One of the things on my to do list was to fix the bedroom curtains. Â I’ve been trying to not spend a lot of extra money and make do with what I have so I took our old living room curtains and rods from the farm and decided somehow they’d have to work for our bedroom.
I hung them second day we were at the house….UGH. …too long.
I wasn’t especially happy with the tab feature either. Â Being our house has lots of antiques, the tabs just didn’t seem to fit.
My other problem was that the other window on the north wall is shorter than the windows on the east wall. Â Another problem was that the curtains have the darker section on both the top and bottom. Â How could I hem them to match when taking into consideration the sizes of the two windows AND the top and bottom of the curtains.
We’ve been living with them like that for some time. Â We just needed something to cover the windows and darken the room. Â The curtains were doing that much.
I debated about it for some time…I debated about it until Saturday when I just said I had to do it. Â If it didn’t turn out, there was really no loss. Â They would be better than what they were at this point so I took the curtains down and started out by cutting off the the tabs and the facing piece connected to the tabs.
Next I turn the curtain pieces upside down. Â The bottoms would now be the tops. Â I sewed one seam across making a casing for the rod. Â From there, I hemmed them. Â Nope, not a perfect job but I am happy with them for now.
For the smaller window I just cut a chunk of the middle section of the curtain out and added the darker part back on….again not perfect but I am happy with them for now.
They give us privacy and are a good color for the room. Â They darken the room so we can sleep…sounds like a good curtain to me…. Â I am so glad I am not picky. Â I’m keeping my eyes open for something different but if I have these for a few years, I’m okay with that too.
You did exactly what I would have suggested and would have done myself. I like them and they work! Win/win!
Jo, I love your perspective. If anyone criticizes what’s in my bedroom, then they don’t need to be in there. I’d rather spend money on quilting supplies than curtains. All I need is something to cover the windows so the neighbors don’t see me changing clothes!
Done is sometimes better than perfect! I would need light-blocking shades under them though. It doesn’t take much light to ruin my sleep.
i think about the same way you do… just get something up there to do the job! i once found four pairs of curtains at dollar general for five bucks. two pair were one color and the other two were another. up they went in my bedroom and living room. and when we got a kitten and it climbed the curtains, making snags, i did not care! we LIVE in our house, it’s not a museum. and from the amount of dust and clutter, we really LIVE there! hahaha.
Hey,
I live in an 100 year old Victorian house with 35×72 inch long windows and beautiful wood work that I do not want to cover. I also have expensive fabric shades that open from top or bottoms on the windows so that the wood work was showcased.
Our town, last summer also put in a new whipfizz street light with LED’s. One is outside of our bedroom window. This street light, is exact height of my window and light was like neon….Per our request, the city turned the bulbs. Even with these things, it is still like car lights parked shining into the room for a perfect finger puppet show on the opposite wall….
I went to the fabric store and bought 60 inch wide room darkening curtain backing, that stuff in hotel windows?? It does not need sewing to finish the edges. I think it was $3.00 a yard or less with a coupon. I had to get 6 yards due to three windows. While there, I saw some fabulous printed duck style fabric that was also 60 inches wide…. (I saw yesterday, Hobby Lobby has a great selection of designer duck fabric and a 40% coupon option.). When I measured the designer fabric, I did go width x 82 inches so the fabric touches the top of the baseboard and shows the wood when closed, but not light….. I was not committed to the time to sew everything together, or make a hem or casing…..so, I hemmed the 4 sides of the duck fabric like hemming jeans, and cut the liner to length of window and machine top sewed to the back of fabric with a machine basting stitch….. I let the liner hang, but machine tacked the liner to the bottom of the duck fabric…. Then I took the joined pieces and used those cafe curtain clips I got at Target to put the pieces on a curtain rod….they slide to one side like a dream. (and I am a short person). I still have my expensive shades too, which I show during daylight, but the curtain blocks the street light and morning sun. The print fabric I got looks pretty kewl on those cafe clips and the drape of the curtain seems, romantic??…I did put clips about 7 inches apart….Also.I did this, with minimal sewing and machine basting on the liner so if I get tired of the fabric, I can reuse the liner on another piece of fabric. The liner does get holes from the machine needle.
This liner process worked so well that, for the rest of the bedrooms which had grommet style top curtains, I also top sewed the darkening backing to the back of the old curtain tops on the area under the grommets and let the liner panel hang. Then I machine tacked it on each side at the bottoms. I did not have to spend $$ on new curtains. Took little time to do this sewing, cutting the room darkening material square was the hard part…get a 1/2 yard extra in case your piece was not cut off the bold straight…. It was an unexpected need, but I am very happy with how this works and how it fit into my budget.
I would consider an old designer trick of making the windows appear the same height, by putting the small window rod same height as large window rod.. Your rod maybe to the ceiling, but I think it would be okay…you can place a long narrow art picture above the short window and between the taller rod, for the days the curtain is open…..might I suggest, one of your table runners, or those popular vinyl words?
You are so talented and I love the care you have put into your new home! Thanks for sharing.