September OMG done

Hi! I'm cutting it pretty close but they are done - my niece's curtains for her cottage bedroom. These are my September One Monthly Goal (OMG). 

Tab top curtains in buffalo red & black plaid flannel

This was the first time that I made tab top curtains. In my curtain making days, we made a sleeve to pull it though. These curtains weren't very difficult but I'm really glad that I didn't have to buy a pattern. YouTube can be pretty wonderful.

Buffalo red and black plaid flannel curtains

I watched the DIY Tab Top Curtains YouTube video by Online Fabric Store - I have included the link in the Related links section below. The tutorial was very good but I do find the music distracting. Anyway, after watching it a few times, I made some notes, cut my fabric and that's as far as I got. My poor niece had to wait a few months for these but finally here they are😊

Before this, I had never heard of buffalo red and black plaid. Again....thank you Google! I found the fabric at Funky Monkey. My niece bought 2½ meters but really, 3 meters would have been better. I forgot about the flannel shrinkage. The fabric is from Kaufman and it's the nicest flannel I've ever worked with. Wow, I guess that's what quality flannel is like!

Kaufman's flannel

Chain stitching the tabs

In this post, I thought that I would share with you how my sewing has changed since I'm a quilter.

The most obvious tool that quilters use is the rotary cutter - with all straight cuts, it went really well.

The picture on the right is the chain stitching of the tabs. I sure didn't know about this before quilting! 

Since I didn't have enough flannel for the top facing, I used a colourful plaid that I had in my stash. It's certainly not the same quality but since it was also pre-washed, it should be fine for the facing.

You may also notice that I used a walking foot. Again, until taking Christina Cameli's Free-Motion Quilted Gifts course on Craftsy last year, I would never have thought to use the walking foot for this type of sewing. It really made everything so much easier to sew together. 

Sewing down the facing with the walking foot

What I learned

• The fall weather has finally re-activated my brain. I was able to slowly think this project through and get it done. The OMG deadline was also a motivator - thanks Patty at Elm Street Quilts.
• Sewing curtains is not the same since I'm now a quilter. I'm the first to admit that I don't really like piecing but all of that work paid off for learning techniques that are very transferable. 
• It may have taken several months, but taking my time, watching the video several times, making notes and being organised really helped me make the curtains. 
• I was very anxious about making these because I knew that I didn't have ANY extra fabric for making mistakes! For an accuracy challenged quilter, that's a lot of extra stress 😊

Related links

• DIY Tab Top Curtains YouTube video by Online Fabric Store
• Funky Monkey Fabrics
• Robert Kaufman Fabrics - Red from Mammoth
• Christina Cameli's Free-Motion Quilted Gifts course on Craftsy

Linking Parties
I'll be linking up with Patty for the September OMG. Let's see what others were able to finish up! I will also be linking up to many fun linking parties. Monday Making, Design Wall Monday, What I Made Monday, Colour & Inspiration Tuesday, Midweek Makers, Friday Foto Fun, Finished or Not Finished Friday, Beauties Pageant, Can I Get A Whoop Whoop?, Peacock Party, Patchwork & Quilts, 

Remember to join us starting October 1^st to the 8^th for... 

Free Motion Mavericks' 300^th Post Tea Party!