No, I won't hem your curtains

We've lived in this house for over a year. We put up enough window treatments to ensure modesty and privacy. But we hadn't done anything fancy. Not that this project is going to be fancy. I don't do fancy. We picked up some reasonably priced curtain panels at IKEA.

That's where the sewing machine comes in. We chose these based on price and opaqueness. There were thicker curtains, but the price point was higher. It also meant that they were about 20 inches too long. While my Darling Husband was more than happy to hang them as they were, I was less than impressed with 20 inches of curtain on the floor. Likely picking up a lifetime of dog fur.

After trimming and hemming the curtains I would have been left with five panels worth of 20" of curtain. I suppose I could have made tote bags, but I figured adding that bit to the top of the panel would keep the room a little darker (the real goal of this window treatment is to prevent glare on the television) and I wouldn't be left with scraps. I simply folded under about 1/4 inch on that raw edge and top stitched it below the seam at the top. It sure isn't fancy, but it isn't wasteful, either.

About two hours later I had my five panels finished. They block out the light nicely and look pretty good while doing it, too. After I was finished, I decided that I would evaluate the value of this work at $50/panel. This is where I tell you again about the wonderful articles you can find on Sam Hunter's blog and learn more about the We Are $ew Worth It way of thinking.

I would love to teach you how to use a sewing machine and how to hem your own curtains. No, I won't hem them for you.

Tool Tip Tuesday: Sharp Waste

I've read how some people keep track of their sharps.  Those sharp tools like rotary blades and hand and machine needles that we throw away.  I had been wrapping them in masking tape and decided I needed a sturdier solution.

Tuesday's Tool Tip:  Use an old plastic container to store your sharps in until it's full.  This plastic container came with lunch meat inside.  I was done with the smoked turkey so here is my repurposed container for sharps.  Just a few quick steps to a safer way to dispose of sharp things.

For medical sharps my county recommends:  "To safely dispose of such sharps, the Department of Health recommends placing them into a widemouthed metal or heavy plastic container with a secure lid such as a coffee can."  I used my old rotary blade to cut a slit in the top of the lid.  Nothing fancy.  Just a slit big enough that I could get the rotary blade into the slot without trouble.

Even though I'll be keeping these in a container, I'm still going to wrap the blade in masking tape.  I don't like handling them very much because I know how dangerous they can be.  

Once I've got it stuck to the tape I just roll it up.  

Easy to slip into the slot.

Sure, I don't need the label, but I wanted to make sure there was no mistake about what was inside.  I taped the lid on to make sure it didn't fall off.  Now I can easily store my used rotary blades and needles.

How do you store your sharp waste?

Tool Tip Tuesday: Grabbit!

A friend of mine mentioned her magnetic pincushion.  I was curious enough to buy one.

I ordered the Grabbit on Amazon mostly because it seemed like a good deal and met the requirement of being Prime eligible.  

I don't know that the quality of the pins is that great, but the magnet is awesome!  Pull the pins off one-by-one or by the handful and simple pass over them will pick the lot of them up.

I'll have to write an update at some point to let you know what I think.  right now I think it is great.  I have a tendency to send my little box of pins flying, creating a dangerous carpet of pins.

Do you have tools that you just love?