Curtains - DIY

I love trips to IKEA I could spend hours there wandering around and buying all those little bits for a household. We went there other day and one of the thing we bought was a very cute black fabric with white and orange Koi carps print. My boyfriend is a huge fan of Koi carps, so we decided to make a new curtains in a living room :)

DIY curtains - What you need:

- Fabric 5m long, at least 120cm wide (The best fabric for curtains is heavy       cotton, thick polyester fabric, or any firm, durable  fabric)

- sewing machine

- matching sewing threads

- scissors

- gathering tape

- Iron-on tape if you like for bottom hemming (I haven't used it at the end)

Step 1: Measure and cut fabric. I measured the length between the curtain rail and the floor and added about 5 cm on the bottom to account for the hems. To cut the fabric right, lay it out on a large flat surface - table is not enough, I lay it out on a floor. If using a patterned fabric it is important to make sure each drop starts ate the same point in the pattern so that the design flows across the window. 

Step 2: Sew the side hems as per below picture, allowing at least 1,5 cm for hemming. 

Step 3:  Press the top of the curtains down (about 2cm) to the inside and sew the curtain tape across the top of the wrong side of the curtains. Fold in ends and stitch along outside edges ensuring that the strings are not caught in stitch line. 

Now your curtain top corner should appear like this:

Below is a guide how to make equal ruffles by tying strings on gathering tape and also how to attach the curtain on a rail using plastic clips. 

Step 4: Sew the bottom hem on each curtain.

 

And that's it! Your new curtains are ready to be pressed and hang! :)