No Sew Curtains

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I made curtains Well, I mean kinda, "made" is a loose term.
I don't sew.
Nope - not even a button.    

I don't even really know how to thread a needle.
I mean, I have done it a few times, for a scrapbook page years ago, back when I used to use actual paper, photos & embellishments.

I rearranged our bathroom this week, got rid of all the clutter on the countertop, put it all underneath & then made the top all pretty.

I gotta say, I love it, it makes me happy every time I walk in.

Here are a few details close up....

 

 So, after all that, then of course the curtains needed some change.

This was the before:

(iphone shot against sunlight, so not good either way)

I don't have a before of our clutter on the countertops - that would have been too smart of me.

I had been meaning to make these 'stripped fabric' curtains for awhile.
I first thought I would do it in my kitchen, but I ended up doing something else there (they are posted at the end of this blog post).

So while one daughter was at cheer camp and the other off to an amusement park with a friend, the 3rd little munchkin and I went off to run some errands.

She helped me pick the fabric to match our master bathroom, which we were pulling from the colors of our rug.

We ended up with 3 fabrics, Miss K picked the blue, I picked the other 2, although I will say when she saw the grey pattern I picked, she says "ohhh, I love that chevron pattern."  
That made my heart twitter just a bit.  I am not sure most 6 year olds know what chevron is. :)

(this is chevron by the way)

(and these are the fabrics I used)

So the basis for this curtain 'making' process is this:

You need a base color, I chose a white muslin fabric

You could then add one or two colored fabric.  I planned on 1, but ended up adding 2.
(I ended up adding another pattern after the 2nd day to the fabric store with Miss K)
I like the effect.

Here are your supplies:
   

fabric (s) of your choice, ruler, pencil, scissors,             maybe an iron


oh, and some sort of entertainment...I watched "Pretty Little Liars" on my mini iPad
Episode after episode...after episode
(OK, so they took longer to make than I would have expected.)

I cut my strips about 1 1/2 inches wide. (I took a ruler and just used the width of that and measured each strip to that)
   

The LENGTH depends on your window
But know, that whatever length you cut it, it will be folded in half, so you need to double it.
2 of my fabrics I cut to be 36 inches long
I  cut the other one smaller, about 18 1/2 inches long


  
Place the curtain rod flat, double layer the fabric and loop it through





I have 3 windows in my bathroom, two 23 inches wide and a 35 inch window in the middle of those two.


For my 23 inch window:         (I have two of these)
I used about 35 strips (this is not a typical size window, kind of small).
I used about 2 white strips to every other of the two colored fabrics.
Am I making sense?  I hope so!!

 

this is how I first had it, but decided it need some more color....

>>>>I ran out of fabric after making the two small windows and half of the big window, so back to the fabric store Miss K and I went.

I ended up adding the black damask for extra effect.

    

 

 For my 35 inch window, 

I used about 53 strips
This window is probably slightly bigger than most
   
(not the best before and after - but this is the middle window after adding the damask)

47 inch area
I had one more area to cover - the area above our shower
  
this is the before picture:
     (geesh - how did we live with this for so many years?) uh, blah, gag.....

  

This area is 47 inches wide
I used 72 strips, 36 inches long, 1 1/2 inches wide.
I did add 4 or so strips that were about half that size
This time, I clustered the fabrics & I added a damask fabric.
So, I clustered 3 blue, 3 damask, 3 grey chevron & 3 white....REPEAT


I wasn't quite sure I was IN LOVE with them, but I knew that I loved them.  After cutting some angles and adding the damask, I loved it much better.

before the damask

after the damask (not quite the right lighting for the best affect)

As I mentioned, my original plan was to do those type of curtains in my kitchen, but I ended up doing something else in my kitchen instead.

This was my original curtain:

Good golly - again, what was I thinking?

I can't believe I have had those akward ruffles at the top and that god awful tassle at the bottom.

What WAS I thinking?

I have never found the perfect curtain for my kitchen, so instead.....

I wanted to create something on top of the existing one.

I found this placemat at Target, it matched my terra cotta kitchen colors......bought one to try it out.  

This was my first attempt.

Ahhh-don't like it.

I was going to cut it in a pendant banner shape, but really, my cutting skills aren't that great.

Ahh...that is better.
All I had to do was turn the rectangle a bit.

I went from there and ended up adding existing napkins & placemats I already owned.  

I placed each one over the 4 existing curtains, with all ruffles tucked in and tassles cut off.

  

  

  

I added these 4 frames of mostly side shots of the girls to our "lavoratory" area.

They were old frames my MIL gave me.  I almost tossed them, but then ended up giving a quick coat of spray paint, and they became "distressed....ish"

(the wall looks yellow, it isn't, it is the same light green tone as of the rest of the bathroom)

It is a really badly lit area with no natural light at all.

Here is the original link (to the stripped fabric curtains):
http://www.momtastic.com/home-and-living/home/126032-easy-no-sew-window-valance