Thursday, September 9, 2010

Tutorial: Tea Towel Curtains



I have been collecting cute tea towels for a while but I often find them too cute to cut up. I thought about making a tea towel quilt but I'm a bit too time poor for such an enterprise. So, I decided to make curtains!
What you need:
  • A pile of teatowels
  • An Iron
  • Sewing Machine (you could sew by hand if you are really keen)
  • Scissors
  • Pins
  • Tape Measure
  • Curtain Rod
  • Hooks to hang the rod

Instructions.
  1. Measure your window to determine how many tea towels you will need to make two curtains. It's best to make them a bit wider than the window to ensure the sides of the glass are covered properly.
  2. Lay out tea towels on the floor to work out the pattern and colour combination you like most.
  3. Have a look at your tea towels. Are they all the same length and width? If not you might need to trim them on the inside bits before sewing them together. This will mean that you won't have to hem the bottom on outside sides of the curtains which should have a teatowel hem or bias anyway.
  4. Sew teatowels together to make two curtains.
  5. Double check the height of your window and hem the top by folding the top over and stitching, leaving at least a 5cm tube so you can slip the curtain rod through it.
  6. Snip of any stray threads
  7. Slip the curtains through the rod and hang! (If you only have a small window and don' t want to go to the expense of buying a rod, you might find a sturdy bamboo stake does the trick, like I did.
  8. You're done!

The curtains are light enough to still let in a little light when closed, and you can keep them open by tying them back. If it's a main room, it would be a good idea to line the curtains with some thermal fabric to ensure they are insulated against the heat and cold.
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