Autumn :: A time to learn something new – Curtain making

During the autumn I love to get stuck into learning something new. Over the years I've taken a knitting class, photography class, online blogging class, and started scrapbooking. I feel that this point of the year is such a great time to start a new chapter in our lives, perhaps it's because my body clock is still in tune with the academic year. With a new school term came the urge to enter the next phase of learning and personal development, with the fun things like selecting a brand new notepad and pens, but also with it for me came bags of motivation to get learning.

I'm using One Little Word to help me shape my year and help achieve my goals for the year. My word is ‘grow’ and each month I set myself an intention to help me keep a focus on my word. Some of my intentions for the months during autumn are to ‘grow a new seed’, ‘make time to grow’, and ‘grow a cosy home’. I wanted to do something this autumn that may cross all three and to learn a new skill.

Growing a cosy home is really important to me so that Mr C and I can enjoy our space even more than we already do. The evenings are getting darker earlier, the night time temperatures are starting to drop, and so creating a cosy home is really on my mind. When I spend time at home during this time of the year I like to curl up under a blanket, get my craft on and enjoy our home. We live in a lovely Grade II listed building built in the 1760’s with lovely sash windows, however our flat can be a little draughty and cold at times. With the past few winters seeming to get harsher, the more frequent snow fall and freezing weather, I want to ensure our space is warmer than it has been in previous years. To achieve this I have set myself a very big project indeed! A few weeks ago I wrote about my new fabric stash, this will soon be cut into to make new cushions and at some point a quilt. However the biggest project I hope to complete is to make curtains for our bedrooms and to make Roman blinds for our lounge.

I decided during late summer that if I was going to achieve my intentions for the year I would need to get kick started somehow. I had looked in books for instructions on curtain making but for something so big as making curtains I felt I needed a different approach. I thought it would be best to take a course. I haven’t been on any proper sewing classes so it would be a new experience for me.

I decided to book myself onto a curtain making workshop run by The Makery in Bath. The curtain making class lasted 3.5 hours and was an intermediate level class run by lovely lady called Cerys, who broke down the steps of making a curtain into easy and achievable chunks. We were given detailed step by step notes showing how to work out the quantity of fabric required to make a pair of curtains, and then how to make lined pencil pleat curtains. The class covered all the essentials such as hemming, measuring, cutting and some great practical sewing tips. I came away with a sample curtain that I can use as a guide when I make the actual curtains. I loved the class and will definitely sign up for more classroom learning to improve my sewing skills.

I hope that over the next few weeks to make time to think about making the curtains, start growing a new skill and hopefully making our home even cosier. I’m going to start with the curtains and see how I get on, then hopefully progress with the skills I have onto Roman blinds! I have it on good authority that John Lewis have a great Roman blind making kit with good instructions, so I’m going to brave it without going to a class for those. Wish me luck!