new curtains

How does the additional of new curtains make home feel more like home?

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!