Making your own curtains allows you to choose from a myriad of fabrics, colors, and styles. It also can save you money. This is a guide about sewing your own curtains.
I also offer further classes aimed at the more elaborate (yet really still simple once you know the 'secrets') curtains and draperies like swags and pinch pleats. Making your own window coverings is simply a matter of being willing to go slowly, and learn the basics.
Not long after I learned how to sew a straight line on a sewing machine, I learned to make simple curtain panels for my bedroom (I was about seven. Seriously, that's how easy it is to make your own curtains!). I used a twin flat sheet, following the instructions in a 1950s era sewing book from the local library and my gran's. I cut the sheet in half then hemmed the raw edges down with a straight stitch by:
LOL, the first time I did it I forgot to make sure the stitching was done to the inside. My first efforts looked inside out up there on the curtain rods and my gran made me pick it all apart and start over. (First rule of sewing? Keep your seam ripper handy:).
If you can sew a straight line on a sewing machine, you can make your own simple curtains. And once you've treasured the taste of that success you will be inspired forward to learning the tricks to making even simple curtains look very elegant. From there you'll be interested in progressing into the more complicated types of curtains like pinch pleated formal draperies.
Here's a great website with lots of good tips and free 'patterns' to make curtains for your home:
Sew Your Own Curtains And Window Treatments
By FrugalSunnie from Scotland
Buy a couple of table cloths, turn the short ends up, and sew an encasing for a curtain rod, and voila, you have a curtain for one window that is elegant and lasting. At that price, you could buy enough to make matching curtains for the whole room.
By amykaye from IN
Make/sew a 1 - 2 inch "rod-pocket" at the top of the pillow case. Insert curtain rod and hang the curtain. This method, of course, makes a much lighter and fuller curtain and requires a bit more sewing.
By Doris from Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
This is a nice project for sewing simple curtains. The author includes helpful tips and step by step photos. It's a simple project and making your own curtains gives you tons of options to match your curtains to your decor.
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I have bookcase from ceiling to floor. I want to make a curtain that covers this using two panels. The problem is my 3 year old gets up in middle of night and plays with the toys that are on these shelves. So I need the curtains to meet in the center of shelving that can open and close easily, but that a child cannot. I know how to do the sides permanently and also the top. But the center area has me stumped.
By Juia B
By Ninny12310/09/2012Have you thought about instead of using 2 panels that open in the middle using one of the window treatments (not mini blinds). Sorry, I don't know what they called, but the one where you pull the cord and they accordion up toward the top toward the top kind of in pleats. Put a valance at the top of you bookcase and it will look like a very pretty window treatment. Of course you would need to make sure to make the cord short enough so that your little one couldn't reach it
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Upgrade Your Sewing: Basic Curtains