The Super Duper "Not so Big" Rod Pocket Incident

These are utility room curtains in progress.

They're going in a west window so 
they needed to be lined in order to

survive the hot Texas summer sun.

Minus the lining, this is a very simple curtain.

Actually, even with the lining, they're simple.

For normal people.

Did you know projects like this require math?
Sure do.

Math and I do not get along.

Nor do I want to get along with it!

I decided after I made the top sleeve for the rod that it'd be nice to have some fabric sticking up above the rod. 

I knew that the sleeve I created was rather wide so I could merely stitch a line lengthwise through the middle of that sleeve to make two sections--one at the top for sticking up and one just below it for the rod.

Wouldn't that look quite spiffy?

With this in mind, I checked the rod box for the diameter which was 3/4 of an inch. I figured that since the sleeve was rather big and the rod a mere 3/4 of an inch, I could make the rod sleeve/pocket about 1-1/4 inches and that would leave a sufficient amount sticking up at the top.

No measuring and/or math required.

After creating the lovely little rod pocket, 

I discovered that it was exactly that! 

LOVELY but LITTLE

as in

TOO LITTLE!
UGH!

Hubby advised me that I should have measured around the rod because the fabric takes up space when it wraps around it.

Measure?

Around?

Space?

What am I?
NASA

I just wanted this to be over so I decided to forget the "sticking up" fabric that my heart so desired. 

Instead, I'd just rip that line of stitching out and let these curtains hang from the top!

Hi Ho, Hi Ho,

off to seam rip I go!

Later, I needed more of hubby's math help but I'll skip the details of that mini adventure. 

You're welcome!

After lots of stress and fretting, 
the curtains were complete! 

I blissfully inserted one of the curtain 
panels onto the smaller end of the rod.

Though it was a bit snug, it worked.

Yes!

Great Joy!

Then, the other panel on the larger end of rod.

Snug indeed but it worked too.
Delight consumed me!
Until...

I attempted to insert one rod into the other.

I could barely slide the smaller side of the rod into the larger side because it made the curtains so BEYOND SNUG that they didn't want to budge!

Even after ripping out the lengthwise stitching line earlier to eliminate the "sticking up" part! I was certain that there was plenty of room in the "big" sleeve!

How could this be?

How could I be that far off?

Did a group of Sicko Sewing Thugs 
break in and altered them as we slept?

I decided to put the rod up in place and then try to slide them farther in until the entire rod reached the necessary length.

I wiggled and jiggled, pushed and pulled, moaned and groaned, and begged and pleaded until alas, success!

Now if I could just distribute the curtains evenly across the rod into their permanent resting place (for now), I would rejoice forevermore! 

Of course, they did not want to budge.

I employed various methods to slide those suckers:

Pliers were first up--Lots of yanking and tugging occurred but it did not move them.

With my knee in my chest and a foot on the wall for leverage, we awkwardly wrestled until I was red in the face and exhausted (which doesn't take much) but no dice!

Surely forceps would work on these babies but that was a bust too!

Finally, I carefully pinned one end of a rope to the curtains and attached the other end to the back of a pick-up truck.

Believe it or not, when I floored the pick-up, those curtains slid right across the rod!

SEE!

I hope I don't ever have to open them!

I just noticed from the pic above, they're the 

exact same length as the cabinet to the right.

I couldn't have done that using math!

It's a happy accident!

All kidding aside, I enjoyed the sewing part of making these curtains but that only lasted a total of about 15 minutes or so (maybe). 

The figuring, measuring, cutting, and stressing took quite a few hours!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

Now I'm moving on to a small art quilt which doesn't involve stress or pick-up trucks!

Have a Blessed and Creative Day Y'all!

D~~~~