String Revolution

[ailbhe]

Not least because of String Revolution, today I bought ruffle tape, curtain drawing rods, curtain hooks, and other bits and pieces, and then came home, set up my sewing machine, phoned my mother twice (once to ask how to sort out the bobbin properly - in the end I found a video on youtube - and once to ask how to make the bobbin-threading bit go around; "You usually shove it towards something," she said, and lo, she was right) and I sewed ruffle tape on my front room curtains, the ones I made with ai731 ten years ago or so, using her machine. Actually, I'm typing this while listening to a CD on her CD player, too.

With ruffle tape attaching the curtains to the rings on the curtain poles, rather than clothes-pegs, and draw-rods to help Rob open and close them, we hope they will come down less.

And soon I will sort out linings for them, to keep us warmer over the winter, which we can also attach with ruffle tape, to the same curtain hooks, I think. I'm not totally clear on that.

But with the sewing machine under my control, I can do almost anything. If I can change a bobbin, there's nothing I cannot do (except control the tension, possibly; I made a hames of the tension today).

Also, I've been reading Landings by Emma Donoghue and feeling much as I did when I read Stir Fry - it's a kind of thinky romance where the twoo wuv doesn't clean up the godawful messiness of real love relationships, but (so far at least) the love story is nice enough that it makes me happy. I like romances that don't make me want to punch people or be sick.

Comments

[naath.livejournal.com]

You sew narrow ruffle tape on the lining and then put curtain hooks through a)that ruffle tape and b)the ruffle tape on the curtains et voila curtain linings that you can wash separately :-) (you've figured out all the hard bits like "how to make this sewing machine go" already).

[feanelwa.livejournal.com]

Tension:
Big loose loops hanging out either side of the line = too loose
Fabric being pulled tight and puckering at the line = too tight
In the middle = just right

The first time I used my sewing machine I think I went through five lines of testing on a scrap piece to get the tension right. You're supposed to calibrate the tension for each combination of fabric by sewing on a test piece before you start putting the project together but because I generally use cotton, cotton and cotton, I only do this before and after sewing something unusually thick, thin or not-cotton or if I'm making something for somebody else.

[snorkel-maiden.livejournal.com]

I have no idea about making curtains, but I am pretty good at hanging them if you need a hand when you get to that stage!