Getting there... an exercise in stupidity part 2

Is it just me, or have the last two weeks been dragging? Maybe it is the terrible weather, maybe it is just the January/February blues (I hate this time of year), but good gravy, I feel like I'm walking through rubber cement. Which doesn't bode well for sewing projects I'm afraid. I've been picking away at the Roman blind between emergency surgery on some stuffed friends (Boober fraggle's arm was dislocated  and a favourite corduroy bear needed some major help) and day to day uninteresting disruptions. As Matteo's room isn't painted yet, I've been lacking motivation to get it licked. But today I finished the sewing of the shade itself, and I'll get cracking on a valance tonight (as long as Grey's Anatomy isn't a new one- don't judge me. I love it. And true love supersedes all else).

Next step in the process was to make casings to be sewn to the shade. These casings will hold the doweling that will create the pleats. I found the easiest way to do it was to finish the edges of a piece of fabric (I used white poplin), then cut strips 4 inches wide, and make the casing. 

I ironed the edges first, folding them into a finished edge, then sewed them down.

 Strips were folded in half to make casings.

Next I had to turn the casings. These suckers are a pain. The easiest way to do it was to turn them over a knitting needle (dull end!). 

 Here's the hardest part. I have yet to figure out how to sew the casings on without the heavy fabric of the shade shifting and moving, causing puckers. It is maddening. This time, I finally got wise and pinned the shade all over. That seemed to really help. I then pinned on the casings and sewed them down. No puckers- hooray! You want to measure out the length of the shade, decide how many pleats you want, and then make a casing for each pleat. In my case, there are four, pinned and spread out evenly.

 Next I sewed on the cutie little buttons. I love buttons. I used to take my nonna's button box to her kitchen table while she sewed and baby sat me (Italians don't have baby sitters, we have nonnas!) and sorted them out by size or shape. This would keep me occupied for hours.

 Here's what the shade looks like. It is just spread on the floor here, but looks a lot smoother when suspended. I really love the fabric. It looks almost quilted. Really cute.

 The next part is so incredibly boring. I sewed, by hand the rings on the tops of the casings. There were 20 in total. My fingertips are raw now. I hate thimbles- I know, product of my own stupidity. This is a good time to catch up on brainless TV (Who was Kelly's cohost today?).

 Here's a full row. I've tried using the tape with the rings pre-sewn on and it is not useful for me. I have had a heck of a time getting it on straight while trying to navigate my presser foot around the rings. After lots of stitch ripping on a previous project I decided it was better to hand sew them on. Blah.

So the worst is over. We will get painting this weekend, and hopefully my blind shall be hung soon. I need to find a fun project next. Something a little less, well, linear. The hunt begins... 

Happy trails.