2012 February 01 — Domestic Imperfection

Yesterday I told you how to make your own curtain rods, and today we are moving onto curtains!

Curtains are so superbly easy to make. If you can sew a straight stitch on your sewing machine, than you can make curtains. If you don’t have a sewing machine (or just don’t want to use it) then don’t leave just yet, you can easily make these curtains with some hemming tape and an iron.

How to make curtains - Domestic Imperfection

Step One

So the first step is to buy your fabric. I recommend using home decor fabric, but you can certainly use whatever fabric you like, including (sheets or dropcloths). I’m working on debrowning my living room and this is the fabric I chose to dress up my naked windows.

link

Step Two

Next you will need to measure and cut your fabric. Measure the length from the top of your curtain rod to the floor and then add 12 inches. My windows measured 92 inches, so I cut the fabric to 104 inches each.

Step Three

Now is when you bust out the iron. First iron the edges of your curtain by folding the blank edge over until you can barely see the print, then fold them over one more time and press. This gives your curtains a finished edge.

Next iron the top and bottom by folding it over once and pressing.

Then fold over the top making sure your mindful of the way your pattern runs…you don’t end up with upside down curtains! Make it about 3-4 inches wide (I just used my phone to measure).

Step Four

Stitch all your edges except the bottom (or use your hemming tape).

Step Five

Next your going to need to hang the curtains in order to hem them to the correct length.
I wanted my curtains to look like back tab curtains (which I show you how to make here) without actually having to sew back tabs. So I bought these rings from Amazon and clipped them to the back of the curtain instead if the top, like so…

To do this you will need to lay your curtain out flat to make sure your rings are evenly spaced. Then just pinch a section and add your clip, making sure the top of the ring is about even with the top of the curtain.

Step Six

Once your curtains are hung, fold up the bottoms so that the curtains barely grazes the floor and pin.

DIY Curtains

Then take it down, hem it, and hang it back up. Done! Cheap and easy custom curtains!

To read a tutorial on how to make back tab curtains without spending money on rings, read THIS POST.

Simple and Affordable Bay Window Rods and Back Tab Curtains - Domestic Imperfection

And to read about how to make cheap DIY curtain rods, GO HERE.

Ashley

No Spend February

I always have a list of about twenty or so projects that I want to do at any given time. So when I’m out and about, I buy supplies for all the projects in my head…and then I put (cram) all the supplies into my craft closet and forget about them (because I have about twelve other projects going at that time). I really need to finish all the things that I started. Plus it will make organizing my craft closet for the Less Mess Project so much easier (I’m soooo close to being done with the pantry!)So I am proposing No Spend February. I will not spend a single dime on new supplies or projects and work on finishing all the ones I already have all the stuff for. I’m pretty sure the blog will not suffer because of it…I could probably even do two months. Does anyone else have this problem? Feel free to join me in saving money and catching up on the to do list!
And since I can’t have a blog post without a picture, here is a sneak peak of something that the husband has been working on…