Sunday, November 11, 2012

DIY Ruffled Curtains



I've been wanting to make small changes to our kitchen, and shabby ruffled curtains were just the right touch!  Kind of happy with how these bad boys came out.  I mean, I am no seamstress.  Darts are what I throw at a board in the local pub and I still haven't figured out where that third thread comes from, somewhere in the depths of the bobbin.  It's such a mystery to me.

But, I've seen the rage of ruffles (yes, it's a thing) and I've been intrigued with using painter's cloth for a project, so I broke down and dug the sewing machine out of the bowels of the basement.  And I'm glad I did.  :)  Although my curtains are quite different than theirs, I have to credit two blogs for giving me the inspiration:  The Shabby Creek Cottage and Thistlewood Farm.  Check out both links if you can, as they are full of good information.

So, the first step was to head to my local handy, dandy Lowes and pick up a package of the thinnest painter's drop cloths they had.  I opted for the 6'X9' 8oz. cloth, thinking it might be enough (turns out I needed a little more, so I had to buy another package).  I made sure to wash and dry them before using.

Blue Hawk 9-ft x 6-ft 8 Oz. Canvas Drop Cloth

Next, I measured the width of my windows and decided on the length I wanted the valances.  I also knew that I wanted three ruffles, and knew that each ruffle needed to overlap the other by 2".  Also, as you can imagine, your ruffle strips needs to be 4X than the measured width of your window, as you "lose" so much fabric in the ruffling.  Since I'm not a girl about exact measurements (ha!), I decided to take the long end of the painter's cloth (9') and cut them into 6" wide strips hoping they would be long enough.  Since I am making lazy shabby curtains, I am leaving all the ends frayed and not creating a hem.


Now, I don't have one of those fancy, dancy ruffler feet for my machine, so I just winged it:  I folded over the fabric every 1/2" to 1 1/2", varying it so it wouldn't look so uniform.  I used a simple long, straight stitch.  (The hem you see is the original edge of the painter's cloth.)


When I was finished, this is what it looked like:


Now, after making my three ruffled strips, you need something to stitch them to.  So I measured the curtain size I wanted (width and length of the curtain) and cut a piece of painter's cloth that exact size.  I pinned my first strip, making sure the bottom of my ruffle matched the bottom of the back fabric, and stitched it on, going across the same stitch I made making the ruffles.


After stitching the first strip on, I then trimmed any excess of the ends (turns out using the 9' width worked out perfectly).  I then attached the second strip, overlapping by 2".  The final strip was stitched right at the top.  I knew I wanted to use black clips on the curtains (due to the black chairs in the kitchen), so I just clipped and hung away!



                          

 The kitchen door window was a bit smaller, so I sized down the ruffles.


Overall, I'm very happy with the curtains.  My husband does wish I had hemmed the edges, but he is not on the same side of shabby that I am.   :)

Have a shabby, ruffled day!



Debbie 



32 comments:

  1. Love these curtains! I am your newest follower...found you on Hometalk.

    Jennifer @ Decorated Chaos

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  2. Love it! They turned out so cute!!!! Much cuter than mine! You go girl!

    blessings,
    karianne

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  3. Your curtains are adorable!!! You need to keep that sewing machine out & ready to go!

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  4. They are fantastic! I'm like you... Sewing is really noot my thing and I hate measuring too!! I've been wanting to make sime go these for my kitchen window and I like that you left the edges unfinished! Now I just have to decide whether to use drop cloth or burlap!!

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  5. They look great! I like the unhemmed--they lay better :) Enjoy them :)

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  6. So cute! I love the shabby look and those ruffles!

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  7. Your new curtains are amazing. Love the look. ;o)

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  8. Very nice. Love them. I am featuring this at somedaycrafts.blogspot.com

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  9. Oh...I so luv these! Think I just might make some for my kitchen sink window:)

    Blessings,
    Linda

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  10. they definitely turned out cute! I am pinning this pretty post! thanks for sharing.

    Hugs,
    Lelanie

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  11. The diy ruffled curtain is beautiful. Have a look at it

    Curtain

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  12. Informative post to make hand made curtains.For Professional and decorative curtains
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  13. I think your ruffled curtains are the best that I have seen in the blog world. They look really cute and I love the one over the door. I have some dropcloth valances in my kitchen also. I love them.

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  14. These curtains are so frilly and sassy! They look like you paid big bucks for them!!! What a great tutorial! Thanks for sharing them at TUTORIALS TIPS AND TIDBITS!

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  15. All the curtain designs are looks fantastic.And the content is also well informative.
    They looks more attractive in frill shaped.
    Curtain Rails
    Interior Designers

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  16. I'm thinking of making something similar to this. I was wondering about the price of the cloth at Lowe's, if it is better than buying it by the yard at the fabric store.

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  17. I’m flattened for your blogs writings and blogs as well.
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  18. I can wear that, you know! :)) You just picked a very fitting color and fabric. Working with ruffles is tricky as it can take you to extreme outcomes. If you choose bright colors, it would be too girly. On the other hand, ruffles hardly create an impact with dark schemes, unless your theme is Gothic. Roxie@www.WindowTreatmentsPhiladelphia.com

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  19. AH! So excited to have found this! I had bought a bunch of drop clothes for the windows in the family room/kitchen. But wasn't loving the full length look (the room is weird and my couch has to be backed up to on of the windows... ocd) These will be perfect with the current blinds. Thank you!

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  20. Thanks for the blog & instructions! Really cute!

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  21. Although my curtains are quite different than theirs, I have to credit two ... bcurtains.blogspot.com

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  22. Easy hemming can be done with fabric glue, but yours are perfect as they are! I am not much of a seamstress either (self taught) and I find that when I launder my home made hemmed curtains they end up looking like this!

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  23. what size did you use for the window on the door? i have super small windows in my bath (very old house), I want something on them though.

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  24. Great curtains. I LOVE the rod set though and was wondering where you got it.

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  25. It was gobsmacked blog! my friends must see this. I will tell it when we have time for curtain cleaning.

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  26. This is very helpful and explained well thank you about your curtains, however sadly we stopped using imperial in the 60s so all of the measurements in the blog are quite confusing,Sorry. I hope to find a similar one using metric

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  27. I love this diy rufted curtains.......thank you so much for this informative blog which you do for us, I also sell best designs of curtains with discounts go deal now here.

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  28. Your curtains are looking amazing! A best curtain" is a piece of cloth intended to block or obscure light.

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