Reversable Window Toppers

So what did you do on our long weekend? I spent my weekend making some new reversible window toppers for my studio.  It all started when I saw the following fabric from the line called "Early to Rise" by Wilmington Prints.  I knew it would be perfect ! Some of you might say "Chickens really? " But what could be better for a farm girl?

 I couldn't decide on my contrasting fabric so I  made some toppers by using both these fabrics as my contrasting fabric to see which I would like better.

I started by cutting 18" strips of my main fabric and 18" strips of my contrasting fabric. For my windows, I knew I would need 3 strips per window to achieve the fullness I wanted. That meant that I needed 1 1/2 yards of each fabric per window. My windows are 48" to 60" wide.

I layered the main fabric and contrasting fabric then cut off the selvedges. Then I sewed all my main fabric strips together and all my contrasting fabric strips together. All seams allowances in this project are 1/4". I pressed the seams opened.

Once the strips were sewn together, I layered the long strips of the main fabric and the contrasting fabric right sides together and sewed both of the long sides. This made a tube.

I hemmed the short ends of the tube by turning in 1/4" and then turning again and stitching.

Now the magic begins. Press the seam allowances where you sewed the main fabric and contrasting fabric to the darker fabric. Measure 4" from the sewn line between your main fabric and your contrasting fabric. I used a chocoliner  to mark my lines. Press along this line. One side of your topper will have the main fabric with a border of the contrasting fabric and the other side will be the contrasting fabric with a border strip of the main fabric. Stitch in the ditch created when you pressed your seam allowances to the darker color. Make sure that you match the thread colors to your fabrics.  You will want to stitch in the ditch on both sides. of your topper.

We are almost finished!  Draw a line 1 1/2" from the top and bottom edge of your topper. Sew on the line. This will make a ruffle at the top of your topper and a rod pocket.

Now the last step. Decide with way you are going to use your topper. Remember they are reversible. So you have lots of choices. You can have either the main fabric bordered with the contrasting strip at the bottom or top or you can have the contrasting fabric with the main border at the top or bottom. The choice is yours. Here are some of the toppers I made. Since I wanted to feature the chicken fabric, I used my main fabric with a contrasting border. Which option do you like best?