Having custom made curtains doesn’t have to be expensive! Make your own with this easy peasy DIY curtains tutorial! Sewing curtains is the perfect project for beginner sewists!
How to sew curtains
The perfect curtains are hard to find, from fabric to design to length etc. So why not make your own? This super easy DIY curtains tutorial will show you how to make your own curtains in just a couple of hours! If you know how to sew a straight stitch, you’re perfect for this project! Great idea if you’re looking for simple sewing projects for beginners!
Buying curtains can get super expensive too, especially when you have to buy loads of them. When we moved into a new house, we had to decorate from scratch! Our house had absolutely no curtains and I needed over 300 ft in curtains! That would’ve cost me at least a leg and an arm. And probably a little bit of other body parts too lol And I care about my body parts, so dearly! So I decided to make my own, even though I knew this is so time consuming. But since this is one of the easiest, simple sewing projects for beginners, it would’ve been such a shame not to sew my own DIY curtains, right?
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These easy DIY curtains were so simple to make, I can barely call this a tutorial! All you need is some basic sewing skills. This project consists of a few straight stitches, a little folding and a whole lot of measuring and pinning, which is basically the only “hard” part. And there’s SO.MUCH.FABRIC!!! I never thought I would be able to not love fabric but after this project, I didn’t want to touch any fabric in a while!
We love waking up to a dark room so I got blackout fabric, in a nice neutral color (a light gray with light golden dotty leaves), so it would be a good match to the design and furniture in all rooms. I also like blackout fabric as I don’t need to add lining to make the curtains thicker and block the light. To make the top of my DIY curtains a bit more stiff and to get smaller, thicker pleats, I used header tape which also helped me hang the curtains onto the clips easier. To me this method seems the fastest and easiest while other people prefer grommets on rods.
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And because I’ve been sewing through very thick layers of already thick fabric, I used a jeans needle and jeans thread, while setting the presser foot on my sewing machine to a very low tension level. These curtains might be simple sewing projects for beginners but you still need a little prep before starting to work on them. Test on scrap fabric first and determine the needle size and presser foot tension needed for your fabric. If you don’t know how to play around with tension, check out this short and sweet tutorial.
If you’re wondering why my curtains are so long in the video, it’s because I’m a freak, that’s why! Kidding! Two reasons: I actually like them hanging on the floor a little bit, to me it gives a special touch to a room; and also, we were planning on moving the rods up a little since there was too much light coming through. Which happened pretty soon after shooting the video, as seen in the photos.
DIY Curtains Sewing Tutorial
Materials:
- blackout fabric
- header tape
- jeans needle
- matching jeans thread
- scissors
- pins
- sewing machine
- measuring tape
Directions:
Preparing the materials
- Please note you will need to sew 2 panels for each window.
- Start by measuring the length of your rods. Split that in half. Multiply each half by 2 1/2 and add 8″ seam allowance (4″ for the right seam, 4″ for the left seam). That’s how much width you need in your fabric, for each panel (one for the right one for the left side of your windows).
- Attach the clips to your rod and clip your measuring tape onto those clips. Measure down to the floors and add 8″ seam allowance (4″ for the top, 4″ for the bottom), plus 1/2″ to attach the header tape. This will be the length of your fabric for each panel.
- Roll out your fabric on a large surface, like the floors of your house, measure the fabric according to the above measurements and cut.
Sewing each panel
- Finish the sides of each panel. With the panel wrong side out, measure and fold each side 2″ in, pin, sew down and press.
- Fold one more time, 2″ in, pin, sew down and press. Sides are done!
- With your panel right side out, measure 1/2″ down the top and mark.
- Place header tape wrong side out, so the fabric and tape are facing right sides together, then align the top side of the tape with the mark above. Pin and sew down about 1/4″ down the top of the header tape, stopping about 1/2″ away from the sides of the panel.
- Fold the header tape up. Finger press and iron press (make sure you have the correct setting in your pressing iron).
- Place fabric wrong side out and fold the header tape down, leaving about 1/4″ of fabric “peaking” and pin.
- Sew down the top, middle and bottom of the header tape, making sure not to sew through the strings and the hooks and stopping 1/2″ away from the sides.
Ruffling the panels
- Pull the strings in your header tape to a side, fold the excess tape in, finger press and trim off. Or if your tape is fraying, fold the excess tape under and edgestitch a perpendicular line over the tape.
- Pull strings to gather the top of the panel and create nice, thick, little pleats.
Hemming the curtains
- Now all you have to do is hem the panel. Fold the bottom of the panel, 2″ in, pin, sew down and press. Fold one more time, 2″ in, pin, sew down and press.
And your beautiful DIY curtains are done! Wasn’t this one of the most simple sewing projects for beginners you’ve ever made?
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