Swirl curtains

I desperately needed some curtains for my office. So I decided to make some super simple ones. Of course it’s never that simple with me.

I decided on a great pink fabric with swirlies. Love it. But I didn’t want bright fuchsia to show from the street so I decided to line the curtains with blackout fabric. Here’s what I did.

I started by cutting 4 pieces of fabric the desired height plus 1 inch for seam allowance and just used the width of either fabric.

Then I sewed them together at the sides to make a tube. Turn the tube inside out.

In my case, the pink fabric was a bit wider which worked out nicely giving a little edge.

I know she meant well, but Minnie really wasn’t helping. She has a knack for laying down on anything fabric that’s on the floor–curtains, veils, rugs, pants, you name it.

At any rate, pin those edges down and do a nice top stitch down each side so that your “tube” stays flat.

I used the edge of the presser foot as my guide.

Next even up your edges and make sure your two pieces (now that you’ve sewn them together) are the same length. Cut them if they’re not.

On each, fold down about 3/8″ on one unfinished edge. This will be the top. I could have sewn and then folded again if I was being meticulous about this, but since no one will see this part, I’m not being that way.

Now you want to really make sure your two pieces are the same length. Lay them on top of each other and double check one more time.

If they’re not, here’s your chance to fix it when we do the bottom hem. Just fold up more or less as needed so that they end up the same length. Though ideally if you cut them even as mentioned before, then there shouldn’t be a problem. So fold them up like you did the top and then fold again so you get a nice hem. You can see how I did it in the picture above.

Now the curtains are done. Time to hang them up!

I got this great rod with swirlies on the end that matches the curtain fabric great. Since I was going for the super simple curtains, I just went with the rings with clips. It doesn’t get much easier 🙂 I’m not going to go into how to put up a curtain rod but it helps to have a level and a second person.

Here’s what it looked like before: