3 Quick and Easy 15 Minute Curtains

Have I got the easiest sewing tutorial for you today friends!! I promise, even if you’re terrified of your sewing machine (it’s totally intimidating I get it!) these simple curtains only require a few simple straight lines and 15-minutes of your time!

We've been chugging right along with the entryway (click here for the last update, and here to start from the beginning) and we desperately needed to add some curtains. Because these peachy retro ones, left by the previous owner, just weren’t cutting it:

I should also mention that our new curtains couldn’t be just ANY curtains, they had to be the shorter ones to fit our tiny window.

These guys also needed to provide privacy since our bathroom doorway was at the top of the stairs in a direct line of sight from the window.

Instead of wasting time to find something at a big box store that a) may or may not match the décor b) may not fit the aforementioned tiny window (thus sewing may ensue anyway), I made them myself.

Oh and I have a little secret, these simple curtains were made back in October of 2012 (hence the pumpkin in a photo later on), shortly after moving into our house. Yeah slacker blogger here. At the time, I was super pumped that our fabric stores were FINALLY carrying chevron. In a color combo I loved. To top it off, the price was perfect too. $5 for 1 yard of material (with 50% coupon).

I digress… let’s get to the meat and potatoes tutorial shall we?

MEASURE

First things first, measure your windows to determine how much fabric you will need. This step is as hard as the tutorial gets. The explanation I’m about to go through will probably take you more time to read than to actually measure.

Our window is square and doesn’t require a lot of fabric, since they’re not floor length curtains. As you can see, our short curtains only needed to drape slightly below the windowsill:

You will need to give yourself room for a sewed border (otherwise known as a seam) on each side of your panels, and enough fabric to cover the area of your window you wish to cover.

Lastly, be sure to calculate enough extra fabric to cover your preferred ‘hanging method.’ For our particular set, I folded mine over creating a pocket for the curtain rod to go through (also known as Rod-Pocket Heading).  I like my curtains to ‘thread’ nicely on the rod so I like my ‘pockets’ with a little wiggle room. 

For additional curtain styles and other curtain considerations check out this helpful resource.

Our window measurement came in at just shy of 3x3 feet (30 inches). We added 3 inches to the top (for the Rod-Pocket Heading) and 1/2 inch seam around the three remaining edges of each panel. With all these measurements, we only needed 1 yard of fabric. 1 minute

CUT

This step is very simple, simply cut the fabric in half. Or better yet, have your fabric store do it for you (they have those perfect metal guides). 30 seconds, or 0 if the fabric store cut them for you.

PREP
Fabric is usually wrinkled and/or creased in some way directly from the fabric store/online. Thus, a quick iron should do the trick. Be sure to iron your seams (as explained in the measurement guide above) to save time during the “sewing” step. 2 minutes tops. -Tack on an extra 5 minutes if starching (below) applies to the fabric you chose.

However, the chevron fabric I chose was of the some-what thin, although not transparent by any means, 100% cotton variety (as opposed to thicker cotton like duck or twill). I really like my panels to be quite heavy so they won’t move in a slight breeze/door slam. After-all this is our entryway.

Thus, an OPTIONAL additional step was needed to ‘toughen/stiffen it up.’ My trick: layer on the starch. Here are the basic steps: 

1. Run the fabric through the iron Au naturel.
2. Spray a light layer of starch front and back*
3. Iron front and back a few times to set the starch.
4. Repeat steps 2&3 about 5-6 times or until the panels can basically stand on their own.

 *Be sure to do a light misting each time or you could run into the dreaded ‘flaking’ issue. If that’s the case, run it through your washing machine or hand wash real quick. Bummer your curtains are no longer take 20 minutes…

**If you decide to wash your curtains down the road, you may lose some stiffness (if not all) so you may need to pile on the starch again.

SEW

Since you already ironed your seams, you’re set to zip your curtains through your sewing machine.

I like to start with sewing all four seams on each panel so that when I work around to the “Rod-Pocket Heading” it's overlapping seam is already nice and straight. 

When you're done your seams should look like this:

Then, finish off the top (aka Rod-Pocket Heading). Since the three side seams are finished, simply fold over your pocket heading and sew your final straight line. The ‘pocket’ will look like this when you’re finished:

HANG

The last, super simple step, is to hang the curtains and marvel at your work.

Total time: 14.5 Minutes!

• Measure = 1 minute
• Cut = 30 seconds
• *Prep = 2 minutes
• Sew = 10 minutes
• Hang = 1 minute

*if your fabric is not as thick as you’d like tack on an extra 5 minutes.

Alright so file this tutorial under the ‘takes more time to explain than to do the project’ category ha! I promise simple straight line sewing is all it takes. No fancy stitching/switching needles/switching thread/etc required.

Even if your windows are slightly larger or even floor length curtains, these simple curtains will probably take you more time to hunt down your sewing machine (and where on earth you put that perfect color thread) than to run them through your iron and sewing machine.

Oh and remember the laundry basket I made and all the pretty fabric I chose from the Online Fabric Store? Well I’d love to give these windows a fresh new look (sadly we’ve already outgrown the chevron) by using the grey and white sketchy-ish fabric:

Guess I’ll be referencing this tutorial in the coming months!!

Next up on the entryway, is creating a storage area for all our winter coats/spring jackets.

So, are you brave enough to bust out your sewing machine and whip up a batch of curtains? I’m DYING to switch out the chevron already! Do find your craft supplies scattered throughout the house? Do you prefer stiff curtains? Wait, that doesn’t sound right…

P.S. We were not paid or perked from any of these vendors; we just happily picked up the supplies necessary for the job.

Want to follow along with the Entryway progression? Here’s the $5 Drum Shade, Intro/Plan, Doorway Removal, adding storage using creative materials, the magic of paint, installing the floor, and DIY'ing a Corner Bench.

Remember...