Low-sew curtains: 50 minutes of work for a showy result

Guest post by Ashley Anne

I had a length of freshly washed fabric folded up and hung over the railing in the dining room for well over a month. I’d picked it up at the fabric shop directly after reading a how-to for making my own no-sew curtains out of burlap.

Now, I’m not much into burlap, but I was certain I could replicate this style with something a little more my speed. So I purchased some fabric I liked and did a quick sketch to set myself in the right direction (a direction I like to call, “A Hair Short of Winging It”).

Sorry the directions go from the bottom up, by the way. I guess that's just how my brain works

Anyway, so after doing that quick sketch, I ironed the fabric out a bit and then also ironed some creases at the hems (thus making the whole sewing portion of the job much easier).

Next, I sewed my hems, turned the whole thing inside out and sewed it into a tube shape, then finished it off by sewing a rod pocket about two inches wide right along the tube-making seam (so I could kind of “hide” it in the pocket). I’m not going to bother showing you pictures of this stuff because: A) it makes for a really boring picture, B) it’s pretty self-explanatory as far as sewing projects go, and C) if you have any questions about it, I’d love to answer them in the comments!

The next part was seriously the most time-intensive portion– hanging the curtain and getting it to “gather up” right.

After a lot of fussing around with the folds and the length of the ribbon (which is just looped and around and tied in the back, by the way), I finally ended up with something a little cuter.

Ta-daaaah! Okay, okay, so it wasn’t the most difficult sewing project ever, but not bad for an hour’s worth of work, huh?

Homies, how would you tweak this project for your own devious purposes?

Comments on Low-sew curtains: 50 minutes of work for a showy result

  1. I am now inspired to go fix my sewing machine. I have some extra fabric left over from making a bedspread. I love the pattern so much I don’t care if the curtains match he spread! 😉

  2. When I had a house, I was SO ANNOYED with how few CURTAINS there are in the world. Sure, if you want drapes or floor-length sheer panels, you’re going to find an abundance. But curtains? Curtains that JUST cover the windows and aren’t transparent and don’t invite kitties to climb the world? Not so much these days.
    We finally managed to find a curtain somewhat similar to this. MS Paint drawing, in case someone wants something like them. Basically, it has a double layered top portion that doesn’t bunch up at all, then ties sewn in to bunch up the single-layered bottom portion.
    We had them in our bedroom, where a LOT of light would come in. So the non-bunching top portion was really nice.

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