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No Sew Curtain Panels.

August 10, 2014 - 4 Comments

Easy, No-Sew Curtain Panels | The Elliott Homestead (.com)

Something about having a baby makes me want to entirely redo my house. Like immediately. Urgently. Like somehow I'm supposed to have it perfectly designed and constructed and cleaned before the madness of a new child arrives. 

Some may call it nesting.

I call it a sickness.

Because only a sick person would attempt to redecorate, organize, clean, and perfect their entire habitat before bearing a child. As if carrying a baby for nine months isn't enough work.

Oh well. I can't fight myself. I give in – at least on occasion. 

First up on the list was re-doing our living room curtains. It'd been awhile since we'd put lipstick on a pig with these curtains back in Alabama and Mama was ready for something prettier – slightly more French – slightly more feminine – slightly nicer. But a quick trip to a local store left me disappointed in my fabric options. Thus, the no sew curtain panel was born. 

I've made a dozen before for various other windows in our house and so I felt like a veteran as I grabbed a few yards of my favorite fabric and a roll of stitch-witch.

Watch out now. I got this. 

Let the fabric fly.

No Sew Curtain Panels

1. Choose your favorite fabric.

I typically use about 2 1/2 yards per panel, depending on the height of the window. And depending on the width of curtain you desire, sometimes that 2 1/2 yards can be cut in half lengthwise to result in two curtain panels. 

2. Grab a few rolls of Stitch Witchery from your local craft store. 

If I'm using a super light-weight fabric, I'll go for the light-weight stitch witchery. If I'm using something heftier, I'll go for the big daddy (something more like THIS). You can find stitch witchery online HERE.

What you need for no-sew curtain panels | The Elliott Homestead (.com)

3. Lay out your fabric and cut to the desired length.

You can be precise and perfect, if you'd like, but we all know that's not my style. I sprawled my fabric out on my semi-clean kitchen floor, measured to the best of my ability, and cut straight across using my Mom's fabric scissors (which used to be really awesome until someone who shall remain nameless tried to use them to cut plastic sheeting). This step took awhile for the poor ‘ol scissors. I think it's time to invest in some new ones.

Step One: Cutting The Curtain Panel | The Elliott Homestead (.com)

As you can see from the picture, I also cut the fabric lengthwise so that each 2 1/2 yard panel actually made two curtains. I wanted a very lightweight and narrow curtain for the living room since we never close the curtains – they're more for decorating and softening the window edges. By cutting the fabric lengthwise, each panel was only roughly 18″ wide.

The first step of no-sew curtain panels | The Elliott Homestead (.com)

See? Two panels! Booya!

And now there's two curtain panels! | The Elliott Homestead (.com)

4. Set up an ironing board and an iron (with steam or a water-filled spray bottle). 

Once your iron is hot, you can lay the first curtain panel across the ironing board and get an idea of what your seam will look like. I usually fold mine back about 1″.

Creating a seam | The Elliott Homestead (.com)

5. Gently lay the stitch witchery in the fold the seam and gently iron.

I find that setting the iron on the seam for about 5-10 seconds, then lifting it up and moving it to the next spot works better than running it back and forth along the seam. 

Essentially, you'll iron the seam. In doing so, the heat of the iron will melt the stitch witchery into glue. Once it's melted into the glue, the stitch witchery will act as a thread and hold the nice, creased seam in place. 

Stitch witchery | The Elliott Homestead (.com)

It's really hard to hold the stitch witch in place, hold the seam over, use an iron, and take a photograph at the same time. Sorry about failing you in that. The photo below shows what the seam will look like after ironing. 

Between these folds of fabric is the melted stitch witch:

A straight edge created by the stitch witchery | The Elliott Homestead (.com)

After doing the entire length of the curtain panel, I do the ends:

Folding the bottom up for corners | The Elliott Homestead (.com)

6. Create a space for the curtain rod.

All that's needed to do this is to fold the top seam over about 4″ and stitch witch the very bottom of the fold. That leaves the top open – room enough for a standard curtain rod to slip right through. 

Creating space for a curtain rod | The Elliott Homestead (.com)

7. Make your husband take down the old curtains.

I just thought this photo turned out particularly funny, so naturally, I had to share. He's so agile. And he also doesn't judge me that my curtains had cobwebs on them. So I love him even more for that.

Removal of the old curtains... | The Elliott Homestead (.com)

8. Hang the beauties.

And then realize you need to take a photography class to figure out how to take photos of curtains hanging in a window. That's tough stuff, man.

The new no-sew curtain panels | The Elliott Homestead (.com)

Aren't they lovely? So light. So cheery.

Can you tell they're not sewn together? No! | The Elliott Homestead (.com)

We're in the process of getting all of our windows replaced with new ones and framed in which will only add to the wonderfulness of these fresh new curtains. On top of that – I see PAINT in my future! Perhaps not today. But soon.

Full length no-sew curtain panels | The Elliott Homestead (.com)

All in all, for four no sew curtain panels that covered our living room windows, the cost was $33 for fabric and stitch witchery. It only took an hour or so of ironing to complete the entire project.

Now that's what I'm talking about. It's progress, baby!

…and now I'm off to complete the next project. Whatever that may be…

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Comments:

  1. Margaret Anne @ Natural Chow

    August 10, 2014 at 6:22 pm

    Oh this is so cool. I want to try this in my dreary kitchen! You make it look so easy. Pinning this for later! 🙂

    Reply
  2. Tina

    August 13, 2014 at 10:26 am

    I love the fabric you chose for the curtains. It makes the room look so sunny and happy! I can certainly relate to the magnitude of the nesting urge. It’s a real thing.

    Also, Shaye, I just want to congratulate you on how great your blog looks and how enjoyable your writing is. Your videos are awesome, too! I live in a suburb and I now want to make butter and ricotta cheese.

    Thanks,

    Tina

    Reply
    • Shaye Elliott

      August 13, 2014 at 5:12 pm

      Thank you, Tina!

      Reply
  3. Kait

    August 30, 2014 at 1:06 pm

    I use flat sheets for my curtains. Just cut open the end of the top hems and run them on the rod. I did all the curtains in my house for around 30 dollars. Unfortunately, Wal-mart is the only place I can find that sells flat sheets separately.

    Reply

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