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Anthropologie earrings and dress, Kate Spade Westward Ingenue clutch, Bandolino booties |
Hurray for Friday! I’ve had a crazy exciting week and can’t wait for the weekend. This week’s Friday’s Fancies centers on fall colors. I decided to cheat and make my outfit a combination of fall and my curtain fabric. And I decided to subtly pick up the diamonds in the fabric.
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Premier Prints Annie, Corn Yellow/Kelp Linen |
Now on to the show! After looking at different styles of curtains, I decided to go with hidden tabs on the top. That style (vs. a pole-pocket top) looks cleaner to me. Plus, it’s not as fussy as pleats.
Sewing curtains wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be. The hardest part was taking the measurements and calculating everything. I even drew a mock-up to make sure I wasn’t missing anything. I love this stuff.
To figure out the tab top, I used our Ikea Vivan curtains and this tutorial as a guide. For the actual tabs, the tutorial used heavy grosgrain ribbon. Sturdy and less sewing….perfect! I pulled out some extra ribbon (yes, it’s from wedding gifts from three years ago). John kept trying to throw it out, but I knew it would come in handy at some point!
The tabs on the Ikea curtains are 2.5 inches wide, the same width as the ribbon. The curtain panels are about the same width as my fabric. Ikea has 8 tabs at about 5 inches apart. My curtains would have 8 tabs at about 5 inches apart. The tabs were 3 inches long. So I cut 16 4-inch pieces of ribbon (3 inches, plus a 1/2 inch on each end to be ironed under). Easy breezy.
Now that I had my fabric cut, it was time get my iron and sewing machine on. I folded and ironed under a 1/2 inch on each side of the ribbon tab.
Then I folded and ironed 1/2 inch on each side of the length of the fabric. Then I folded over and ironed another 1/2 inch on each side of the length of the fabric. Now the raw edge of the fabric was neatly tucked inside my 1/2 inch hem.
Now that the sides were complete, it was time to tackle the top of the curtain. I folded under and ironed a 1/2 inch. Then I folded over and ironed 4 inches so the back would have a clean finish. This also created a pocket if I ever wanted to go the pole-pocket route.
Time for the tabs! I tucked the bottom fold of the ribbon underneath the folded fabric. Then I pinned down each side of the ribbon tab. This created little “belt loops” for the curtain rod to slide through. After the tabs were pinned about 5 inches apart, I took everything over to the sewing machine.
This is a better view where you can see the bottom fold of the tab tucked under the fabric. I sewed the bottom part of the tab and hem first. Then I sewed the top part of the tab, making sure I had my 1 inch hem at the top.
Here’s the back of the curtain with the completed tabs!
Hope you have a fantastic fall weekend!
Love the dress but love the curtains more! great tutorial. newest follower, looking forward to getting to ‘know’ you!
great outfit! the print on that dress is great and awesome job on the curtains, love that print as well. i want a sewing machine now and to make cool projects like this
looking good!
Great tutorial. We will be redoing our curtains soon. Some our windows are bare, so I will definitely refer back to this. Thanks so much.
I love it! Your curtains look fabulous – like the modern/a little bit retro fabric and yellow always rocks in my opinion.
My crafty (and also an accountant!) mother helped me figure out how to do the tabs on my curtains. I’m glad you found my tutorial useful.
Looking forward to reading more of your blog…
thank you
Cathy- can you put a link to all your Friday fancies ideas together so I can look at the easier when I am shopping!
Thanks!
I’ll get started on my post about tornados just after we clean up from the hail damage… I guess I’ll have two posts!
happy Birthday!
thanks for the tutorial! Very helpful in making curtains for my family room! thanks so much for sharing!
thanks for the tute, but the link to the tab top tutorial takes me to a page that doesn’t exist anymore. you wouldn’t happen to have it saved somewhere else? i’m trying to estimate from your pictures just how far down the curtain the tabs and rod sit. looks like an inch and a half? thanks for sharing this. i don’t know how people like you find the time, but it sure helps us time deficient folks!
penny
I just read this excellent tutorial. To answer Jeremy’s question, the tab tops are stitched 1 inch from the curtain top, and so that is where it sits on the pole.
great tutorial. My sister bought some fabric months and months ago for me to make her some back tab curtains. I was just about start and so off to google. I found your tutorial and I was amazed when it was the SAME fabric!! Thanks for the easy tutorial and of course you have great taste! I am enjoying the rest of your blog. I also love cupcakes and sewing!
Thanks for the tutorial. It really helps cos I’m making new curtains. Just one question though…. The second seam line on the tabs… Is it all the way across or only on the tabs. Please reply asap because I need to get started. Thanks….. Sonia
Sonia – I sewed all the way across, not just on the tabs.
Wonderful directions and great pictures — everything actually makes sense and definitely looks “do-able”. You make it sound so easy, and I’m looking forward to trying my hand at it. Thanks for your great tutorial!
Brilliant tutorial! Thank you! I’ve been designing mine and this incorporates everything I’m looking for with beautifully finished details! We went with the IKEA curtain rods too.
Hi! I love your tutorial but you didn’t mention where you got the rods? Or did you make them? I am looking to do a wall to wall curtain rod with no “nub” on the end just straight like you have it. any suggestions?
Thanks! I purchased the rods at IKEA, but they don’t sell that specific style anymore. Here’s a previous post that talks about the same rods I used in a different room:
http://www.fiscallychic.com/2011/08/curtain-call.html
Though it looks like IKEA sells something similar, the RACKA curtain rod:
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/S99929241/
The finials are installed separately, so you could always leave them off.
Hi, How do you draw your curtains all the way across to the middle? It looks like the brackets holding up the rods would be in the way?
Lovely fabric by the way
Kate – Thank you! We didn’t shut the curtains all the way, they were more of a decorative accent.