Woggy #18: Homemade window shade

Seattle is infamous for its dark and dreary winters. What is perhaps not as well known are our bright and cheery summers, of which I am beginning to be reminded of again at very early hours of the morning through my upper bedroom window, which under most circumstances brings a welcome amount of extra light into the room. The exceptions to this welcome would be during late spring and summer early hours of the a.m. when the sun peeks through and tries to wake you up, or on bright moonit nights, or perhaps on an evening when a neighbor with a porchlight is staying up to all hours...

In recent groggy mornings, as I have clambered in the wee hours for my eye pillow to shut out the light, I am reminded of a long overdue woggy project that I began a summer or two ago, which is to create a lovely, decorative but importantly functional window shade to cover this upper window when sleeping assistance is needed.

I considered the various prefabricated options, but the unusual shape & size of this window, joined with the way the window is normally used, really made most conventional alternatives difficult to find and rather inappropriate to the task. The solution I ultimately came up with was a decorative shade that could be raised up and out of the way like an awning when its use was not required.

I remember coming up with a complete design for this project, and some patterns, and I measured and cut out all sorts of fabrics, pinned, sewed, etc. I began working out exactly what sort of hardware I'd need to attach this shade to the window area, and was feeling pretty psyched about the whole project in general, most especially as this would mean complete sleepytime peace without need for an eye-shade, which I have never found to be completely comfortable.

However, it was at just around this time that a large and unexpected construction project began on my apartment building (yes, the self-same one that originally interfered with my bed frame woggy...) Since this would be involving among other things the tearing out and replacement of all our windows, I carefully folded this woggy up, bagged it, labeled it, and put it up on a shelf for safekeeping until all the window construction business was over.

Over a year later, when all work was complete, I was so busy restoring order to the chaos of my construction-ated home that pulling out another big project was the last thing on my mind. so the project sat and sat, up on the shelf.

Now that the longer days are on us again, and I have sufficent time and energy to devote to the shade, I've pulled it back out in the hopes that I will actually get some solid sleep at least a few nights before the end of the summer rolls around. Unfortunately, the notes I left for myself regarding my design plans are a bit scanty. So it will first take me some time to figure out exactly what was the design I was going for, or at least figure out some way to make all the pieces I already cut out work in a new design.

I have hopes that a dark and cozy slumber will be ours again someday...

Things Left To Complete This Woggy Project:

• lay all the pieces out and figure out a general idea of the intended design
  
• draw up some specific pictures to indicate how everything is supposed to look
• begin sewing all of the items which are already pinned together for sewing
• pin the rest of the pieces together following the design
• sew all the pieces
• put the various layers together and sew up remaining seams
• Make a list of necessary hardware
• buy necessary hardware
• Install hardware and attach shade to hardware
• Put shade down and enjoy a lovely complete night of sleep!