Apartment Update Part I: Curtains

I fell in love with the apartment set for the Sex and the City 2 movie when I saw it last summer.  The picture below shows the bedroom and what I loved was the curtains with tassels along the leading edge.  It's a bit hard to see in this photograph, but they're a gold color along with the beautiful satin drapery.

Then just recently I discovered these curtains on this fantastic blog where they had sewn on the tassels themselves to their own curtains and she was also inspired by the Sex and the City movie.  Now that I have been learning to sew and have borrowed my mom's sewing machine I figured why not do it myself! 

Here is a photo of my Ikea curtains originally that looked nice but it was a little too much fabric for the small windows.

I really liked how it looked without any curtains and if it were my house I'd probably have custom made roman shades made to really let in the most amount of light, but still bring in some fabric.

I decided to go ahead and hand sew on the tassels so that you wouldn't see the stitching through the other side of the curtain.  These curtains have a double layer of fabric on the edge so I just stitched through the first layer with a straight running stitch.  First I pinned the tassels down the leading edge with it folded over the top and bottom edge.  It was rather time consuming, but worth the efforts in the end.  You could also just use your sewing machine if the fabric isn't too thick. 

Here are some photos of the finished project.  I really like the bit of color it adds to the white curtains.  I think having just one panel on these small windows works best to let some light in.

My next project may be these butterfly curtains in my dining room.  I'm thinking of removing the tie backs and having the panels hang straight. 

I was inspired by this picture a few years ago and have been wanting to add grosgrain ribbon to the leading edge and bottom of my curtains.  I have not been able to find grosgrain ribbon anywhere in that thickness though.  I did find it in 3" wide just recently through the Ribbonerie.  So we shall see.  Even just the smallest new touches to your home make it feel like a new place.  Kind of like new shoes can make you feel like you have on a whole new outfit.

The Joys of Spring

It has been a lovely spring and here are a few of my favorite things from it so far.  The weather is simply gorgeous lately and everything is finally lush and green.  It makes me want to surround myself with bouquets of flowers and to do some updates on the apartment.  More to come on that.....

Daffodils from my dear friend Michelle

Spring bouquet from my hubby

New pillow I made since learning to sew