One Pin Leads To Another...

 OK.  That saying not only pertains to Pinterest...

I am starting the curtains.  One step at a time... I am doing the under curtains today and the over swags and jabots tomorrow.

I can't get them all on the board at once.  These curtains are floor to ceiling.  Nine inches long!

I had to put four courses of pins in them instead of the usual three.

I start with the bottom and work towards the top. 

First of all, I put  quarter inch hem in all of the curtains on the bottom and the two sides.

I won't give measurements in this case, because your measurements will be different than the ones here. 

I will just tell you that you should cut the pieces for the long draperies the length that you want to cover and double the width of the space that you want to cover.  In this case, I cut two pieces 91/4" long by 71/2"wide.  I had to allow for the 1/4" hems on the sides and bottom.  The top will be covered. No need for a hem there.

After that, I pinned the long side of one curtain to the board with four pins.  Then I proceeded, one pleat at a time to pull the fabric in towards that edge.  Starting at the bottom and working up. I use the graph paper to get the pleats about the same all the way across.  Generally making 1/2" of fabric into a 1/4" pleat.

I usually only need three  pins for long curtains.  This time it took four because of the added height.

After everything was as I wanted it, I sprayed the whole thing with Suave Extra Hold hairspray.  I will do it a second time.  That should keep things in place until I install them in the room.

So... I am taking a break until they dry.  Then I will start doing swags and jabots.

Meanwhile, I have entertainment.  The squirrels are stuffing their cheeks with lettuce and apples.  I suspect that, very soon, there will be little squirrels running around.  They are taking entirely too much food back to their hideout.

Back to watching the hair spray dry. 

Tomorrow I will do the next step in the draperies. By the way, if you poke the "curtains" button under labels there are other curtain episodes to look at.  Don't forget to push the "Older Posts" at the bottom of each page if there is more than one...

See you tomorrow.