Art Fashion: Tie up curtains (Tutorial)

Tuesday, 16 November 2010

Tie up curtains (Tutorial)

I was asked by my sister to make some curtains for her window and door. She wanted ‘privacy’ curtains more then ‘I want the sunlight blocked’ curtains. We found a fabric the matched great for the house and did not put any backing on it so light would still come through..

want to make some for your house??

Here we go..

You first need to measure the window space you want to cover.

Our window measured 35” x 35” There was an extra 1/8 inch on the length but I didn’t count it since we will add a few inches anyway….

We then cut the fabric. I cut our piece 37” horizontal (giving an extra inch on each side) by 42”(vertical). I will explain further down why we added so much to the vertical length. Cut your fabric and then fold in both left and right sides 1/2” and then fold again another 1/2” so your raw edge is encased. Make sure you iron the fabric flat after each fold. Then stitch each side down.
Then repeat this step for the BOTTOM of your curtain. Now you should have all three sides folded in and stitched closed.

Now we are going to make the top loops for the curtain rod to go through.

Measure your curtain left to right and divide it by how many loops you want. I wanted 7 loops and it equaled out that they were approx. 4 “ apart.

Cut your remaining fabric (or a section of it at a time) into 5” strips.

Fold the strip over (right sides together) and stitch the seam together, leaving the top and bottom open. I used a 1/2” seam making my strip 4” in width. Turn the strip right side out, and iron flat with the seam in the middle.

See the pictures below to match the steps….

Fold in half stitch seam

attached safety pin push pin through the tube

Pull pin through entire tube Iron flat with seam in the middle

Once you have ironed flat cut your stip into 8” pieces. If you don’t have enough fabric strips repeat the step above.

Go back to your curtain and lay it out is a large space so it can lay flat. Here is where the extra length comes into place. We cut out fabric at 42” . Fold to top of the curtain down so right sides are together. I folded mine over 5” then iron flat so you have a line through your fabric. I measured 5” on each side/ placed a pin and then folded over to make sure it was straight.

(Yes this doesn’t look even, but it was all even in the end.)

Now you have this crease to use as a guideline.

Fold each of your strips in half with the seam on the inside.

Place them against your crease and in the places you want. I fold my curtain in the middle and place one there. Then one at each end in between those.

It’s hard to see the straps since they blend in…but can you see it there?

Now we need to add the tie straps. I used ribbon because A:Its super easy and B. I didn’t have any more fabric.

You can make the tie’s out of your fabric just follow the same steps as we did for the loops, just make the length the same as your curtain.

Take TWO of your ties and pin them in place like we did our loops. I placed mine approx. 8” in from each side

Once all your loops and ties are placed pin the top down. Then stitch approx. 1/2” from the edge.

Once you have stitched flip the ‘back’ tie over the back and iron them so you have a nice clean/flat top.

Then top stitch the whole thing

Turn your curtain over and fold the raw edge under, iron flat, then stitch.

I did a double stitch because I like the look of it.

You are so close.. Just one last touch to make these look fabulous. Pin the front and back tie together.. This can be tricky since you are doing through the fabric, but just do the best you can.