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Saturday, November 10, 2012

Chevron Curtain Tutorial


 After painting our living room grey, I wanted to add some mustard to its life. And preferable chevron. I looked and looked for some cute fabric, and couldn't find anything. So I started looking at fabric online, thinking I could make them if I had to. I found the CUTEST pattern at fabric.com.
 I got 12 yards of this darling fabric for only $100! That equaled 4 - 84" panels and some fabric left over to make throw pillows as well!


 (Lighting not so great in this pic)


And I couldn't be happier with how they turned out! Thanks to my mother, of course. She came down to stay the night and showed me how to make some fancy curtains. :-P  It actually was pretty easy! I busted out my old sewing skills from high school and she used her years of knowledge from working in a sewing factory. haha. 

I'll walk you through the steps in case you want to know how to make some for your home!! 

Step 1: Take in the sides.
You want the width to be equal on both sides, but this can be done by "eye balling" it. Fold the sides in about .5 inch and press it down with an iron the entire length of the fabric.
Fold the folded/pressed section over on top of itself and press with iron again to ensure no unraveling. 

 Then sew along the inner seam all the way down, staying in a straight line. I used a heavy duty polyester thread. Be sure you adjust your tension setting before starting.


Once you finish all of the sides, all you have left is the top hem and bottom hem. These are done the same way. 

Step 2: Top hem.
You want to make sure your pocket will be large enough for your curtain rod. Fold the edge of the fabric down and adjust the length to the right size pocket.

You can use your finger to measure!


Again, once you have the correct amount of fabric for the pocket, iron down to make a crease. Use a tape measurer to ensure a perfectly straight line. We measured each tip the same length and then ironed it down.  I used just the metal tip of the tape measurer for each mustard peak in pic below.



Cut excess fabric and then iron the edge down .5" - only this time you won't fold it again. Just fold it once and you're ready to sew.





 Sew again along inner edge - you will need to reverse stitch at the beginning and end for a secure hold.



 Step 3: Bottom hem
This is done the exact same way as the top hem, but you will want to hang your curtains in the rod to see where they hit the ground. Use safety pins/pins to measure where you want them to hit along the floor.
(If you are doing two panels side by side, I recommend laying each curtain on top of each other once one is finished and the right length - then you can measure them to be the exact length much easier.)
This hem will be MUCH shorter than the top hem, because you won't be placing a rod through it. 

After you finish, iron the wrinkles out, hang up your beautiful master piece, and enjoy!!



XOXO
Mrs. Phelps