Basement Curtains & Late Night Mishaps

So, I caved, and bought one of the fabrics that I had recently written about in order to make some basement curtains. 

I opted for the Waverly Wonderama Toucan because:
1.  It was all of a sudden back in stock!
2.  it went on sale at Fabric.com
3.  I was able to also find another 15% off coupon (and free shipping!)

It was the best deal out of my options, so I went for it.  I was nervous about not seeing it in person, but the fabric.com return policy seems great, so I forged ahead. 

So, that brings me to my topic of late nighters.  I had spent many nights obsessing over this silly decision, and if I am totally honest with myself, most of the time I stay up really late, I think I just get lost in the internet/blogs/shopping, and I really don't get anywhere.  Well, one of these late nights, I placed the order.  I could have SWORN I placed it for 20 yards.  I needed 18 yards (6 panels at about 3 yards each), plus I needed extra to accommodate the shrinkage of the fabric. 

Well, the fabric arrived, I still thought I had 20 yards.  I wanted to cut corners and not wash it, but I did wash/iron it (wow, it takes a long time to iron all that fabric!).  It did say dry clean only, but being the horrible launderer that I am, I ignored that.  

I decided that two nights before we headed on vacation, I should try to crank through all the curtains so that I wasn't thinking about working on this project the whole time we were gone.  I was prepared, and sort of excited to pull a late nighter getting this done.  All was going well until I cut the last two panels and the realization hit me that I had completely messed up and only ordered 18 yards.  ARGH!!!!  The fabric had shrunk a good bit, leaving me with only enough for five panels.

a friend reminded me to measure twice, cut once, which I did...too bad I didn't order correctly!

So....I had thought my late nights are usually worth it as I was rounding the corner to the completion of sewing all the panels and hanging of them.  But...then I had to re-question myself when I realized that I make silly mistakes, like ordering the wrong amount of fabric, when I stay up too late!  Five panels later, I could only laugh at myself and re-order more fabric to make my last panel.  Pictures to come once I get things wrapped up....but here is the window with the missing panel :)  This definitely qualifies as a 'keeping it real' shot as evidenced by the plethora of plastic that lives in this part of the unfinished basement.