curtain for doorway

I whipped up this curtain for the doorway of the living room a few nights ago.

It is meant to keep the room cool, because this apartment is old and the A/C escapes through all openings. It isn't necessarily a thing of beauty, but it's good sewing practice, and it gets the job done, until I move out a few months from now :-)

I made the curtain using two rectangles of a blue cotton fabric from my stash. I attached them using a flat fell seam, which looks nice on both sides:

[ flat fell seam ]

Here's how to sew a flat fell seam. It is a lovely seam for sheer fabrics, denim jeans, bags, and more. The raw edge is hidden on both sides of the fabric.

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I finished the curtain's side edges by folding over the edge once (2 cm wide), and then folding half of it inside itself (double-folded hem):

Wouldn't it be lovely to have a presser foot that makes a double folded hem on its own?

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Here's how the double-folded hem looks from the other side. Also, I finished the hem of the curtain using a folded piece of this mustard colored fabric. The curtain was too short without it. It's a nice finish, and adds weight to the curtain so that it stays held down nicely.

The quickest way to finish the top of the curtain is to turn in the raw edge and then turn in again to create a tube:

See that jumble of thread up there at the beginning of the seam? That's because I didn't make sure the bobbin thread was clipped or pulled away before repeatedly back-stitching.

Here's what the tube looks like from the other side.

Wherever the seam shows, I recommend using a 3mm stitch length (instead of your default 2.5 mm) because it is prettier. I also recommend to sew using an edge stitch foot when you are top-stitching closely along a fabric fold, to get a truly parallel seam.

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