Scamp curtain mod

[Nancy]

I did not like the curtains gathered and bunching up. Would have liked grommets, but not able to do them. So many buttonholes later....

[Fran L]

Very nice - I like that they gather into such a small bundle too!

[Donna D.]

SWEEEET!

[Wallo]

How great!!! Do instructions come with that?

[Nancy]

Instructions would be easier to show than describe. I played around quite a while before hitting on the finished product. Mine are two pieces of fabric sewn together, then turned right side out. Measured where I wanted the buttonholes and proceeded.

The spacing was what was a problem. First I made a buttonhole every 2 inches. That would not have cleared in the back. 1" pleat behind and 1" pleat in the front. There was not enough clearance on the window side for that. Next I made two buttonholes closer together and then a space. This provided more of the pleat in the front and less in the back. I won't go out to brave the mosquitos tonight. I think it is now 1/2 inch in the back (behind the buttonhole) and 1 1/2 inch in the front.

I had a paper tape measures from IKEA that I used to mark where the buttonholes should go. If people are interested I could post a picture of that spacing tomorrow.

The part I hated the most was ironing the pleats.

Nancy

[Nancy]

I have only made two panels so far. they are actually for the side windows, only one per window. I wanted to see how they would work on the back window. Now that I know it will work I will make two more. For the dinette area I will have four equally sized panels.

[Darrell in Al]

Really nice. So when you going to start making them for sale I'm want to make some to block light out so I can sleep easier.
I just learned a trick for making a crease stay permanently. Place a piece of nylon fishing line in crease and iron it till it melts in. (Only for cotton and such material that can stand the heat) I learned it from a guy that was in USMC, they done it to uniforms so the crease stay permanently in pant legs and sleeve.

[Timber Wolf]

Nice! Say, you are not the Nancy from "Sewing with Nancy" on Public Television are you? This looks like something she would do.

[Randi in NJ]

They are adorable, and I like the fact that you get some privacy coverage above the curtain rod. I noticed that I can see into my Burro from above and the sides of the curtain rods. My daughter made me curtains. When she measured for them, she made the finished curtain exactly the height and width of the window with no allowance for gathering. Beautiful curtain, but not a heck of a lot of privacy. lol

[Carol H]

They look great Nancy! Nice work! I agree that having a fuller curtain that goes above the rod and below the window adds to the privacy.

I considered doing it as you did with the button holes but I know from past sewing experience my ability to do that many button holes all perfectly would be a challenge! I ended up going with grommets and found a pretty inexpensive tool at a fabric store to do them. It looks a lot like the one in the photo.

[Nancy]

Carol, That was what I wanted to do. We had a devil of a time trying to make a few grommets, and I think mine were too small. Rather than look for another size kit and then having trouble I went with the buttonhole approach. Have a new machine that made it pretty painless. the problem was figuring out where to put the holes.

Darrell, thanks for the info on fishing line. I'll keep that in mind for other projects. Can't get my mind around trying to do it 76 times for the curtains. For a pair of slacks, or other clothes, that get washed often it sounds like a neat trick. The Scamp curtains will probably go when they need a wash.

Nancy

[Jared J]

My mom did that on my curtains she made, but only on the backside, so the rod doesn't show. It's a bit of a pain threading the rod through all of the slots, but it only has to be done once. She also left a 1/2" at the center of every one so they overlap.

I love it, they open so much wider and easier than the stock ones.