Pattern and Fabric

By no means am I a seamstress, or an interior designer for that matter, but I have much love for pattern and fabric. When it was time to move my daughter into her “big girl” room, I broke out the swatch books, pinned all sorts of inspirations, created color palettes and looked at a LOT of fabric.

My starting point for her room was to select paint. I knew I wanted to go with pale pink walls, because let's be honest, when will I ever have the opportunity to design a pink room again? I selected an oval braided rug for texture and added in green accents with sheets and a lamp.

Pink chenille rug from o.co; Circo ladybug bedding and lamp from Target

To tie everything together, I envisioned beautifully patterned fabric curtains that would grow with my little lady. And since I've been meaning to learn more about my new sewing machine, of COURSE I would attempt to make them myself. I found a tutorial on making fully-lined tab-topped drapes by Shelley Detton over at 7 Layer Studio. I consider myself a sewing beginner, and this tutorial was easy to follow.

So now that I had a game plan, it was time for fabric selection. There are endless options available, and since I'm not well versed in fabric types, I focused on pattern first. I wanted to strike just the right note: girly but not prissy, youthful but not childish. I was inspired by so many amazing patterns that it took me forever to finally pick one. After some back and forth indecision between these two lovely specimens:

Maggie/Candy Pink by Suzani

Gypsy Flower by Pillow and Maxfield

I finally settled on the latter. I purchased from Raspberry Creek Fabric on Etsy and consulted with owner Diana about the weight of the fabric and whether it would be suitable for curtains. She was super helpful and explained that it was a quilting weight cotton, which when lined, would be suitable for curtains for a child's room. Score!

When the fabric arrived in the mail, I was giddy. It was even better in person! I purchased some lining fabric and set about making my curtains. Between work, mom duties and life in general, I only managed sporadic attention to the project and sadly lost my enthusiasm for it.

Many months later, I caught a second wind, got back into my sewing groove, and at long last, have a pair of BEAUTIFUL curtains to hang in my daughter's room.

  
The moment I hung them in her window, stepped back, and took it all in was just magical. They perfectly complement all of my other carefully selected elements, and my vision for the room is suddenly realized. I am so happy every time I look in the room, and I am reminded how design can truly affect your life.

I'm now contemplating all the other rooms in my house and wondering what type of pattern I can add there to get the same “wow” factor. Perhaps some new dining room curtains are in order...

What types of patterns inspire you?