A curtain story

So I was able to finally psych myself up to work on the DRCS (or Dining Room Curtain Situation for those of you who are not in my head). I took my chances and decided I wanted to make my own curtains, since I wasn't seeing anything I truly loved in the market.

I went to this place a couple of towns over - the Fabric Warehouse, in Belleville, NJ. If you don't mind the shady industrial back alley, or the non-existent parking lot, or the unmarked front door, it is basically the MOTHERLOAD of fabric remnants and bargains. To be completely honest I probably wouldn't have gone in if i hadn't seen some nice-looking older ladies walking in while I was trying to figure out where to park (wayyy down the road, away from all the threatening tow signs).

I bought 3 yards of this stuff, which I really loved at first sight:

Some kind of teal-ish cotton or linen with white crewel work stitch. The total came out to $9 for 3 yards!

After thinking about it a while in the store I realized this was totally the wrong fabric. It was too feminine and dainty. I put it back. I picked it up. I texted John with pictures. I decided to just spend the $9 and buy enough for one panel, just for testing purposes.

When I got home, I clipped it onto the rings...

FAIL!

Ok, so the pattern gets so lost in the fabric when the light shines through, and it looks like we have pastel aqua curtains. This is the opposite look of what we were going for. Whoops!

But lesson learned. And I think I have an alternate game plan...