Kitchen ReDo (Sewing for a Change!)

We repainted the main floor rooms a couple of weeks ago, and my kitchen went from a tasteful pale green to a Bright! Spring! Green! I took down the old curtain over the window at the sink.

It had become pretty dirty and faded. Basically it was a box pleated, lined curtain, stapled to a board. I wanted to reuse the board, but holy cow, the maker had used some kind of construction-grade staple gun. I had to enlist dh to pull the staples out for me with serious tools.


I used This Fabric from Reprodepot.com. I lined it and made it two widths of fabric wide, which was about 88 ins. The finished curtain was 36", so that was enough to make it look full. I measured off 6 in. widths and folded into some pleats, then stapled it (lightly) to the board.

I love how it looks. I got the pleats a little uneven on one side, but I think I can take some pins and fix that without even taking the thing down. . .


Next, to replace the chair cushions. I bought these old striped ones at Crate and Barrel, so I looked for some solid black ones from them, but couldn't find any. My kids sit at the bar and eat on these, and wipe their hands on them all the time, so they have to be washable.



I have no idea how they're going to stand up to the washing, but I bought some fabric protector and treated them. I'm hoping that will help a little. I have a few yards of the fabric left, so it will either be a round tablecloth or back up in case I need to make new seat cushions.

It's funny, I made 5 of these. The first one was the prototype to test my pattern and I completely screwed up by putting in the zipper without leaving space for the ties. Also, I did a lapped zipper and I quickly decided to go with invisible for the rest. By the third cushion, I had worked out all the kinks and they came out great.

This project was the one that finally forced me to buy some tube turners (Dritz Quick Turn Fabric Tube Turners) for the ties -- all I can say is *Hallelujah!* and *Why didn't I do this years ago?* I might make a few bags now that I can turn the handles quickly and without hurting my hands.

I hung some artwork that had black frames to replace dh's 70s tole paintings that we had on the walls. (Don't get me wrong, I love the retro 70s feel of the tole paintings, but I was ready for a change.)



I just ordered a couple of black jute rugs to replace the old ones, and then the kitchen will be finished. Yay!