Thursday, August 9, 2012

No Sew Curtain Hems


One of the bungalow's biggest assets is it's tall ceilings and tall windows. They allow the entire house to feel so much larger than a two bedroom home, but with big windows and tall ceilings you get areas that need longer curtains. I cannot do typical 84 inch curtains, and this drives me crazy! They are simply more affordable and readily available at retailers in an array of fun fabrics, so I get frustrated. I'm stuck searching for 95 inch curtains on a barely there budget, and that's no easy task...

I only have one window in the living room, so I only needed two panels. That's the good news. The bad news is that every curtain I found and could afford didn't come in the longer length I needed. Finally, I settled on some plain white panels for $12.99 each at Target. They were 95 inches, but when I got them home and hung, they were even too short.




They also lacked the wow factor I look for in window treatments. I kicked around ideas of stenciling them and taping them off and painting stripes, but those projects just ended in a fail. In fact, I ruined one panel and had to go back to Target to replace it. I even tried hanging a new, more substantial rod one night that I scored for $2.97. Take a look at how that ended up...




I was starting to feel defeated. I put the original rod back in place and tucked the new one back into my closet.

After racking my brain and looking at the boring panels in dismay for weeks, a light bulb came on. I had plenty of fabric left over from my stool project. I originally bought two fabrics, because I couldn't decide in the store which to use. It was only $7.99 worth of fabric left {one yard}, but it would be enough!

Just in case you missed it, here's the little stool...




Anyway, I'm impatient. I also don't own an actual sewing machine of my own {I borrow my mom's when I desperately need to}, BUT you bet your booty I have the BEST tool known to resourceful DIYers....a hot glue gun! I think you know where I'm going with this...




Yep! I just measured and cut the fabric to length {leaving slack for hems}. Then, I figured out how wide I needed it to be, so the finished curtains would just brush the floor. After I had my measurements right, I folded the new fabric in half, folded both top edges in and secured with hot glue. This way I had a solid strip that was finished on both sides and all the way around. I basically just glued where I would have ran a sewing machine to accomplish a finished piece. Folding the fabric in half also gave the strip more weight, so it would hang better.

I also turned in the edges on both ends and secured with glue. For the last step, I just lined my finished strip up with the existing curtain hem and glued them on using the white curtain panel hem as a straight guide. It was really easy and only took about an hour to complete the entire project! Of course, I'll never be able to wash them, but I'm not really a wash the drapes kind of chick...




I'm really pleased with the entire outcome. Now, I just need to glue/sew/buy a throw pillow for the chair...




and the before again...




That same night I framed an awesome new piece of scrapbook paper for my gallery wall.
{$.50 update}




Who's busting out their hot glue gun tonight?!



Crystal xoxo




5 comments:

  1. AWESOME!!! Love it - I'm not big on sewing so I really appreciate this post;) ~Liz@NaptimeDecorator

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  2. WOW!! Those look super great!! Nice FIX girl!

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  3. Wonderful Idea. Sometimes I use bed sheets, and fold over the tops so that the decorated edge will be a decorated valance. Most sheets are quite long and some have wonderful top edge trims. The end results is exactly like it would be on a bed, in which the decorated edge is folded forward on the bed so that the PRETTY shows. Use a DOUBLE line of straight stitches across the folded edge, leaving a rod pocket. I like your hint even better.

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  4. love it! hot glue is the best and these rocked!!!

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  5. Great minds think alike!! I have that same 'key' print on some throw pillows : ) It's even better on your teeny stool though!

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