My Husband "Subvet" says that when our first son "Sonshine" was born the sun rose on our world, when our second son "Gator" was born the sun laughed and when our daughter "Sugars" was born all the flowers bloomed. That says it all.

"Life is not about waiting for the storms to pass...
It's about learning how to dance in the rain."
Anonymous

Your mind is the garden, your
thoughts are the seeds, the harvest can either be flowers or weeds. — William
Wordsworth

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

sheetsy curtains.

Adrienne posted about making drapes without sewing. And I promised her I'd tell how I made curtains out of sheets.


I love starting with a pretty sheet to make curtains because most of the sewing is already done for you!



I like to pick ones like this purple curtain that have a pretty edge or piping on the top of the sheet. Then this becomes the bottom of the curtain! This was originally one of two curtains for a double window. After we moved I folded the sheet over several times, sewed the pocket for the rod and this now fits the small door window in our bedroom. Having it folded several thicknesses adds for better light filtering as this window faces west.


In one apartment we had an entire wall of 7 foot windows. To cover these I made these curtains...two of which now "hide" our laundry/water heater area from our dining area.


These started life as flannel sheets.


Fold over the top of the curtain so that it's the right length for your window, then sew TWO seams. The first about 1/2-1" from the fold and the other about 1 1/2-3" below the first depending on the width of your curtain rod. This makes the pocket for the curtain rod.

What's the difference between sheets on a rod and curtains??
The ruffle you made by putting that first seam 1/2" or so below the fold! Honestly, without that little ruffle it looks like sheets on a rod...with it they look like curtains. Just remember when measuring how far down to fold the sheet that your curtain will hang at that first seam not at the fold, so add that extra 1/2-1" in your measurements.



Now, because I'm a sap. I also added a bit of lace at the bottom of these sheets.




And there you have it, easy peasy curtains!

And if you go here you can see what Stephanie did with some old sheets to make her curtains!

6 comments:

Susan said...

Nine!
Susan

Diane@Diane's Place said...

I've made many a curtain from old or new sheets, among other things. If you buy a comforter set and want curtains to match or coordinate, buy the matching or coordinating sheets and sew away.

Got my packages today! Thanks! for some of it, and a hearty "what were you thinking?!?" regarding some of the rest of it, lol! ;o) Post to follow later tonight or more likely tomorrow. I'se TARD tonight.

Thanks again, SisterFriend. :o)

Love and big hugs,

Diane

Stephanie D said...

7 ft-tall windows! Wow!

At Halloween, I put up some twin-sized black sheets that I made into curtains. They're really cheap at Wal-Mart and look all nice and spooky from the inside and really darken the house from the outside. For those, though, I don't bother with the extra ruffle.

Stacey said...

You really are a very resourceful person, indeed! These are very effective ways on how to make window curtains out of your own sheets at home. This is a very practical idea to recycle things at home. Window curtains are really one great window coverings that would really bring beauty to your own window and even your whole house as well.

Lisa said...

Great tips! I am all about easy when it comes to sewing. Oh, yes. I've been repurposing the lovely already-hemmed easiness of sheets for a while now, too. We took the broken doors off our closets in the master bedroom and used sheets to cover them just like your pic above. Sheets on sale are the best way to get large pieces of fabric. We got some to cover our humongous church bulletin board, for example, too...

Linda said...

I'm going to have to remember this the next time I'm looking for something different in curtains and can't find just the color I'm looking for.

Has anyone ever told you how talented you are??