We only had this RV a few days when I announced I did not like the window coverings.
The cab area had a heavy curtain that hangs from the bunk to separate the cold cab from the main living area so you don’t have to heat as much space. It was ugly. And it kept us from using the cab space where we had things stored.
The two big windows had day/night shades that are pleated so they pull down. They do this on strings that are threaded through holes in the blinds. Those holes let the sun shine in way too early in the morning and make spots on my keyboard when the sun is on the passenger side of our RV.
The kitchen and bathroom had Venetian blinds where everything splashes on them and they are nearly impossible to clean.
The cab curtain was the first to go. We bought and had installed directly in the windows themselves pleated curtains (with no strings) made specifically to fit Sprinter cab windows. So now we get privacy without loosing access to our stuff up front.
The bathroom blind was next to go. I found that a set of pillow case-shaped cushion covers I made for our previous RV required only that the top be folded over and stitched to make a header and rod pocket to be just the right length. One of them is just the right width to cover the window. Some day I’ll sew the top of the second one so the curtain can gather instead of hang straight but at least I no longer have to look at toothbrush spray on that blind. It’s so easy to throw the curtain into the laundry when we wash sheets.
The next project was hemming the edges all the way around the valances for the huge windows so they won’t unravel. This material came from a former bed skirt so it’s not good for much other than making valances. I got them hemmed but I don’t know how tall the they need to be so they sit and wait for the header/rod pockets until I find out how tall they need to be to cover the header of the new shades we hope to buy some day.
That leaves the kitchen window. I have material from an old sheet that I cut to size. And there the project came to a dead halt. I kept saying I’d sew them the next time I was somewhere there was a sewing machine I could use. Well, this park has that machine. And we were here for a week before Hurricane Ida and we’ve been back here for about a week but nothing has happened. Part of that is because I’ve had a head cold but most of it is because it’s about five blocks by road from here to the community center where the sewing machine is and we just haven’t unloaded the Segway so I can get there from here. Plus, I suspect, I’m going to need to make multiple trips back and forth to measure the fabric against the window once we install the curtain rod we bought for it. It seems like it would be easier to just drive the RV up to the community center’s parking lot for a day. But that’s not so easy, either, since we have to secure everything inside the RV, run in the slide, and unplug the electricity before we can move then undo all that after maneuvering around to get level when we get back.
Today we decided we would do all that since we needed to take four loads of laundry up to the laundry room attached to the community center. So, we packed up, drove up there, and discovered there were too many people who decided to do laundry before we did. So we drove into town to the laundromat instead. There are, of course, no sewing machines at the laundromat.
I realized that people sewed by hand for years before they had sewing machines so I decided I could do that for these small curtains. So, I dug around in all the drawers and compartments to find needle, thread, scissors, and pins and began sewing.
I actually know several types of stitches for hand sewing including the running stitch, whip stitch, and handkerchief hem stitch any of which would work for curtains. I picked the handkerchief hem stitch since that would look nicest on both sides of the curtain. I did that stitch for awhile before deciding no one was ever going to look at the back side of these curtain edges so I changed to the whip stitch which goes faster.
Now, I don’t know how many of you do any hand sewing nowadays. In the novels I read, ladies are always sitting around doing had sewing. Generally, one of the ladies, or sometimes a gentleman, reads aloud to the others. Today I found out why. Hand sewing is boring!
So now my little kitchen curtains and all the paraphernalia needed to sew them are in a bag waiting to be worked on when sitting around visiting with other people. In the meantime, I’m thinking about taking down the ugly kitchen blind and leaving the window bare. It’s a small window and it has a screen that helps maintain privacy. I wonder how much sun comes in there in the morning?
TTYL,
Linda
