Fabulous Drapes

I've been redoing my den lately and I am so excited at what it is becoming. Before we had a large straight couch hiding our pretty curved wall of windows so I am having fun accenting the windows now. I am doing a black and white theme of all different patterns. Pick 3 or so pattern you like to decorate your room, adding solid color at specific points to break it up.

Drapes can be so expensive, yet fabric add so much warmth to a room. Sewing your own drapes saves tons of money! Even a beginner can sew drapes because they are just large rectangles.

I have 12 foot ceilings and I wanted to sew 6 panels of drapes for 5 tall, skinny, and closely spaced windows. Putting the drapes up against the ceiling will highlight their height.

You will need:

-For six 12 foot panels: 18 yards of patterned fabric and 6 yards of plain fabric to sew at the bottom to break up the pattern a little.

-You will also need 2 x6 wood

-a table saw

-3 inch long bolts (3/8 diameter)

-drill

-staple gun

Optional: someone to operate all of these tools!

1. Sew, sew, sew. This project took me 6 hours of sewing, but it is easy work since all you are sewing is seems. Do not sew the top that will be against the ceiling (it will save time)

2. I cut the wood into six 18 inch pieces because the distance between my windows was only six inches. You want the curtains to slightly overlap your windows, but not too much.

3. Hand gather and staple gun the fabric on the top of the wood so that when you screw the wood pieces into the ceiling, the ends will be hidden. I did a basic EVEN accordion fold and stapled every inch or so. (sorry I don't have pictures of this part!). I found the middle of my fabric and stapled that to the middle of the wood and worked outward on each side in order to try to get the fabric spaced right. Don't forget to curve and gather around the ends (sides).

4. Have your husband drill the bolts underneath the wood up into the ceiling. The two inch side of the wood should be touching the wall, the six inch side should be touching the ceiling. Doing it this way will add more dimension. Make sure he finds a stud or uses reinforcements. My hubby used 2 bolts per panel.

5. Tie your drapes at a certain point in order to prevent them from spreading out too far. I used plain black ribbon.