giraffe print.

It is very similar to the other laundry hamper that I made from a queen sheet.

How to Make a Canvas Laundry Hamper:

1. Cut a 20 by 60 inch rectangle of fabric.
2. Cut a 25 by 8 rectangle of fabric to use as a handle.
3. Finish one 20 inch edge by serging or turning under.
4. Fold the 20 by 60 rectangle, right side together, so that it is 20 by 30.  Set aside.
5. Fold the 25 by 8 inch rectangle right side together so that it forms a long 4 inch wide strip.
6. Sew the long edge.
7. Turn right side out and press.
8. Trim corners and turn in.  Stitch so that the ends are closed.
9. Attach the handle rectangle to the body of the hamper. Center it top to bottom, so that it will not get in the way when you sew the hamper.
10. Sew around the two unfinished edges of the larger rectangle to form the hamper.
11. Box the corners.
12. Turn right side out and press down the open, finished edge to form a casing.
13. Sew a casing, leaving at least 5 inches open for threading.
14. Thread a cord through the casing, or leave open.

Sewing Tips and Notes:

• The giraffe print is decorator fabric.  So it should be either dry cleaned, or hand washed and hung up to dry.  It can be washed, but will lose some of the finish.  It is unlikely to fall apart.
• This size hamper holds two standard loads of laundry.  It is shown holding one load, one half of its capacity.  That is correct for my standard size washer; yours may be larger or smaller.
• I made the handle wide, because I find that easy on the shoulder.
• These are great gifts for college students.  Especially if you piece together their favorite old shirts.

See also, Sewing Canvas and Mitering a Corner .

I have re-purposed the blackout lining from my old bedroom drapes, and re-used them for these new drapes.  Finally.

I dreaded making these drapes.  The lined curtains in the family room took so long. But I must be learning, because I made these in an evening with the same process. Except, since I used true blackout lining this time, I let it hang free at the sides and bottom.  So that the front layer of fabric would hang nicely, instead of being stiff.

The bottom of the drapes are puddled.  To do this with vinyl backed blackout fabric, the blackout layer has to be cut shorter, and left to hang free.  The top layer, in this case, the French Country toile, has to be cut long enough to drag on the floor.  Then the ends need to be finished so they won’t ravel.  They can be hemmed, or serged since they will be tucked under.

I caution you against the puddling if you have a pet or child who will lie on the drapery.   If not, then leaving the fabric long makes measuring much easier.  And if you decide to move the drapery to another window, you have extra fabric to work with at the length.

See also

• Lined Drapes - Sewing Tips
• Sewing Tips - Pattern Matching
• Toile Fabric - How to Cut

Simplicity pattern 5284, view D is a child’s jacket.  I decided to recycle a fleece shawl into a new jacket for my daughter.  She is allergic to wool.  And fleece is lightweight, warm and washable.

I also chose this particular shawl because I had wanted to recycle it for the Vogue cardigan sweater, V2949, that I made recently.  But it was too short by about four inches.  And I knew piecing it would ruin the drape of the design.  So now we both have charcoal grey fleece (offsite link) winter frocks.

The pattern envelope shows a little boy wearing a fleece with a sports motif.  But by using a more somber color, I have a completely different look to the jacket.  I can convince my child to wear it because of the Hello Kitty applique that I added.

Fleece is very forgiving, since it doesn’t ravel.  But it can be difficult to topstitch, due to being so thick.  I topstiched it about a half inch from the edge, which is further than I would typically use as the spacing.

I cut out two pockets, instead of one.  And attached them closer to the hemline, rather than at chest level.  And I did not turn them under around three sides, just trimmed them off with pinking shears to make them look nice, and lie flat.

During the Spring, I made view C of this pattern into a reversible jumper .  And closer to summer, I made the jumper into the lightweight butterfly and ballet print dresses.  It has proven to be a very versatile style.

The pattern calls for four one half inch buttons.  And provides a pattern piece with markings.  But I used grossgrain ribbon to add color and femininity.