Wanted: Idiot guide to making curtains

Hello,

I made some for my spare room in an afternoon when we had some unexpected guests staying in our new house, and didn't have any curtains for their (overlooked) bedroom.

Measure the width of the window or above the window, wherever you want to hang them from and double it. Measure the length you want your curtains to be and add about 6 inches for hems to be safe. Get a square of fabric that size, cut it in half for 2 curtains and hem them all the way round.

Get one of those curtain poles from B&Q, Argos etc, or to be really moneysaving, you could even use a length of bamboo pole, broom handle or dowelling maybe sprayed gold or to match your room. Then fold the top of the curtain back over and sew, so you make a "tube" at the top of your curtain, big enough to push your pole through. Then hang your curtains! To make it even easier, instead of hemming the sides and bottom, use Wondaweb or some kind of iron-on hemming material.

If you can, try not to cut the material if possible. This means that you'll be able to take the hems apart the next time you move or want to change them to a different room.

HTH

Mrs. NBT here,professional curtain maker. Tabs are easier , but you can buy clips, kind of like bulldog clips: they go onto the top of the curtain and then a hook attachment slips into the small rings on your pole.

For tabs make sure the pole goes a lot higher then the actual window, if the tabs are say 10cm, you won't want the top of the curtain bit falling below the window, letting in light, so make sure your pole is high enough. This means you'll need to account for the extra drop so the curtains aren't too short! Also, make sure the pole is at least 10cm wider than the sides of your window, to stop light leaking inthe sides. I hope you can follow all this.

Tab topped curtains only need 1.5 times fullness, and be aware when they draw back in daylight the tabs hit each other and can end up taking up light. Again, you can account for this by making sure the pole is a lot wider than your window.


Now for the making. Start hem first. put on a double hem e.g. fold up 9cm, iron in the fold as well as you can, then turn up another 10cms and iron again. Either hand sew (if you have the time) or machine. I allow 30cms for hems and headings.

Now cut the lining to the same size, either make them detatchable or to make it easier, bag line them. To do this, you're essentially going to make the curtains inside out: put the outside face of the lining against the outside face of the curtain material, i.e. "right sides" together, and machine down the sides. At this point, fold back one side of the resulting seam and iron so the two sides lie flat. Now turn through so the ouside are showing and your seams are hidden. Again, iron the curtain.

at this point your two sides are closed, but the top is still open. The bottom of the curtain has a hem and the lining is not attached at the bottom.

Now fold down about an inch at the top of the curtain / lining to give yourself a hem, and make sure the top is straight. This fold should be to the back so it doesn;t show: it's easier to work with the curtains face down here.

Now you need to measure from the bottom hem upwards to find an consistent point to add the tabs (this ensures the curtain hangs straight). Take the tabs you've previously made (blue peter style) and lay them in place, leaving about 15 cm gaps between each tab. sew the tabs onto the folded hem (you can do this by hand so your stiches don't show on the front of the curtain, but machining is quicker and easier)

Now turn the curtain over again and machine sew all the way along the header to hold the lining and the curtain material together, and give a bit of extra support for the tabs

now go hang them - but that's another job in itself as Mr NBT will testify!

Hi Nicki.

I'm a non sewer myself but this site's instructions look pretty easy to follow.

Hi all
Would appreciate some moneysaving advice.
DH just finished putting up new curtain rail in dd2's bedroom, which we unearthed in our recent decluter. Then said 'so when are you going to make the curtains?!'
[We also unearthed some gorgeous curtain fabric and lining I bought a long long time ago, when I was young enough to feel confident about tackling unknown things :rotfl:.] So far so good.

However, I have never made curtains. Never. I've googled making tab top curtains, as I can imagine they should be the easiest, but the instructions I've found assume a lot of prior knowledge. :eek:

We could do with saving the money of buying curtains, as we have some fairly major bills coming up, and it seems a shame not to use what we have in the house. But I haven't a clue. Is it fairly easy? Has anybody else tackled curtains before having not done it and found they managed it. Just need a bit of shove, I think, to feel I can tackle such a scary job.
Thanks.