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Cowboy bedding and how to make lined curtains

Okay, sorry for the awkward long break…lots of things going on here at Casa Domestic Imperfection! Exciting news…we are we are almost finished finalizing plans for the new house and will be breaking ground much sooner than we thought. Yay! (and holy stressful!). I can’t wait to talk about all of it, but first let me get out these last three posts about the boy’s room and then we will talk new house stuff. (If you’re wondering what the heck I’m talking about, you can read HERE, HERE and HERE).

So, way back when I wrote a post about missing out on TWO perfect sets of bedding for the boy’s cowboy room because I have a hard time buying things that aren’t on sale. Well, I have awesome readers, because y’all did what I wasn’t able…hunted down the EXACT discontinued european bedding I was looking for.

Then as icing on the cake, it was on clearance AND shipping was only like $15 from overseas. I was sold and bought two, one for each bunk.  They only had twin sizes (I have a twin and a full), but I figured I’d make it work.

Cath Kidston cowboy bedding

I guess I wasn’t paying much attention when I ordered (I was pretty excited), because I was under the impression I was getting comforters. What I got was duvet covers, which is just two pieces of fabric sewn together (and I didn’t even like the back).

Cath Kidston cowboy duvet

So I decided to cut my losses, separate those two suckers, and make curtains instead.

How to make curtains out of bedding

Now I had already made a set of curtains for this room…..

kids western bedroom curtains

…but they just weren’t working. They were too thin and needed to be lined, plus I had bought red comforters for the bunks a few months ago (after I gave up on cowboy bedding) and red curtains and the red comforters on the bunks was just too much red. It’s my least favorite color and I just couldn’t handle it.

Cowboy curtains on a nice white background sounded great though, and since this fabric had quickly turned into the most expensive fabric I have ever bought I decided to make them legit and line them.

Here is how I ended up doing it, they turned out really well (if I may so so myself).

First step – Wash. Dry. Iron. I know, I wasn’t happy about it either. I’ve skipped this step before though and severely regretted it when my curtains came out of the wash nearly a foot shorter than when they went in. Never again.

The twin size fabric was too short for curtains, so I added some solid green fabric to the bottom first. I think they wold have looked better without the green, but it is what it is.

adding length to a curtain

Next I ironed the edges. You are going to want to fold the fabric over about half and inch, iron, and repeat. This will give you a nice clean edge with no fraying. Do this on both long sides of your fabric.

making curtains - ironing edges before sewing

For the top, you want to fold over and iron about half an inch, then fold it over about three inches and iron. (don’t do anything to the bottom of the curtain).

how to make curtains

If you are making rod pocket curtains this is where the rod will go, and if you are putting them on rings (like me) you will want the extra support.

After you finish ironing, don’t sew anything. Instead lay the fabric out flat and grab your liner. I used a plan flat sheet from Walmart.

how to make a lined curtain

The twin size is only $5 (though I had to buy a full because I couldn’t find any twins in stock).

Also, don’t forget to wash, dry, and iron the liner (and don’t shoot the messenger).

So what you’re going to do is lay your liner on top of your curtain, tucking it all the way under the left edge and top edge, pinning as you go.

lining curtains

Then sew the liner into place.

making lined curtains

Then lay your fabric out again, it should look like this…

how to make lined curtain panels

Try your best to get the liner flat and wrinkle free (this is harder than it sounds) and cut it along the right side.

DIY lined curtain panels

Then tuck it under, pin it, and run it through the machine again.

It was at this point that I think I got excited about finishing and forgot to take any other pictures. I happen to have many old pictures for other curtain-making endeavors, so we’re all good.

Next, you are going to want to hang your curtains up. I like to use clips to make a fancy back tab look without actually having to sew back tabs…

easy way to hang curtains
DIY curtain rods

After your curtains are hung, pin the bottoms up so they are just touching the floor.

perfect length curtains

Then hem the bottom. You can take them down, hem them, and hang them back up again….or you can hem then while they are hanging. Whatever floats your boat.

hemming curtains

I’ve made quite a few curtains in my day, and this was my first time to ever line them. Honestly, it makes a big difference…these are by far the nicest. They also took the longest to make, so it’s a trade-off.

make curtains out of a duvet
how to make lined curtains
kids room toy storage

Another advantage of the new curtains is that it no longer looks like Hades in my boy’s room with the curtains closed.

hades
not hades

Always a good thing, right?

On a side note, Happy Mothers Day to all you mothers out there! And a big thank you to these three little guys for making me a mother out of me.

three

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10 Comments

  1. I know your boys just love those new curtains. The room looks just like little boys! I’d like to ask where you found the cow painting?

  2. You are hilarious and a great writer! I don’t even DIY anything but I keep reading because of how entertaining your posts are!

  3. Ashley, the cowboy curtains and wonderful and I love the green at the bottom, personally. Your Hades comment made me laugh and laugh… don’t ever stop being you. Your trio of junior male testosterone is adorable — and you are simply stellar! A belated Happy Mother’s Day to you also! (P.S. — Got to spend my middle daughter’s very first Mother’s Day with her and our new little cowboy — saw him SMILE (he’s not quite six weeks old) and I melted all over again into a puddle! His cowboy nursery is also coming along — and “Gram” (aka/ me) has yet to get going on those curtains… how did you know this was the post that would prick that Gram guilt into planning some action on those promised curtains?! Congrats also on the new house — can’t wait to see what you do next (and you certainly better just move these fabulous cowboy curtains straight into the new boys’ room after all this effort and expense to find just the right fabric… just stating the obvious here!).

    1. Ha, you know my main reason for posting is to guilt trip Grandmas, right? My Judah is just starting to smile too, and my goodness, it’s just the cutest thing. I do some ridiculous things trying to get him to crack one of those elusive smiles. He mostly just looks at me through furrowed brows like I’m already embarrassing him.

      And these curtains are certainly coming with me, the whole room is just moving from one location to another. Although both kids bedrooms in our new house have two windows, so I’ll have to be creative AGAIN to figure out how to use these in there.

  4. I love this whole room! It’s childlike without being your usual over the top color/cartoon explosion for a kids room and I love that. I’m currently doing both my kids rooms and this is just the feeling I’m going for. Love the curtain fabric, I’m trying to pick curtains for my daughters room at the moment. I painted some with a thick stripe, which I love, but they turned out really stiff and crunchy so I’m not really willing to settle on them. Much as I love how they look, every time someone approaches them I’m embarrassed for them to feel them!
    Linda

    1. Thank you Linda, that’s a huge complement! Childlike without being over the top was my goal, and I think I pulled it off. My first red set of curtains were really crunchy too, which I didn’t like. They do soften up when you wash them, but it does’ make them look a bit worn. You can’t win!

  5. Happy belated mother’s day to you! I also love, love, love this room. The curtains are gorgeous. I loved the red ones too, but agree with the Hades impression, plus I didn’t know they were crunchy. I just loved that they looked like bandannas! This whole room is turning out so cute and different, not your usual run-of-the-mill blue boys’ room with race car bed and super hero comforter…
    And your little trio is so adorable!

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