Handmade Home Decor

I am a third generation seamstress and I love to sew.  My mom has sewn professionally for several years now, making children's clothes and baby bibs and such for various companies.  Her last job was sewing clothes for a company who sells their items at home parties, much like a Tupperware party.  My grandma sewed so well that she won grand champion ribbons at the county and state fairs in Indiana, year after year.  I take great pride in my work too, even though I have not entered anything in a fair, nor have I been hired by companies to sew.  I have been paid by several people to sew clothes and small items for them, so I guess you can call me a professional too.

I never buy curtains or drapes because I make my own.  When I moved into the house where I live now, I made all new curtains and lined them.

This is the valance that I made for my master bathroom tub.  I hung two spring-loaded shower curtain rods and hung the fabric shower curtain with regular shower curtain hooks.  I bought  the shower curtain instead of making it.  The conchos are attached with Velcro so that they can be taken off when the valance is washed.  Underneath the conchos are snaps so that the valance can be taken off the rod without taking the rod down and having to put it back up.

This is the window curtain in my master bathroom.  It is on the north side of the house, where not much daylight comes in, and the glass is privacy glass that you cannot see through.  There is a cabinet to the right of the window, so a curtain rod over the top would be in the way.  Therefore, I placed a spring-loaded curtain rod inside the window frame and the curtain covers just over half of the height of the window.  This is the only curtain that I didn't line because there was no need to.

I found this wonderful western fabric and had to have it for my master bedroom curtains.  I have two windows in my bedroom, and this is one of the windows.  I trimmed the valance with some luscious fringe to perfect the look.









I am going to make a quilt for my bed to match these curtains someday.  I have some of my fabric ready, but have not made my design yet.

These are the country curtains that I made for a double window that is on one side of my living room. These photos show two different angles of the same window. They were obviously not taken on the same day, as you can see by the chair not being the same one in front of the window.

I did not have enough of the striped fabric for the entire length of the curtains.  I had 2 pieces that needed to be pieced together, so I cut a strip of the fabric that was used in the valance to put a horizontal stripe in the curtains.  It looks really nice.

There are three layers on this window.  The shears, then the country curtains, and the scalloped valance with ruffle lace trim.  There are vinyl blinds in the window too for privacy.

On the other side of my living room is a sliding glass door.  The country curtain needs to pull open and shut on the curtain rod, so it needed the rings.  In order to wash the curtain, the rings need to be removed, so I attached each ring with a small piece of fabric that snaps to the curtain.  I wanted to have a valance, but could not figure a way to hang two rods and have the look that I wanted, so I attached the valance to the curtain.  This curtain was a lot of work, but well worth it.  I like it.

I have only one window in my kitchen, which is over my sink.  I have vinyl blinds in the window for privacy at night, but I did not want a curtain to keep daylight out during the day since it is on the north side of the house.  I chose to make a valance for my curtain, and I found this great country fabric at Hobby Lobby to make it with.  I love the windmills in the fabric!!  I made a pot holder, seat cushions, and a tablecloth to match.

My husband has a hobby room where he paints scenic pictures and plays his guitars.  He loves NASCAR and his favorite driver was Dale Earnhardt.  I put a racing themed wallpaper border around the top of the walls for him and then I made these curtains for the one window that is in that room. 

The valance is checkered flag fabric.  The curtain panels are made from white fabric with the red number 3 on it and Dale's car and the BF Goodwrench logo.  I trimmed them with black in the center and put more black and white check fabric on the bottom to give them a finished look.

The white vinyl shades look very nice in the window behind the curtains.

These are most certainly the most expensive curtains that I have ever made.  My daughter loves this designer curtain fabric and wanted me to make curtains for her room with it.  In order to have the valance not blend in with the curtain panels, I needed to trim them with something.  As you can see, lace and fringe was not an option, and my daughter would not have wanted either of those trims anyway. 

I found some bead fringe for the trim that goes very well with the fabric.  It is probably the hardest thing I have ever sewn.

The only room in my house that I did not make my own curtains, believe it or not, is my sewing room.  My mom made those curtains.  She had them from a house that my parents used to live in, and they didn't fit in the sewing room that she had at the time she gave them to me.  I love them, so I've not bothered to make anything else.  I did make the lace shears though. 

The fabric that you see on my sewing table is the windmill fabric I used in my kitchen.

In the winter, it costs far more to heat this house than it ever does to cool it in the hottest summer months.  In order to save electricity, I turn the thermostat down at night so that it is only about 60 degrees when we wake up.  To keep warm at night, we add extra blankets.  This past winter I decided to make a fleece blanket to place on top of the bedspread on our bed for those extra cold nights.  (there are 2 pillows on one side of the bed and only 1 on the other)

This project started with this great looking fleece picture panel of a team of farm horses.  Then I bought a fleece fabric to go with it and pieced the top layer together like a simple quilt.  The bottom layer only had to be pieced together to get the width that was necessary to match the top.  I found a serging yarn online to serge the top and bottom layers together.  I stitched in the ditch of the seams of the top layer to keep the two layers from shifting.  This blanket is very beautiful and warm and cozy!!

I haven't had much time for sewing ever since I discovered eBay and now Bonanzle, but I do plan to get back in my sewing room again.  I have plans for sewing items to sell in my booth on Bonanzle.  I have a few handmade items in my booth now.  Some that my mom made, and I think there are a couple of things that I have made in my booth as well.

Please come by and visit my booth at http://www.Bonanzle.com/Indizona.  You can leave a comment about my post in my booth chat window if you would like.  Thank you so much for reading my blog.  Have a wonderful day!