Easy No-Pattern Curtains

Well, I had finished Sissy's curtains a couple of weeks ago, and would like to share the process with you. The only part of the project that is not "officially" done is the ruffle border; I purchased about 18" too little of the lacey ruffle that I am using and haven't decided how I want to handle that yet.
It is so bright here in the mornings, I new Sissy and the new baby would need a nice dark curtain to help keep their room dark when it needs to be. So we opted for a double layer dark purple curtain and a matching Tinkerbell valence.


Curtain Panels:
First, you will need to measure your window area and decide how full you want your curtains and how long you will need them. For example, if you only want slightly full curtains, purchase enough material to make the ending width of your curtains one and a half times the width of your window. The more full you want your curtains, the more width you'll need to purchase in fabric. The girls' room window is 35" wide. The fabric I bought was 45" wide and I used two separate 45" panels to make the main curtain. So after seam allowances, the fabric width is about 88" with both panels together. Very full and I love it! In addition to fullness, you'll need to determine the length of fabric you need. Will you have a tall ruffle at the top? How far past your window do you want the curtains to hang? I have a fairly tall ruffle at the top, since the fullness of the panels supports the height, and the panels hang about 6 or 7 inches below the windows.

Second, I always pre-shrink and iron my fabric. The only exception here would be if it was a dry clean only fabric.

Third, prepare your fabric for sewing. Since I was making the panels a double thickness, I just folded each panel in half (inside-out) and pinned the sides to prepare it for sewing. I also marked the curtain rod opening on each side of the curtains.

Due to the fullness, I measured 4" from the top for the top of the rod opening, and measured 1-7/8" from there for the bottom of the rod opening. I marked the openings with a double pins. The width of your rod opening depends on the width of rod you'll be using. Right now we do not have decorative rods for the girls' room, but I look into my crystal ball...I see them in our future ;) But, I'm not sure how wide the rods will be so I wanted to leave ample room.

Forth, begin sewing. I prefer to use smaller seam allowances than what most pattern makers allow. I'm just like that, especially when I use my serger or when I'm sewing at the salvage edge, which I did for these curtains. I feel seam allowances is a personal preference. I sewed the sides together at 3/8" being sure to stop and leave the rod opening unsewn.

The bottom of the curtain, I sewed using 1/2" seams, leaving about a 8" opening for turning the curtain panels right-side-out.

Before I turned the panels, I trimmed the corners to ensure a nice straight corner on the outside.

Fifth, turn panels right-side-out and press all seams and corners. At this point, I pulled my 8" opening up through the rod opening and machine-sewed it closed. I wasn't looking forward to doing that much hand stitching, when it occurred to me that I had the rod opening to use. YAY!!

Sixth, finishing touches.

Mark top and bottom seams for rod opening across the width of the curtain and sew. I also top stitched about a 1/4" seam all the way around to give the edges a bit more definition.


Valence:
First, again here you'll want to determine the width, length and fullness you want for the valence, and from there determine the amount of fabric you'll need. Then cut the number of sections from your fabric to sew together to make the valence. Remember to include seam allowances in your calculations!

Second, sew the panels together and iron the seams flat.

Third, hem top, bottom and sides. I used a rolled hem technique, sewing my hem by 1/4" and then by 1/4" again. However, for the top my second hem was a 1/2" hem.

Forth, sew the rod opening. I saved about 2-1/2" thickness of the purple fabric from my panels to use for the valence rod opening.

I pressed and hemmed the edges of the purple fabric to fit inside the valence. Measure where to place the rod material and pin in place.

Sew the top seam for the rod opening and press fabric down. Measure and fold under the rod opening fabric for the bottom seam.

 

I measured at 2" so I could sew at 1-7/8" on the top just like the panels. Finish sewing the rod opening seam, press and hang!

Finished product (without the lacey trim I wanted).

The color matches the girls' room decor so well, and REALLY keeps the light out when necessary!! LOVE IT!!! Now to finish the master bedroom curtains so we can actually sleep in too!!

Enjoy!