Painless Cafe Awnings

No, the chickens have not pecked me to pieces (though Regina George *see below* would like nothing more than to make me into chicken feed) - but this new life is more time consuming than I would have expected. We're still trying to make our house "fit" us a little better and every weekend seems consumed with the endless to-do lists I swore I'd never let into my adult home.
But not all to-dos are created equal.  Some - namely dormer window related ones - just need to be shared with the world.  I've never lived in a house with dormer windows, and though I don't love the corresponding sloped ceilings that have concussed me more times than I care to admit, I have not yet tired of the charm of dormers.

 

Because of the close walls, the interiors of the dormers give you the opportunity to fulfill your lifelong desire to make cafe awnings (Don't even pretend - I can hear you humming La Vie en Rose).  Did I mention it only took ONE afternoon and the sewing skills of a Chihuahua? 
I'll let the pictures do (most of) the talking:

After measuring the width and adding enough for side hems and estimating the length, fold the bottom edge up, right sides together.

You don't necessarily have to use a Tinkertoy's lid to trace your scallops, unless you too want to appear casually hipster

This is still the wrong side of the fabric

Flip your scalloped pockets right side out and iron them flat.  I am not a fan of ironing while sewing.  I adhere to the Friedrich vonLazypants school of sewing.  But even Freddy would agree here that ironing makes a HUGE difference.

Make a pocket on the top to fit your tension rod and then sew some ribbons to hold the second rod in place.

Yup, that's just two tension rods!

Et voila!
And though I have very ambivalent feelings towards France these days years (apparently liberté only extends so far), this awning has made me feel like opening a very Frenchy baguette stand in the girls' room - only here, all religious symbols would be more than welcome...

And with no further ado, introducing: Regina George...