Fabric Trimmed Curtains

I am always amazed by the power of fabric. I mean using fabric in home decorating to reupholster, make curtains, sew tablecloths, or just add some new pillows to your couch. Fabric can completely change the look of a space. My latest project is fabric trimmed curtains I made for the dining room, with a pretty grey and white geometric, compliments of Online Fabric Store. Come see what a difference a little trim can make!

Our dining room has been getting decorated for about two years now and this is the very last project I did before I’ll show you the room reveal, so I’m extremely happy to get it done! I got a pair of white {faux} silk lined curtains for the window, but they were pretty boring.

The biggest problem with these is that they didn’t touch the floor. It’s a common problem we have in our house with 9 foot ceilings, so I have sewed all of my curtains in some way.

I had the idea to trim them with fabric, much like my favorite pins here. Because that would add the length on the bottom that I needed. The fabulous people at Online Fabric Store agreed to let me use some of their Premier Prints fabric to make my curtain trim dreams come true. Here is how I did it.

Materials

• Your favorite fabric – I selected the Premier Prints Sydney Storm Twill
• Sewing machine, Thread, Pins
• Iron and Ironing Board

Instructions

First, decide how wide you want the fabric trim to be. For the bottom I needed to add two inches to the length of the curtains so I ended up cutting my fabric in 7 inch wide strips. I use a rotary cutter, which makes this part really easy. Measure out and mark every 7 inches across the fabric, then cut each piece. I fold my fabric several times before I mark and cut it, that way I’m cutting the entire strip of fabric at the same time.

Next, sew together the strips of fabric to the length you need them for the edge of the curtain you are working on. Either the bottom of the sides. I trimmed the panel on each side and on the bottom. Make sure you sew the right sides of the fabric together.

To make sewing the fabric onto the curtain easier, I ironed in the seams. First, iron each piece in half, that way it will be easy to place the fabric around the edge of the curtain. Then iron a half inch seam on each side of the fabric.

After that I pinned the ironed fabric strips onto the bottom edge of the curtains as they were still hung up, that way I knew I was going to sew the trim on to the right length. You only have to pin on one side of the fabric, since it’s ironed in the middle you’ll know where to sew each side onto the panel.

Next is a little bit of a tricky part. At first, I thought I’d be able to sew down one length of the trim to the curtain, catching both the front and back of the fabric to the panel. But it didn’t work. What I ended up doing was sewing on the back side of the fabric to the back of the panel first. That way, once I sewed on the front, the sewn line from the back wouldn’t show.

Then I sewed on the front part of the fabric onto the panel. Once I got to the corners, I angled the fabric. Although it’s not necessary, I though it made things look neater. I pin everything before I sew it, that way the fabric doesn’t shift and my lines are straight. A bonus when sewing!

Once I hung these up, I was amazed at the difference fabric trim can make on curtains. They look totally different.

Plus we got a new plant, isn’t it lush? Let’s hope it stays that way 🙂

I’m cleaning out some things in the dining room, hence the empty shelves. Those wine crate ends signs are my souvenirs from France. I still have to tell you about that trip!

And the best part is, they touch the ground!

I love the extra detail the fabric adds. I purposely picked a fabric with a small pattern so it would be seen when I cut the fabric in smaller strips. See the entire collection of fabric at Online Fabric Store. They have hundreds of modern prints in all colors and designs. This one was a silky twill weight, which complimented the silk fabric perfectly.

Many thanks to Online Fabric Store for the fabric! Read their blog here, it’s full of fabric projects and you can see the type of fabric that works well together.

As soon as I can photograph the dining room, I’ll show the full room reveal! Have a wonderful Memorial Day weekend. The weather is supposed to be nice here and I plan to be outside painting furniture. Catch the behind the scenes on Instagram here.

Sharing with: Weekend Bloggy Reading at Serenity Now.

Disclosure: I was provided with fabric from Online Fabric Store, but all opinions of the fabric was my own.