A li'l curtain stitching

So.....where did this week go?? It seems that my week got lost in a flurry of a li'l curtain stitching. My week vanished with the playing of pretty textiles. It is my friend's daughter's birthday this week. A very auspicious birthday; she steps into the "fog of pubescent insanity"......a teenager!! That stage of life that we all pass through and come out sometime in the distant future. Do you  not agree, those of you whom have spent many a year with the 'odd' teenager or two.......moments of terribly 'interesting' episodes.

So....I decided to stitch my friend's daughter a curtain for her bedroom, in celebration of this very important milestone. Not just any 'go to the fabric shop and buy metre upon metre of curtain fabric for a window.....kind'; but a curtain fashioned from beautiful vintage Italian coverlets, similar to the ones I fashioned for our family room.

This is the house, where the curtain will hang forevermore (or at least for the next few years). By then, the said teenager could possibly dig in her heels of teenage angst and demand of her mother to take the curtain down, and replace it with something else!! =))

 Are they not these the most glorious windows?? If you open the gate and wander along the rose-lined path and peek a little closer, you will espy vertical blinds!! Oh no...what were they thinking!!



This building, which is an old school house, is swathed in 100 years of glorious history. Surely a building of this vintage demands window dressing with a little theatre; a little drama! I know, I know, this building was once a school house, and I understand that some old soul on the school board way, way back in the 60's or even the 70's, deemed it appropriate to hang these utilitarian and 'functional' ugly eyesores, but as it is now a home, they need to be banished to vertical blind hell. Me thinks soul-less, vertical blinds should be banned for all eternity???? Surely they are the faux pas of window treatments.....at least in century old buildings.....(Oh.....those chairs out the front are waiting for people's bottoms to be sat upon in celebration of the said owners' wedding. Me and my good husband styled this 'venue' for the wedding, a couple of years back. If perchance you would like to wander around the grounds, of this lovely home, on that perfect day back then.....then you can read all about it here.)

Vertical blinds...yukkity yuk. My sincerest apologies if you are enthused with the humble vertical blinds and are rather taken with them; it's just that they have never entered into my realm of possibility for window coverings.....never have, never will.  I won't allow my mind to slide down such treacherous and slippery slopes. =) Yes indeedy, one will never read any mention on any page in the tome titled "The Kim Sharman Book of Dazzling Window Design", of these less than desirable window coverings!!! Perhaps, if you really, really must; in a modern home, but certainly not in an 100 year, steeped in history, one.

Now.....to the curtains. I gathered my beautiful Italian pretties together and began to cut patches of varying widths and lengths.

Pretty pinks, blues, lemons, greens and mauves of lovely pattern and texture. As I have been collecting these Italian coverlets for a long time now, I am in possession of one serious stash of these scrumptious pretties. These days, these pretties are not easy to find.

I stitched and stitched and stitched some more. Both in the daytime......

And in the night time.

Oh dear, it seems I have a patchwork thing going on. 

As I was stitching the curtain I thought it would look rather hip if I stitched some fringing here and there. Not only are my Italian coverlets filled with glorious patterns, they are edged with pretty passementerie. Doesn't this glorious French word just roll of the tongue. I have cut these elaborate trimmings and fringings from the coverlets for use in many, many projects. Metre upon metre of ornamental edgings. For not a lot of money spent, these Italian coverlets are the gift that just keeps giving.

Day after day, stitching the curtain in my sunny sewing room, it was rather akin to a wrestling match. This 3 metre by 3 metre curtain, together with the lining, weighs a ton. Though playing with these gorgeous fabrics was enjoyable, just between you and me, I must say I wasn't sorry when the stitching for this curtain was finished. Just a little aside.....I am stitching another curtain similar to this one, for the said teenager's younger sister's room next door, who also happens to have a birthday in a couple of weeks,  BUT......I won't think about that now...I need to psyche myself up before another wrestling match!!

Before hemming the curtain I draped it at one of my windows, to see how it looked.....'tis a pity I can't keep it! I have just the perfect spot, where one, oh-so-theatrical window dressing could drape for all eternity!! Oh, how I love a curtain to puddle on the floor!

How's that for a bit of theatre....a bit of drama.

I rather like the touch of gorgeous trimmings, here and there. Fingers crossed the said teenager is enamoured with this pretty as much as I am. =) Of course, if indeed she does not applaud, does not favour this pretty's touch of quirkiness, it's sense of theatre, it can always find it's way back to my humble abode! This pretty will always be welcomed here with open arms. Though, it should be all good...as after consulting with the said teenager I discovered she was rather enthused with the idea of a curtain fashioned from vintage coverlets and pretty trimmings and the like. Phew!!

I have fashioned many pretties from my Italian coverlets; curtains, quilts, cushions...the odd chair or two.

A jumble of glorious passmenterie and Italian coverlets.

Swirls and swirls of messy passementerie. All that muddled loveliness does warm the cockles of my li'l ole heart. =)

Though the stitching of this curtain  took a long time, I do love it. This past week, the stitching of this curtain morphed into a life of its own. Those Italian coverlets and passementerie seemed to escape their rather confined boundaries, swirling their way throughout the house entangling anyone and anything into their messy, textile web. I am happy to have my tidy and organised home back again......as is my good husband!

This curtain will add a sense  of theatre to that glorious window in my friend's, daughter's room, in the old school house. Window by window, the unsightly vertical blinds are being pulled down and being replaced with curtain adornment more in keeping with the aesthetics of this grand old home! I do believe this curtain is soooo much lovelier than a hideous, vertical blind.....do you not concur?? Indeed, why have an ugly, vertical blind when one can festoon a window with a bit of fun, a bit of whimsy; bringing a sense of the theatrical to every day.

Until the next time.........

Linking up this week to Mary's lovely Sweet Inspiration Party over at The Boondocks Blog.