Sew Easy

I recently borrowed my sister-in-law's sewing machine to sew some curtains for our home. I was tired of our bare windows and really wanted to add some color and pattern & soften the look of our rooms up a bit with some fabric! I was pretty motivated to sew our curtains myself because a) it's more economical and b) I am not limited by the curtain selection I can find in a store, and I can choose any fabric I want and any style my heart desires! I was extremely inspired by mistreatments by The Nester, so I set off to find the perfect fabric. I found two perfect patterns, a paisley and a stripe, that complemented each other well and shared a similar color palette, which was important because we have two sets of windows in one large open great room. I wanted to use a different fabric in our kitchen bay window than on our living room window. After a tutorial from my sister-in-law, I was off and sewing for the first time since junior high home ec!

I must come clean for you Nester fans. I didn't execute in true Nester form because I decided to sew. The fabric I selected seemed to fray easily, so I decided to be safe rather than sorry and put in some hems. I also wanted to give the pleated curtain some added structure for the pleats, so I backed the paisley fabric with a liner.

I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was and how quickly I was able to finish the project!

For our kitchen bay window, I sewed one long panel, then I folded evenly measured overlapping pleats and used a clip ring on the overlapped material.


I then ironed each pleat to give it a crisp edge.

I didn't want to sew each pleat in because it allows me much more versatility in the future! If we move down the road or I want to use the panel differently, I have one long piece of fabric to work with and can adjust the curtain to any window or style if I want or need to make a change. I was really happy with how it turned out and got exactly the look I was going for!


I used the striped fabric to make some basic vertical panels that pool in the floor for our living room window.


The overall look! (Please excuse the *mess* of cords in the floor!!!)

I wish that we had better natural lighting in our house for photos so you could get a more true idea of the colors. But, I appreciate the natural shade of the trees and porch to help shield us from the hot Texas sun! I absolutely adore both of the fabrics and love how they bring out the blue and green shades of paint on our walls! It's amazing how much homey-er a room feels with the simple addition of curtains!