Shelbee on the Rags: “Aqua Allure” Rag Curtain

I am sharing my rag curtain projects almost in reverse order. Now that I decided to write a dedicated post for each curtain, I still have to share the first two curtains which I made specifically for my bedroom windows and my cloffice doorway.

I created Aqua Allure for my cloffice doorway because I was really hating the long gray drapes that I had hanging there. Once upon a time, I had no door covering for my cloffice but it gets kind of messy in there so I do like to have a curtain to conceal my chaos. First I had light cream curtains with a brown leaf print covering the cloffice doorway. Then I switched to gray floral ones. I wasn’t very fond of either. The long panels just made it all feel sort of closed off and claustrophobic. So I decided a rag curtain would be perfect for what I wanted, adequate coverage for mess concealment and airy enough to allow some light to shine through.

The aqua color palette doesn’t necessarily match the green walls of the hallway but the curtain is perfectly viewed from my teal living room so it all flows really nicely. I ended up with this aqua color scheme because I first decoupaged my mother’s old sewing table using fabric scraps in shades of blue and aqua to coordinate with my gypsy teal living room where the table lives.

I picked up about fifteen $0.99 items from the thrift store in the colors and prints that I wanted but I drastically overestimated how much fabric I would need for decoupaging this small table. I was left with a small but significant pile of scraps in various shades of blues and greens. These leftover scraps were the beginning of Aqua Allure.

While I had too much fabric for one project, the leftovers were not nearly enough to complete the next project. But that’s okay. I just headed back to the thrift store for more $0.99 items to add into my cloffice curtain, but not before accepting donations from my own closet as well as the kids’ and husband’s closets. We no longer donate our used clothing to thrift stores. Instead, it all gets chopped up and made into some form of raggery art. And then I buy other people’s used clothing at thrift stores and chop that up, too. Saving piles garments from a landfill fate one beautiful curtain at a time!

Because this was first curtain made from thrift store clothing and other unwanted garments, I had no idea how many pieces I would need. I came up short a few times and went back to the thrift shop until the curtain was the thickness and fullness that I desired. This curtain ended up using about 45-50 garments. I absolutely love all these cascading blue ropes. They look like a waterfall cascading down between my two earthy green walls. Every day I walk through this curtain multiple times and each and every time I smile as I push the ropes aside and they brush gently over my shoulders like a warm welcome. I love this curtain!

If you are interested in my other raggery creations, click here for the full list. 

Keeping it on the rags, 

Shelbee

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