Measure twice, cut once

I just wanted to pound that into your head ONE more time. I'm sure your Grandfather told you, your Grandmother told you, no doubt your parents told you and probably other people in your life as well.

The old saying "Measure twice, cut once" is certainly a great, and use full piece of advice but we don't always follow it do we?

My parents came in town for a visit to see their newest grandchild, and brought with them news of a nursery design contest. I was very excited about this, because I had pretty much designed or made everything in my sons nursery myself.

I still had a few final touches to do, and having just gotten my new sewing machine in the mail, it was perfect timing. So I set out tied the last bow, finished the knobs on the dresser and set out to sew the bottoms of the curtains.

I had bought curtains years ago, on clearance thinking navy blue is great, it goes with almost everything, I will use them one day. And I did, but when I pulled one out of the package, and held it up to the window, it proved to be to short. So, I went over to Joann's, picked out some cute fabric, came home and got it all ready to sew onto the curtains themselves.

They were attached, ironed and slipped over the curtain rod. I hung one side up, hung the other side up and stared at them in disbelief.

One was side was longer than the other.....

I couldn't believe my eyes, I instantly burst into laughter, and called my parents in to come look. Turns out, I had picked up two different sizes. It could have been a lot worse, so I set to the task of picking out the seam, to try again.

I layed it out, measured the correct curtain and cut the long one according. Went through the same process and when I hung it up, assuming I was done and they looked perfect, this is what I saw.

One side was still to long.....

I had measured the length of the whole curtain, and sewn the fabric there, not the length of the blue part of the curtain.

So, once again, I had to remeasure, and stitch it over again. This time, I measured twice, and cut once (for the third time).

So, please, learn from my mistake. I know what it is like to be excited about a project, so want to finish it, and have that great feeling that you made something, and it looks great! But slow down, make sure you are cutting and sewing correctly, so you can avoid a curtain fiasco.