STYLETHREAD -- LET'S TALK SHOP!

Elle · Hermes

Lynnie (or others!) - making curtains?

relrel · Marc Jacobs

First thought: Burlap (real honest-to-goodness burlap from the hardware store) smells funny.

Second thought: You can totally practice with some iron-on hemming tape.

I've made curtains before, but it was in my junior year of college so I cheaped-out and used single layer fabric with hemming tape. It worked, but for a grown-up house I would suggest using two layers of fabric with an inside layer of something like netting. Something thin so it wouldn't add bulk, but would help block out a lot of light. You also need to use some ridicuoulous amount of fabric, it's like (IIRC) more than twice the actual size of the windows. I totally forgot/didn't think about how curtains were supposed to actually look so I just bought fabric the same size as my windows plus about five inches for hemming and dude, they looked stupid. They were more panels than curtains.

Anyway, curtains are probably one of the easiest things to make, as long as you remember you are making curtains. I.E. you will need layers of fabric for light-blocking properties and lots of fabric for proper curtain look.

BargainQueen · Marc Jacobs

I cannot sew...DH gave me a sewing machine years ago and I have yet to figure out how to use it. I stubled upon this woman's blog who just hot glues her window treatments together. She calls them "mistreatments". She buys nice fabric and hot glues all her seams! LOL, but I think they look pretty good! Its not like anyone will notice and come and inspect your seams all close when they visit you.

http://nestingplacenc.blogspot.com/

I love this girl's blog: The Lettered Cottage, she recently redid her dining room with burlap window treatements:
http://theletteredcottage.blogspot.com/2008/10/kitchen-dining-room-updates.html

Burlap+Curtains.jpg

HTHs!

-- Edited by BargainQueen on Wednesday 1st of April 2009 06:04:02 PM

nightshade · Nine West

If you are using a heavy fabric, you may not need twice the width, but in a thin fabric you will need 2.5 to 3 times the width to have it look right. If you are a little leery of trying the project, you will make things much simpler if you choose a solid fabric because with a print, you have to match the repeats just like wallpaper. Another way to save a lot of hassle is to use clip-on curtain rings on the top. They slide onto the rod and have a little clothespin on their bottom so they just clip onto the top of your curtain -- that way you don't have to make pinch pleats or deal with a complicated header. My final advice is lay out the fabric on your floor before you cut -- that way you have lots more room than trying to manage that much fabric on a table top. Good luck.

lynnie · Chanel

What kind of look would you like for the curtains? You could just even make a tube basically at the top and slide your rod through. Top folded over a few inches and then stitched.

If you're just making two panels, I'd figure out how much draping you want- 2 or 3 times the width. I agree that a heavier fabric may not need as much. Also- figure out what length you want- if you want the drapes to puddle at all on the floor, be a couple of inches shorter than the floor, etc

I'd probably hem the sides first, then figure out the top. You'd want to find a wide fabric if possible so that you don't have to add a seam in the middle, lengthwise. If possible. I'd probably fold the bottom hem up and stitch it last so that I could leave some extra length on. I'd hang them then decide if they are too long and shorten as appropriate. It's always better to have a bit more fabric than too short ! You can add a panel of course if you mess up though.

Although-if you measure correctly that is a pointless step and you can just hem as measured:)

http://www.anthropologie.com/anthro/catalog/category.jsp?popId=DECORATING&fromDisplayPage=fromDisplayPage&cmElemTag=dropdown&navAction=jump&navCount=5&pushId=DECOR_WINDOWS&id=DECOR_WINDOWS

has some good ideas of different finishes at the top- so much you can do! You can sew the gathers in to the stitch if you want it to be more uniform rather than scrunched. Or add rings to the top. And i'm sure a book could explain the more complicated finishes- box pleats and such. This look is awesome:

http://www.anthropologie.com/anthro/catalog/productdetail.jsp?_dyncharset=ISO-8859-1&_dynSessConf=-3521741735221574670&id=880134&parentid=NEW_HOME_WINDOWS&pushId=NEW_HOME_WINDOWS&prepushId=NEW_HOME_WINDOWS&popId=NEW_HOME&sortProperties=&navCount=26&navAction=poppush&fromCategoryPage=true&selectedProductSize=&selectedProductSize1=&color=pin&colorName=PINK

You can also always rip out your seams if you mess up!

I'm not a huge fan of burlap unless you have a sort of desert breezy safari escape look going. I found this on the if the lampshade fits blog and loved it:

http://ifthelampshadefits.blogspot.com/2009/02/this-is-not-ramada.html

What does your room look like?

Elle · Hermes

BQ - it's so funny you should mention having a sewing machine and not using it ... I've had one for ...... 4 years? It's still in the box

! Which means I haven't used a sewing machine in ....14 years, when I made a pillow (badly) in Jr. highschool Home Ec. class.

As for what my window looks like, almost exactly like this, ironically:
Burlap+Curtains.jpg

That's the color of my floors, and there is another window perpendicular to this one off to the left so when the curtains are closed you have basically an entire corner of the room draped in fabric. My window is a bit wider than this however, which makes getting a shade like the one shown here tricky.

I know the burlap would look cool and I really dig the look above - I like to play with textures, so we have a relatively monochrome palette with lots of textural interest going on, and I like contrast - fancy with casual, light with dark, shiny with rustic. I was just wondering how it was to work with as a fabric, and if it would lay funny. I like the look of the clip on rings alot, and that would eliminate the need for fancy sewing entirely!

Side seams, top, save bottom for last (try hanging first) for length adjustments. I think I can do that ... I hope! I'll make sure I sniff the burlap first, Relrel

just in case! I appreciate all the pointers so much - Lynnie, how much do you think burlap runs by the yard, retail?

OMG BQ I :heart: that blog you linked to! We have similar styles, so I think it will be really inspiring. She has a post on there about making drapes using canvas painters drop cloths too, so I may not have to sew at all!

-- Edited by Elle on Friday 3rd of April 2009 11:43:12 AM

BargainQueen · Marc Jacobs

I love the clip rings, like you said it eliminates the need for sewing, plus I like that it makes your curtain panels longer, I hate it when they don't touch the floor.

My daughter's room has bamboo roller shades like the one in the pic and she has a very wide window. Instead of struggling to find a shade that was wide enough, we bought 2 smaller ones and that resolved the issue! Maybe you can see if that would work for your window.

BTW Im glad you like her blog, she's on my Google Reader I love her style too.

Elle · Hermes

BargainQueen wrote:

My daughter's room has bamboo roller shades like the one in the pic and she has a very wide window. Instead of struggling to find a shade that was wide enough, we bought 2 smaller ones and that resolved the issue! Maybe you can see if that would work for your window.

I would love to, but it's a 'triple' window - One huge middle panel of glass, and then two smaller panels on either side that slide open and closed. Because there isn't a sash at the midpoint of the window, two shades leave a hole in between them

. I could do 3 shades, but I think that would just look weird because the smaller sliding panels really aren't that large on their own. Stupid ginormous windows. Seriously, they're more than 90 inches long. Each.

-- Edited by Elle on Monday 6th of April 2009 06:27:58 PM