Hello Dear Reader,
I often hear people comment that they can't do something. An example would be that they can't sew or make something. I would answer that I haven't done that yet. I never think I can't do something but that I might need to learn to do something. I learned to make quilts from You - Tube tutorials and I also learned how to make curtains, some dress making skills and making curtains in exactly the same way. It's my go to place if I don't have a skill. I won't just watch one tutorial either, I will watch many different ones to see different techniques.
I also learn a lot from reading and turn to books and on line tutorials. As I teach reading, I know it will often take reading over and over to understand it. I might not understand the vocabulary or technical terms and have to go away and research them, just in the same way as I teach my students to read and turn to a dictionary when they don't understand. I even read things aloud to make sense of what I've read.
I've never made a Roman blind before so read the instructions and they didn't really make sense. I had to use Google to look up the technical terms and look for images to help me understand. I then went to Google and looked up the blind kit I had bought and found other people had used it and had posted online tutorials. After I had done my research, I then went back to the instructions and found they made sense.
Making blinds or curtains requires careful and thrice checked arithmetic. My fabric cost £7 a metre, the blind kits cost £15, so with an investment of almost £30 for one window, I made sure I measured again and again. I know you will ask and the fabric and blind kit are both from Trago Mills near Liskeard. At each stage, I took my pinned blind to the window and offered it up before I had sewn a stitch to check again and again that I had my measurements correct. I also made sure I chose my fabric carefully, my dining room is entirely white so I could have a splash of colour in the blind.
We will get the blind up later, I will leave the wall fittings to DB as he would feel left out if I started mastering power tools as well! Now I've made this blind, I feel happy to share a tutorial for the next one I make. They are far simpler to make than curtains.
I wouldn't have been able to buy standard off the shelf Roman blinds and believe me I investigated that as my old house doesn't have standard sizes. Every window is a different size too, so they are all made to measure by me. If I had bought my own fabric and then taken it to a blind company, each window would have cost approximately (the online prices were only guides) £150 per window. Even though I would never have bought them, I still feel as if I have saved £480 for the four windows that all need blinds.
I know many of you are sewers, crafters and knitters and I would make a suggestion that anyone can learn new skills. I know personally that when I lack resources I have to become resourceful.
Until tomorrow,
Love Froogs xxx
