How To Make Curtains

A few months ago, I asked y’all for help deciding on a curtain color for our bedroom and I had a reader suggest going with another pop color like coral. And like the next week, seriously, I found the most perfect coral tray for our bedroom at none other than Target.

I loved the look of the coral with the aqua dresser and decided to try and find some coral curtains to match. But much like gray, coral is a tricky color and just like lamps, curtains are expensive. 

I was not about to spend $100+ on four curtain panels for our room so I turned to Pinterest and learned how to make curtains for much, much cheaper!

You’ll need one flat sheet per window. I accidentally ordered a twin rather than a full so they weren’t as fluffy but we’ve got hefty blinds in our house and the curtains are really just for decorations. Next time, I’ll use a full sheet to have a little more substance.

Keep in mind, sheets are pretty thin and sometimes might not hang like a heavier fabric or shield a lot of light. Adding a liner could fix both of these problems, though.

I was a little nervous about ordering the sheets online because you never know what color they may actually be but I stuck with the Threshold brand from Target {the same brand as my tray} and they match perfectly. This color must be discontinued from stores though, because I could only find the flat sheets on Amazon.

I ended up paying $19.99 for each sheet, bringing the price of my curtains to just under $50 including shipping. If you do the math, that’s right around $12 per panel and much more in my budget.

You may be thinking you have to be a seamstress to make your own curtains and while there is some sewing required, it’s very basic. Trust me, if I can do it, anyone can! I didn’t take step-by-step pictures because there were really only two steps since I used a sheet and Chelsea at Two Twenty One has an excellent tutorial to follow.

The first thing I should have done {but didn’t because I was too excited to get them up} was wash and dry the sheets to allow for any shrinkage. This would have also made the ironing much easier! Instead, I folded the sheet in half, hotdog style, and cut the sheet into two pieces.

Since the sheet was already hemmed on the outside and top edges, it left one long side that needed to be hemmed. Normally, I would have folded the edge over, ironed it, folded it over again, ironed it again and then hemmed it on my sewing machine but Cory’s grandmother {who is an actual seamstress} has a machine that will do the fold as it goes. Hello, time saver!

I ran them over to her and she had them hemmed in about 3 minutes.

It worked out almost perfectly that the sheets were the right length {a tad bit long but not enough to worry about} so I didn’t need to hem the top or bottom anymore than they already were. I put the wider hem, which would be the top of the sheet, at the bottom of the curtain to give it a cleaner look.

I hot glued ribbon that was approximately 1 1/2 x 3 inches to the back of the curtain to make the tabs, spacing them about 4 inches apart. I debated whether or not to sew them on but the hot glue worked just fine. Next time, I will move them farther down the curtain {away from the top} an inch or so to be certain they don’t show.

And there ya’ go! Easy, right? I’m so glad that I figured out how to make curtains myself rather than fork over the $$$.

One last little thing…did you notice the curtain rods? I used my new favorite gold spray paint {that I used to paint my lamps} to dress them up my old, dark rods. I’m telling ya, you can’t go wrong with this paint!

this post is linked up with Motivational Monday, Hit Me with Your Best Shot, Moonlight & Mason Jars, The Makers, DIY Inspired, Work It Wednesday, Pretty Preppy Party