Nursery part 2

I've gotten it into my head that I want to hand make curtains & pillow cases for the nursery.  I don't own a sewing machine... so this should be fun.

I found the fabric last month.  Like all of my shopping excursions, I like to go into a store open minded & let the merchandise speak to me.  I wasn't sure what I wanted in the nursery but was sure, in the fabric store, something would jump out at me and the rest of the decorating of the nursery would come easily.

And I did.  I saw this fabric & instantly knew that the theme for the nursery HAD to be travel  Dean & I are travelers!  Before we got together, we had been everywhere and since we've been together, we've been most other places!  In our first 24 months together, we had taken 22 trips together.  I don't plan on slowing down with baby, so... travel made sense.  Plus, isn't this fabric CUTE!

To accent, I found this polka-dot fabric, that I just LOVE!

So, I head to the fabric store 168% sure I have no idea how to sew curtains or pillow cases.  I let the fear take hold for 5 seconds, then just decide to just do it.  I walk in and go directly to the transportation fabric, pull it out of the cubby and go to the cutting table.

My plan had been to get 1 long piece of fabric - which assumed that when opened, all the cars would be horizontal.  That of course was not the case - all the cars were vertical.  BUGGER!

This meant, I had to buy more than 1 piece AND I had to somehow connect these additional pieces together.  Bah.  Hello panic!

I called my mom.

She talked me down and said I could do it.  Plus, with her being 3,000 miles away in Virginia, I could probably get better help from the women working in the fabric store.  So, I hung up and walked back to the cutting table.  Our conversation went something like this: 

• Her:  how big is your window?  
• Me: 42" tall, but I want the curtains to be 60" long.  
• Her:  How wide is your window?  
• Me: 76" wide, but I was thinking that I would need 190" of fabric.  
• Her:  So you need 4 yards?  
• Me:  I guess so

She cut 4 yards, then looked at me and said:

• Her: You wanted 4 yards?
• Me: That's what you suggested.
• Her: That's not enough.
• Me: Okay
• Her: You need 5 yards because 60" times 3 is 180".  Plus 60" is 1 2/3 yards.....
• Me: (staring into space)
• Her: So you want 5 yards?
• Me: Sure
• Her: Why do you want 60" if the window is only 42"?
• Me: I want the curtains to hang below the window sill but above the heater.
• Her:  That's an extra yard and a half of fabric...
• Me: Uh... okay
• Her: Are you sure you want 60"?
• Me: Uh... yes.
• Her: Okay.

Then she said something about the sewing machine & I said "I don't have one."  She looked at me as if I had just pulled my tongue out & laid it on the table.  After regaining her composer, she called for the other woman to come help.  The other woman (who had been talking about taking the next 3 days off) suggested I use iron-on adhesive with a forward stitch.  I asked:  "What's a forward stitch?"  At this, everyone - both women behind the cutting desk and a few of the other customers laughed.  I seriously have not sewn anything significant enough to warrant my knowledge of stitch names since 9th grade home economics!  Their laughter was kind hearted but with my reputation firmly established, I decided to continue to ask stupid questions.

While the first woman went to get the adhesive and some thread, I drew a picture of the stitch I knew and asked "Is this a forward stitch?"  She said "No, that's a back stitch."  I sketched another "stitch" and asked if this might be what she meant by forward stitch.  She said "That's it!"  Phew!

I am a sewing moron, but am determined to do this for Lomax's nursery.  Wish me luck!