Tuesday, January 29, 2013

The Final Curtain...

Excuse the overly dramatic post title; this is not the final anything. And at the rate I'm going, there will never be a 'final curtain' on my first dolls house project because I'm taking so long to do everything!

I had to pull myself away from all the 'fun' stuff (hats, dresses, hat boxes, pretty things), and focus on the poor abandoned shell in my spare room, gathering dust. It has no lights and I've just lifted the carpets, so it's in a bit of a sorry state at the moment.

But, I'll get there.

A few weeks ago I ordered a metre of crushed velvet online to make curtains for the boutique. On the screen it looked subtle and rich, a fawn coloured soft gold...but when it arrived I had to shield my eyes from the brassy glow it emitted.

Pah! Fooled by the sorcery of computer technology again.

But I persevered and decided to use it anyway.

It has a lovely crushed effect to the pile of the fabric, I convinced myself, in absolute denial.

And so, donning a pair of sunglasses, I set to work.

Here it is in all it's golden glory:







 



 I used two lengths of cardboard to make the pelmet, fabric-glued onto the velvet with the ends tucked in. 

 





























 



Next, I wanted to make a piece that draped, so I cut another rectangle, glued the ends, tucked them in, and...





 Then I gathered it in the middle with a length of tiny 3mm gold ribbon.





Together with the pelmet, I was starting to get somewhere.





Next, I did the same gathered effect on some ivory cored lace, like so.





Added it to the pelmet bit...






...and tucked in the ends.





I then hemmed two lengths of fabric for the curtain parts, and gathered them at the top.





And this was my nearly finished pair of curtains.








  

 Here they are on the window, in close up.

 
And here is the full view:



They are up, but they need some tweaking. I think I may work on some new tie-backs and glue the pleats in place.

When its in the house, the fabric doesn't look as bad as it does on its own but I'm not sure if I am completely happy with them. I'll have a think about it for a few days, and then maybe make a change.

So I'll see you then :)




10 comments:

  1. Oh, insanely cute :-) love the lace too... Oh, I **need** a dollhouse!!

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  2. Thanks Em! And yes, you need a dolls house!! Your birthday is soon and all! :D x

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  3. Hello! I´m glad to see that you are a follower of my blog =) You have a very nice blog to and I will be happy to follow your work =) take care!
    Anna- annasminiatures.blogspot.com

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    1. Hi Anna, thank you for the follow back :) I loved your crumpled fabric tutorial - can't wait to use it and see more great posts from you! Talk soon! x

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  4. Hi Blaithin, your curtains turned out sooo lovely, they look great with the little lace ( and I`m looking without sunglasses ):)
    Did you noticed : we are NINE !!
    Have a great weekend .

    Hugs Mieke xxx

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    1. Ha Mieke, your comment made me laugh!! But yes, we are NINE! :D Thank you for the kind words on the curtains! x

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  5. The curtains look adorable and the sorcery worked on me, because the gold looks beautiful on my screen ^^;

    At least if you need to get a new fabric you'll have the practice making these ones gave to you, right? Must say I was surprised to see the first steps since I couldn't see the curtains at all and then: tadaaah, on the next steps I saw clearly how you did them, awesome ^^

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    1. Sorry for the long delayed reply - I was missing from the blogosphere for a few days!
      But thank you for your message Randomdotdotdot! I did actually order new fabric (which I'm waiting on to arrive) to attempt the curtains again - so yep, practice will make perfect hopefully! Glad you liked the tutorial :) x

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  6. It's fun to find your blog today, Blaithin! Thank you for following mine. Welcome to join my blog giveaway too, if you like! I look forward to following your posts. xo Jennifer

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    1. Hi Jennifer, thank you for your comment and apologies for the delayed reply!
      I love your blog - it's so bright and colourful, and your characters are SO CUTE. Little brown Sophie bear is adorable :)
      And thank you, I'm going to pop over to your blog giveaway now.
      Talk soon, Blaithin x

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