Sooo not what I was going for.

I try to be crafty, clever, and make things I plan to be cute. But they never are. I can make things according to a pattern, with directions, and still they don’t look like they should. I’ve made dozens of pairs of curtains all without a pattern, but with a vivid image of what they’ll look like finished in my head. And still, they don’t look like that.

They typically look like a sheet draped over a curtain rod. Impressive, since I didn’t even start out with a sheet, but not quite what I was going for.

I have curtains in my living room that I love – that I did not make. But with three windows, the smaller ones on either side, what to do with the third panel in the middle? I only have three. I had a brainstorm, used a dozen straight pins, one diaper pin and one safety pin and made a valance of sorts. It worked, but I wasn’t crazy about it. So I brainstormed once again, got some grosgrain ribbon and sewed a strip to either side 8” from the ends. I’ll tie it up cute, make a valance that way. It worked. But it’s not cute. Unless you ask my six year old – but if you see what she chooses as cute clothes each day, you’d know that’s anything but a compliment.

I’ve had fabric – that I love, of course – in my sewing box for at least six months. I want to make curtains for the bathroom. I keep thinking that the moment I sew them I’ll see something I’ll wish I made instead. So I’ll wait. Apparently that won’t work – I need to make that first cut to find what I’m really looking for. Ones that, in theory at least, will be cute when finished. I’m starting to wonder if that’s possible in my world. My brain has forgotten how to communicate, it would seem.