simple sewing

I've been making cafe curtains for the kitchen, dining room, and craft room.

Our house is small and I like our windows.  We never get so much sun that we really need to block it out, so I thought sheer cafe curtains would add a bit of depth and privacy without taking away light.  Floor length curtains can be heavy and formal and need large rooms.  Cafe curtains are casual, whimsical and dare I say, cottage-y?

I bought floor length curtain fabric from Ikea, sheer white with gray flowers for $14; after covering six windows, I have a half a panel extra!

To create each panel I measured the height and width of each window (they vary).  Because cafe curtains hang from the window's mid-point, the height of each panel is half of its respective window, and since each window needs two panels, the width of each panel is about two-thirds of the window's width, to allow for gathering.  I added one inch at the top of each panel to account for the curtain rod pocket and a quarter of and inch at the bottom for the hem.  I hemmed the right and left sides a quarter of an inch as well.

The sewing is pretty straightforward, I recommend measuring, pinning and ironing hems before sewing.

I added oatmeal colored bias tape at the bottom of each panel to give the curtains a stronger edge.

After hanging brass-colored cafe curtain rods from JoAnn and Target, each $3, I slid the panels on and they suddenly turned into curtains.  Done!