How to Sew Curtains

Being able to make curtains, blankets, and other home décor on your own is an underestimated skill. You’d especially appreciate having this skill when it comes to curtains, which tend to be fairly expensive.

I made this guide to help people get started on sewing their very own home décor— mainly, curtains. This guide might just save you from spending extra cash on store-bought curtains!

Materials Needed

Let’s start with some advice on fabric. The easiest fabrics to work with are medium-weight fabrics like cotton, though you can choose a different fabric based on what function and appearance you want your curtain to have.

The other materials you’ll need are some fabric scissors (if you don’t have any, sharp scissors will do), iron, measuring tape, pins, and a sewing machine or needle and thread.

Measuring Your Fabric

The first thing you should do is to measure from how low you want your curtains to hang, up to the curtain rod. The length of your measurement (plus 18 inches of seam allowance) will be the length of your curtains.

If you want a gathered curtain, cut the fabric so that it’s wider than the window. Otherwise, you will use the same width as your window’s to determine the curtain’s width.

Preparing Your Fabric

If your fabric is machine-washable, wash your fabric before doing any sewing to pre-shrink it. This will prevent any puckering the first time you wash your curtains.

Then, make sure to iron your fabric thoroughly to remove the wrinkles that make it difficult to measure and cut accurately. Don’t skip this step!

Sewing the Curtains

Start by hemming the edges of the fabric. Fold over ½ inches of the backside of the fabric. Iron the folded area to hold it in place, then fold it a second time using the same process.

Use pins to secure the folded parts, then sew on the front side of the fabric with a straight stitch (1/8 inches from the folded edge), folded parts facing down.

Make sure to do a backstitch several times at the beginning and end of the stitches. This will make secure

Repeat this process for the bottom part of the fabric. For the left and right sides of the fabric, simply repeat the process, except you have to turn over 5 inches of fabric for the second fold.

Sewing the Curtain Rod Pocket

For the curtain rod pocket, follow the same procedure— except turn the fabric over 2 inches more for the second fold. You can also use straps for the curtain rod pocket.

Cut 5-7 straps of 5 by 9 inch fabric. You can change the value of 9 to how long you want the straps to be, as well as 5 for the width of the straps. Just keep in mind that it should be big enough to fit the curtain rod.

Then,with the front sides facing each other, fold the strap lengthwise and sew down the length of the fabric strap with a straight stitch. (Use ½ inch seam allowance.)

Don’t forget to backstitch right at the start and before finishing up the seam. Once you’re finished with all the straps, turn them inside out, and you’re done! All you have to do now is to sew it onto the curtains.

Place the straps under the top of the curtain. Start by putting straps on the leftmost and rightmost side of the curtain, then work your way in.

Once you’re satisfied with the arrangement of the straps, pin them in place and sew them to the back of the curtains with a straight stitch.

If you don’t want curtain rod pockets or straps, you can use grommets! First, you should get some extra-large grommets, or special curtain grommet kits.

Place the grommets down on the curtain’s top hem. Line them up in the way you want them to be, and use pins or chalk to mark down the areas where you’ll be putting the grommets.

Then, simply use a grommeter to pop the grommets in! If you don’t have a grommet, you’ll have to draw circles on the fabric that is a bit smaller than the grommet.

It’s important not to make the circles too big, or the grommets won’t fit. Once you’re sure of your circle measurements, cut the circles with the help of a rotary cutter and scissors.

Now it’s time to place the grommets. Grommets have sides with prongs and sides with slots. First, with the front of the curtain facing down, place the grommets with slots into the holes.

Then, with the front side of the curtain facing up, place the grommets with the prongs into the grommets with slots. You should hear a clicking sound to indicate that they’re nice and secured.

Do you enjoy making curtains? Tell me about it in the comments below! Make sure to share it with your friends too, if you liked it.

As I said before, it’s a valuable skill to be able to make your own things with sewing. I hope that my guide could help you enrich your skills.