Curtain Panel Tutorial - Thinking Outside the Box

A little curtain panel tutorial for you...


We had these beautiful cranberry panels in our bedroom for years.  Rich and velvety... given to us by a dear friend.  Over the years, they have faded a little and the material has become a bit worn.  Then, when installing the window ac unit, we had an incident.  A big rip incident... not really a repairable incident.










So began the project of replacing the panels and figuring out what I wanted to replace them with.  I could have gone to the store and bought ready-made panels but I wanted something a bit different.  So I started thinking things over in my head and calculating costs of my options.  Then we stumbled upon a beautiful bedspread leftover from a tag sale that was in beautiful condition.

 Now some may gasp at the thought of cutting that bedspread up but I had something in mind.  No fear here.  I mean, is it better for the bedspread to sit unused in a box or to make it into something that would be used and enjoyed everyday?  So the cutting began... after measuring carefully.  I figured out how long I wanted each panel and added in extra for the pocket for curtain rod.

 Then I measured out the pocket width adding in a little more to fold over the raw edge.  Since it was a bedspread originally, I did not have to sew a hem on the bottom... it was already finished and that saved me some time.

I used pins to hold that in place until I began sewing a straight stitch on my sewing machine....

just take the pins out as you go with a project like this

 I also  folded over one side of each curtain to finish off the raw edges there.  Again, since it was
already a bedspread, it did not have as many raw edges to finish... only the ones that I had cut.

I love how they turned out... they are so crisp and white...

and the detail is so much better than if I just picked out panels at the store

Because I was using a bedspread, the detailing on the two sets of panels are different.

To me, that just adds to their uniqueness. 

Here is the after picture... I love the cottage feel of them!

I even had enough of the bedspread left over to make an accent piece for my living room

and, a couple of throw pillows!

Here is a before and after comparison

       

before

           

after

I love how they turned out.  And, I love thinking outside of the box!

Hope this inspires you to try a project or two!

Praying you have many blessings and much joy!

Kristen