Flamenco Style Ruffled Shower Curtain

 Finished Project:

I am excitedly planning for moving next fall, I found a comforter that I love and then fell in love with a shower curtain I LOVED as well..unfortunately the shower curtain was almost $120 from Anthropologie.

I LOVE the look of this curtain but figured I could make it myself for a lot less, after reading a few very helpful blogs and tutorials (thanks so much to Domestic Dillard Diva and Sweetie Pie Bakery!), here's how I did it... 

1. PICK COLORS!

As you can see in the Anthropologie curtain, there is a total of 10 ruffles. I decided to use 5 different colors and make 2 ruffles out of each color. From what i read in tutorials i expected to use 1 yard of fabric for every ruffle, therefore i got 2 yards of fabric for each of my five colors (a total of 10 yards of fabric).

-I was trying to match my colors to my bedding which is a very dark plum purple color. I ended up finding a silky, shiny type of special occasion fabric at JoAnn's which matched great, and was a light fabric (good for letting light through in the shower!) the fabric was $5.99/yard but I was able to use coupons and spent less than $30 total for my fabric!

2. BACKING!

Instead of making my own backing to sew the ruffles on I was able to find a plain white fabric shower liner that already has the buttonholes (for hanging the curtain) on sale at Bed Bath and Beyond. The curtain lining measures 72''x72'' which is the standard size for a shower curtain.

-I spent less than $10 for the backing.

3. RUFFLES!

Each color= 60''x72''

To begin, I measured each colored piece of fabric i had and they were all at least 60''x72'' 

Then I figured out what the height of my ruffles needed to be:

height of shower curtain=72''

72''/10 ruffles=7.1''/ruffle (this is how much you will SEE when looking at the finished project)

Each strip should be 12''

 7.2''ruffle+1'' top hem+1'' bottom hem=9.2''+2'' overlap (or more)=11.2'' ruffle

You will end up with 5 strips measuring 12''x72''

Because I had gotten 2 yards of each color and each of my pieces of fabric were at least 60''x72'', I rounded up and cut each piece of fabric into 5 pieces so that each piece measured 12''x72''. I cut 5 pieces but only used 4, there will be one piece extra to use for another project or for practice/accidents!

4. HEMMING! 

After i had all my pieces of fabric cut i hem the bottom and top of the fabric. To do the hem i folded each side over twice because this type of fabric frays-a lot, and pinned it to keep it in place, then ironed along the hem to help hold it when sewing.

5. SEW 2 STRIPS TOGETHER!

After hemming all pieces on the top and bottom I combined two of the same color strip pieces to create one large ruffle measuring 12''x144'', and then make sure to hem the side edges of the ruffle.  

6. PUTTING RUFFLES ON BACKING!

Line up each pin with each 1/8 mark

First i measured and marked a line across the curtain where each shower curtain would be, this helped A LOT when i was sewing to make sure i was staying straight and in the right spot. After marking all these lines i also found the half mark in each line, then the quarter marks and even eighth marks, then found half, quarter and eighth marks on each of my ruffles marking them with a pin. I lined up each of these pin marks on the ruffle to the marks on the curtain and then had equal amounts of fabric within each of these sections that i was able to make my own ruffle as i sewed across the line.

Ruffle on left=no hem showing sew on to backing.

I pinned and sewed each ruffle on starting at the bottom of the curtain and working my way up. I put the raw edge (side with the hem) on the line i had drawn on the curtain, then once i sewed across it this allowed the piece of fabric to fall so that no hem or stitching was showing across the top (although this isnt necessary because the overlap of ruffles should cover it anyways).

I continued this all the way to the top of the curtain and actually hid the shower button holes because the white backing did not match well with my top curtain. I left holes to put the shower hooks in but they will be hidden and all you will see are the ruffles going to the top!

 7. TADA!

I LOVE IT!! 
Now i am one step closer to being ready to move out, excited for next fall when i will have my own bathroom for the FIRST TIME in my life!!

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Personalized Game Box Gift

 Finished project:

I found a hideous 6-in-1 game box at a garage sale during the summer and thought it would make an excellent project!

 

This is what the print on the top of the game box was!

 Inside drawer of the game box!

My wonderful significant other travels often and during one of his trips I decided I would start a project and learn to do mosaic. I got two sheets of colored tiles from home depot and some grout, along with some black paint to paint the remainder of the box. 

On the top of the box I created a checker board 

inside the drawer with the left over tiles i made a backgammon board.

I found some game pieces from a backgammon game that weren't needed any more and personalized them. 

I found photos of our faces and used picnic to give us crowns for the "kings" when the pieces were used for checkers. 

After making the photos into circles that I thought would fit on the game pieces (using Microsoft word) I cut them out and began gluing them on the game pieces.

Success!

Along with the mosaic game box and personalized game pieces I created/ordered a deck of cards from printerstudio.com. I would highly suggest this site over others to anyone looking for a fun personalized deck of cards for any occasion, they were the best price and offered the most variety with options! I made each card a different photo from throughout the last year!

UPDATE: On the deck of cards; I ordered them many weeks before Christmas and they took almost an entire month to get here because they came from HONG KONG (which i didnt realize). I do LOVE the result but not the best idea if you're in a time pinch!



Time to add more games (dice for farkle and yatzee sheets, chess pieces, LCR, would you rather card game, minute to win it card game, mad gab and boggle) and hope he enjoys it!

Bring on the game nights!