curtains - downstairs in Canberra

What have I been doing lately?


This is a question that I ask myself  frequently.  Describing with words and pictures what I make and placing in this blog is answering that question to myself and if anyone else has enjoyment from this it is a bonus for all.


In February I was invited back to my daughter and son-in-law's house in Canberra to design and make the curtains for the windows downstairs.  I had an idea in my head before I went down and spoke eloquently to this idea and had it nearly sold except - there is often an exception - one of the windows was much larger than I had remembered and the idea for furnishing that window was over the top, even for me.  Yes, it would have dominated the room which was not the idea. 


What I love doing with curtains is to curtain the wall, not just the window.  If curtaining the window, this often results in the room being cut down in size when the curtains are closed.  I feel that if the wall is curtained, when the curtains are closed they look like they belong to the room and could be a feature wall as I feel I have accomplished in these curtains and the ones I made last year for the upstairs rooms.


On the Saturday afternoon my daughter and I went looking at fabrics available in Canberra - some stores were lovely but not with fabrics that fitted with my vision for the curtains.  We did settle on a natural linen for the background.  Sunday morning we went to the Old Bus Depot Markets for a browse.  Wonderful handmade items, inspirational for their quality.  There is a stall selling Japanese fabrics, mainly in squares.  As soon as I saw these I knew it was THE fabric we needed for the panels on the curtains.


I first made the panels by sewing the squares to a panel of plain material, leaving a space between the panels length ways and having enough material on the edges to fold over for the edging.  Each panel is different, the main theme being a red background and also using a blue and the linen as the last background.  The kitchen area of the open plan living space has teal walls, dark blue/teal bench tops and red kitchen appliances.  The colours in the curtain panels pulls the three areas together - lounge, dining and kitchen - completing the space.






The curtains in the lounge area of downstairs. 


The light linen is backed with the strongest sun block lining that we could find.  This really works at keeping the heat out of the room in summer and keeping the warmth in the room in winter.


I really loved having the freedom to design and make these curtains to what the room needed and my daughter and son-in-law would enjoy living with.