Commissioned

Every once in a while, I'll get commissioned for a project. In this case, my friend Katie asked me to make her a set of curtains for her living room. As the project went on, we also ended up decorating her dining room and her kitchen.

Katie has these gorgeous bay windows in the living room of her condo, with so much natural light.*

The fabric we chose was a natural linen. The weft was woven with a slightly slubby yarn**, which creates this beautiful texture when the light passes through it.***

Katie's dining room is very minimalist. Her goal was to fill out the room a little bit, and to add a splash of color. The curtain fabric for the dining room was slightly more neutral in color, but complimented the neutral palette perfectly. This fabric was also less slubby, which works because less texture was desired here, and heavier. Whereas the living room curtains tend to flow (especially when there's a nice spring breeze coming through the open window) the dining room curtains seem to stand at attention. The weight of the fabric also helps them hold their pleats better.


As for that splash of color - Katie decided that a table runner (see previous photo) with matching placemats would be the perfect addition. The napkins are not my work - they are from West Elm - but the mix of greens really works well together.


The final addition to the dining room was this register cover. The paint on top of the register is peeling**** and was quite unsightly. Katie just wanted something to cover it up. The gray duck cloth does serve as a functional piece, but I think it added so much to the room. It's just that last bit of finish, that last detail that brings the whole thing together.



The last thing Katie wanted was to replace her current kitchen window curtain (top photo) and cover up her laundry machine (bottom photo). This fabric was initially intended for another table runner and perhaps more placemats. But when she took the fabric home, she realized the colors matched perfectly to the colors in her countertops, so into the kitchen it went.

Both Katie and her husband were extremely pleased with the work and output, and they were both great to work with. Being commissioned is difficult in the sense that your client has to suspend belief and have enough faith in you that you'll give them what they want. But the result, when successful, is really worth the effort.

* I'm jealous. I live in a basement with ZERO natural light.
** I didn't take a close up of the fabric :(
*** Isn't it so nice to finally see some greenery outside?? :)
**** Typically, Katie keeps a few small citrus trees on the register - including a pink lemon tree. Pink lemons!! I had no idea such a thing existed!

PS - A note on process:


After looking through many home decor catalogs, Katie was inspired by the pleats on some West Elm curtains. The curtain extends above the rod, instead of hanging from it. The rod slides through tabs on the back of the curtain and the pleats are formed in the spaces between the tabs.

I created a curtain backing for each of the curtains, 7 tabs each for the dining and living room, 10 tabs for the kitchen. The tabs for the dining and living room were 2.75" wide, the kitchen tabs were 1.5" wide. All tabs were evenly spaced across the width of the fabric and were sewn 1" below the top of the curtain. The tabs did not lay flat. I sewed them to curve above the fabric, in order to accommodate the diameter of the rod. This allows the front of the curtain to lay flat. The rest of curtain backing was made from a double layer of muslin with a layer of interfacing inbetween, to reinforce the shape of the pleats.