Shabby Chic Curtains Part 1

These curtains are in my corner cabinet dollhouse, blog date: February 25, 2010.



















For the fabric I used an old pillow protector that the zipper had broken on. I don't throw anything out. The fabric is very closely woven and soft.

I ironed and used spray starch on it to make it easier for measuring and drawing.
Are you wondering why there is a great big syringe in the picture?
I make a terrible mess when I fill my iron, so I had this syringe and I thought I could fill the iron with it. It works very well and no spilled water!






The curtains are separate panels of fabric. My window measured from casing (wooden trim) to casing 3 inches. I used 4, 1 inch panels and the center is 2 half inch panels. The total being 5 inches. If you have a wider window you could gain a lot of width by adding just an eighth to a quarter of an inch to each panel.




I glued small hems in the sides of the panels for the corner cabinet curtains. For this project I just sealed the side edges with glue.

I allowed a half inch extra at the top for a casing for the rod to run through. For rod I used brass tubing from Micro Mark, 1/16 of an inch in diameter. TIP: When bending tubing, run a wire into the tube, as close to the size of the inner diameter of the tube as you can get. When you bend the tube the wire will hold open the tube at the bend so the bend won't crimp closed on you. Leave the wire in the tube. I learned this when I made the kitchen table and chairs in the vintage kitchen, blog date: November 28, 2009. I have the benders but they just didn't seem to work for me.

Remember to spray some starch on the fabric and keep your pencil sharp.
I measured a few panels ahead and ran a bead of glue down the pencil lines. The right side of the curtains will be the side you didn't draw the lines on.




Again, we measure down from the top a half of inch, this is the casing for the rod. Remember, if the rod you are using is bigger you are going to have to add more to the top so the rod can go through.
The length of the curtain panels are up to you. My first panel measures 3 1/4 inches long after I have folded the casing down.


End of Part 1