Handmade Curtain Tutorial

This past Friday, I spent the day in Columbus at my friend's house sewing curtains for her baby girl's nursery.  I had never sewn curtains before this, and was really surprised how easy it was!  So today I am going to share with you all of the steps to make your own curtains!

Supplies:

• fabric  {we used a good quality printed linen by Melody Miller that we purchased at Sew to Speak}
• matching thread
• sewing machine
• measuring tape
• iron + ironing board  *if you like to use steam, only use distilled water in your iron. It will keep the iron clean and will not create rust spots that sometimes are left behind from regular water in irons.  You can buy a gallon of distilled water for around a $1.
• curtain rod + hardware 

Step 1: Measure your window and decide how much fabric you will need and how many panels you would like.

You  will need to measure the width of your window and the length from the curtain rod to where you would like the curtains to fall.  Because you will be hemming the bottom, sides and creating a top opening for the rod to go through, you will need to add inches to the window dimensions you measured.  Depending on how wide your window is, and how much fullness you would like in the curtain panel, add 1.5 to 3 times the amount of fabric for the width of the window.  Add roughly 6-8 inches to the length of the fabric for bottom hem, top hem and rod opening.

Step 2:  Cut off the selvage edge of the fabric {The edge of the fabric with the name of the fabric and designer}

Step 3: Start with the sides of the curtain panel

Our fabric was already a perfect width for the window, so no additional cutting was needed.  To hem the sides of the curtain, turn fabric 1/2 inch toward the back side of the fabric.  Press with the iron.

Step 4: Repeat step 3.  Turn the fabric in another 1/2 inch and press.  The raw edge will now be completely enclosed.  Press with iron.

Step 5: Sew the hem with a straight stitch.  Make sure you backstitch {sew back and forth over the stitches in the beginning and the end of a stitch line.  This is like the "knotting" step in machine sewing}.   Sew closely to the folded edge.

{Take a coffee/latte break when needed}

Step 6: Repeat steps 3-5 for both of the sides of the curtain panel.  Now you are ready to work on the top of the curtain panel and create the opening for the curtain rod.

First, repeat steps 3 & 4 {folding and pressing} but do not sew just yet.  You will fold the fabric over an additional few inches depending on the size of the curtain rod.  Here, we folded over an additional 3 1/2 inches.  Press the fabric with the iron.

Sew a straight stitch close to the folded edge.

Here you are able to see what the top of the panel will look like.  There are no raw edges and there is enough room to slide the curtain rod through.

Step 7: Complete the hem of the curtain panel.

To do this, I hung the curtain panel and saw where the fabric fell on the wall/floor.  I marked the length of where I wanted the completed panel to hang, and then added an inch.  Trim off any extra fabric.  Then complete steps 3-5 {turn in 1/2 inch, press, turn in another 1/2 inch, press again and then sew close to the folded edge}.

Ta-da!  You are ready to hang your completed curtains in your room!

My friend picked out the most adorable fabric for the curtains and we were so pleased with how they turned out!  

I hope you have fun sewing your own curtains for your home!  Please let me know if you have any questions!

Happy Sewing