Porch Curtains

For a long time now I have wanted to add curtains to the west side of our screened porch. I frequently sit out there through the morning and sometimes through the day, but evenings are difficult because of the direct sun that floods the porch. It is uncomfortably hot, even with the ceiling fan on. We love to have supper on the porch, and even if it isn't too hot, we have to maneuver our chairs to avoid direct sunlight in our eyes. Click here to see pictures of our porch from 2010.

From the photo above, you can see that I have solved the problem!

A few weeks ago, DH and I purchased two curtain rods, clip rings and a huge drop cloth. My plan was to somehow fashion a large curtain for the one wall of screened windows. Because I was still working out particulars and because the sun hasn't gotten overly hot yet, I have not been in a big rush to complete this project. I finally settled on a plan, so yesterday, DH helped me hook the hardware to the wall.

This morning, I took the drop cloth out the yard and stretched it out flat on the grass. I cut it in half and hemmed the raw edges.

The drop cloth fabric has plenty of imperfections, but that's the beauty of it. This tough, rough fabric suits me just fine since it is going to suffer some harsh weather conditions and exposure to bugs and spiders.

This was the easiest project! No pins. No iron. No casings. Only two fold-over hems. How simple to rely only on finger-pressing and eyeballing it!?

A seam runs through the width of the drop cloth; I was concerned that it would be too thick for my machine to take, but no! We charged right through it!

The next step was to clip on the rings. I measured out a 24" flounce and attached the clips at even increments across the panels. This allowed the curtains to fall just slightly above the porch floor.

Twenty-four inches might be a bit too much of a flounce, and I may end up taking these down, cutting off a bit, hemming the raw edge, and then rehanging. For now, I will leave them as is and think on it.