How to make EASY drapes!

My favorite time of the day is when Zac comes home and we eat dinner together. It's so nice to catch up after he's been gone all day and enjoy a good (usually) meal. Unfortunately, behind Zac's angelically bearded face is this ugly, un-curtained window. I totally hated it. Until yesterday. Remember I told you I was making drapes, well, I did! And I'm so glad I just went ahead and made them myself. I saved even more money than I would've buying Target curtains. And these are made by me and are probably better fabric. The key here is shopping at the HOME fabric store. This place is amazing, although a little intimidating. If you go, try to have a good idea what you're looking for. I got this great designer weight fabric for $6 a yard. It said it was $7, but that lady there must really like me:) So it was only $38 including tax! Remember what this window looked like before?

Well, here's what it looks like now!

Likey? Ready to make some yourself?! Well here you go!


What you'll need:


6 yards of fabric, cut in half, like a hamburger, so you'll have 2, 3 yard pieces (you will have some extra leftover)

measuring tape

scissors

iron

sewing machine loaded with plenty of thread

1. Measure your length of fabric to 91" (for 84-85" drapes) Cut off the excess fabric.

2. Before you measure 91" for the second drape, cut the edge of the fabric so you're starting at the same design point. This way the pattern will be at the same point on both drapes. Then cut it at 91".

3. Iron in about 1 1/2" of the selvage. This will be on the long side (the 91" side).

4. Then fold over again and iron down. Now repeat these two steps for the other side of the panel.

5. Sew a straight stitch all the way down both sides of the panel where you just ironed. I just keep the left side of the presser foot on the edge of the fabric as shown here.

6. Now you're going to iron down the top of the panel. Fold over, iron. Fold over again, iron again.

7. Then sew down with a straight stitch as shown here.

8. I wanted my drapes to be about 85" long, so I just measured where that would be, and then ironed it down.

9. I then folded in the cut off edge so I wouldn't have a raw edge showing. Then iron again and sew it down! Repeat all the ironing and sewing steps to complete two panels.

And here are the final results! I measured my drapes one last time so my man could hang the curtain rod at the right height so my drapes were just touching the ground.

Here's what I see as I come up the stairs! Last night I kept walking up and down so I could see it again and again!

One more view- I'm so happy with how they turned out! And they only took half a naptime- an hour and a half to complete!

Fabric: $38

Curtain rod: $25

Curtain rod clips (2): $10

Total cost: $73

I'm linking this to Today's Creative Blog