If you have a room with nasty-looking, dusty blinds like I do, the thought of beautiful curtains that may – gasp – even be washable is a dream come true. Ok, I exaggerate a little, but my dingy blinds really do nothing for the room except cover the windows. My curtains? Well, they’re going to add to the artistry of the room. Ah, curtain love.
Often, the least expensive way to get new curtains is to make them yourself. Measure the window and cut the width in half to get the width of your fabric. Add a few inches to the width to make sure that you have space to create a tidy edge. Measure the height of the window and add seven or eight inches to the height so that you have room to hem the bottom and fold over the top to make a place where the rods can slide in. For inexpensive curtain rods, I like to use thin dowels from the hardware store.
If you’re a novice at sewing, choose a lightweight fabric that is not overly slippery. While satins and sheers and thick drapery fabrics are lovely, they will give you grief when you put them through the sewing machine.
If possible, make sure that the fabric that you choose is washable. While the child in our house generally doesn’t climb the curtains, we have four cats in our house at the moment, so washable fabrics are important.
If you’re afraid of sewing, look in the bins at linen stores for damaged curtains or discount curtains – your selection will be more limited, though. You can add fabric patch transfers to jazz up curtains for a child’s room or add scarves to tie the curtains to the side of the window in an adult’s bedroom. One of the trickiest and cheapest ways I’ve done so is to search around the stores for matching fabric shower curtains and cut them to size if desired. This works very well if you are looking for a sheer curtain.
Happy sewing!
Image courtesy of tigress1 at Stock Exchange