Cut Out + Keep | How To » Kitchen Curtains

You Will Need

- PROJECT BUDGET
- Reasonably Priced

Kitchen Curtains

Let's play pretend...

Let's pretend you want to re-do your kitchen.
Let's also pretend you cannot buy new furniture or lots of fancy stuff, so you have to do it with small accessories and on a low budget.

You could start with getting new curtains!
For each window you'll need a little less than 1 yd, meaning you won't need a loan from your bank...

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Measure your window side to side, including the part of the frame where your curtain will overlap (in my case 75 cm).
Think about how long you want your curtain(s).

Maybe think about cleaning your window before taking a picture for your blog... *little cough*

I decided for one small curtain plus a kind of ruche.
The two rods for hanging the curtain are fixed to the window frame, so I don't have many choices and decided for a 17 cm ruche and a 35 cm curtain.
Cut your pieces, remember to include seam- or hem allowances.

For me this meant to add 4.5 cm at the top and 3 cm at the bottom of each piece.
Also take care that the print/pattern of your fabric will be "straight" while hanging. This might mean that you won't cut straight of grain!

FYI: The fabric is "Buffet Cutouts" by Alexander Henry and I think looks adorable and yummy - just perfect for a kitchen!

I additionally cut two strips of lightweight fusible interfacing, both measuring 110 x 3.5 cm.

s I didn't want to loose much of the width, I cut the selvedge 90° to the bottom/top of the curtain pieces and then hemmed it 0.5 cm wide.

Nevermind if the selvedge peeks out here or there. It's the backside of your curtain and facing the frame, so it doesn't matter...

I prefer to use the walking foot for those narrow hems as the fabric won't pucker or shift then.
If you own a narrow hem attachment or narrow hem presser foot for your machine, use it.
From upper edge, mark 4.5 cm on the wrong side of the fabric.

Iron on the interfacing along this line.

Fold down the top edge along this line, press.

Fold in 1 cm of the top edge, press again.

This isn't very visible in the picture, so I made a drawing to make sure you know what I mean.

Topstitch close to this fold, forming a hem or a casing.

At the bottom edge, sew a 1.5 cm hem.
If you want your curtain to have a casing on top, you're done now. (Yes, the pictured ruche misses the bottom hem - just imagine it was there...)
If you want to make it a bit nicer, stay with me for a last step.
I added buttonholes to the top of my curtains - you may also use grommets if you get them in an appropriate size, but make sure they won't rust when you wash your curtains... (trust me on that point!)

My curtains were 107 cm wide after hemming the sides etc., and the first buttonholes on the right and the left side were placed 2.5 cm away from the edge, leaving 102 cm to divide by 11 (10 additional buttonholes), which means I came up with about 9.2 to 9.3 cm between the buttonholes. Your measurement might be different, so your measurement will be "y".
I then marked the buttonhole placement 1 cm away from the upper edge, each buttonhole 1.5 cm long. The lenght depends on your curtain rod. It's useful to pre-test the perfect lenght on a scrap.
At this point I am unbelievable grateful for having a sewing machine with automatic buttonholes!
Happy, happy! You're done, the curtains are finished.
Remember that the large curtain hanging on top of your window will keep out the light from the room, while it will darken your working surface when hanging at the bottom.
Your choice... ;)

And yes, I AM in the midst of a low-budget-kitchen-renewal. It will take some time to show you pictures of the completed work, but until then you can start to sew some curtains for your own kitchen.
Happy sewing!