Staple It!

Hi! The other day we talked about helping my mom update her living/dining rooms. We have moved from the wacky dining room wall covering onto the story of the windows. Our 80 plus year old house never really had proper window treatments – unless you call white café curtains on rings hung on windows WAY too tall for them a style. I would call it a “look” and not such a good one. So, I sent Mom some pictures of different ideas and she fell in love with a draped look that used 10 continuous yards of fabric and was pulled and tucked into brackets at each end and in the center. Remember, this was 18 years ago, when that whole drapey, puddling thing was happening. She said it reminded her of a mini canopy.

Somehow I knew I would regret even showing her the picture but I must have known on some level she would love it because after all, Becky Knows Everything. Not only did she insist on a floral fabric that matched the sofa, she wanted me to make them for her –you know, as in with lining and measuring and a sewing machine. Since it was a pretty simple project I began in earnest. I quickly found out that 10 running yards is a TON of fabric for a sewing project that was taking place on my round kitchen table. It was straight sewing but the fabric kept getting away from me and then the lining puckered and you know, it just wasn’t going well.

I finally finished and with my daughter in tow, I went north again to Mom’s. You see, I knew I would need assistance to fan fold the fabric so it would drape properly. HA! Try fan folding 10 yards of lined fabric – it extended from the living room, through the dining room, and almost out to the kitchen. Every time we thought we had it figured out the fabric would unfold out of control, spilling everywhere. Eventually, by enlisting help from everyone possible and pinning the folds, we hung it on the brackets. Of course one immediately fell down and if you have ever done your own drapery projects, you know this always happens. I ended up running the fabric through the bracket, “poufing it” and stapling it to the wall. I did the stapling while Mom was in the kitchen and couldn’t see me. I then had to staple the center and other side to make it look as even as possible. To this day, they are still stapled to the wall and while I know this means they have never been taken down and cleaned, I choose to ignore that. Go ahead and have a great day. Staple something!

*Becky Knows Everything: It's best to use a staple gun for the project described above!