In Despair? Curtains Too Short? Too Long? Easy Little Fixes!
Are you in despair? Curtains Too Short? Too Long? Easy Little Fixes can be found right here! Knowing that having your curtains span from the ceiling to the floor makes a wall look taller, I wanted these curtains to do just that, but they were too short. The white French tergal fabric is so pretty and I love these curtains with a white tone on tone stripe.
You can see the new windows in the first picture. Wow, what a difference they have made! The heat from the sun is no longer felt on the fabrics and carpet! (After the window installations, the living room is not quite back together in these pictures.)
After some consideration, I decided to add satin to the bottom of the curtain. It still looks rich, but is not too heavy and seemed to go well with the curtain fabric. I personally like the curtains to puddle on the floor, but realistically, the men in my life would walk on the curtains. I speak from experience.
So most of the curtains in the house break at the floor and lay gently on the carpet. Adding the satin at the bottom was very easy. In order to have the length needed to lay on the floor like I wanted, six-inches needed to be added to the bottom. Doubling the six-inches to make 12-inches (for the back and front), and adding 5/8" for the seams, back, and front, I needed a piece of fabric 13-1/4" wide the width of the curtain.
That was folded in half and ironed. Then, right sides together, the satin was sewn to the bottom of the curtain. The seam was ironed. Next, the satin was folded wrong sides together and a seam was sewn along each end, trimmed, and folded back wrong sides together. Those end seams were then ironed, which left a nice finish on both ends of the curtain. The entire seam was ironed so everything was nice and flat.
The back side of the satin was folded over 5/8" and ironed. Then the entire back was pinned to the front and blind stitched to the curtain and the seam allowance of the satin sewn to the front. Basically, it was sewn like a satin blanket edging.
In another bedroom, these curtains were bought. They are raw silk and beautiful. They were too short. The tabs at the top were removed and a piece of fabric was sewn to the top. The top edge was hemmed and curtain clips were used.
Where the striped fabric met the raw silk, a seam was made on the front side. You can see the back looks finished.
On the front side, a piece of coordinating trim was sewn over the seam, covering the seam and seam allowance.
Since this was one of the boy's rooms, this curtain just brushes the floor.
It's pretty simple to add interest and length to curtains at the top or the bottom. So what if the curtains too long?
The obvious thing to do is hem it. In another bedroom, I had made curtains and then changed the curtain rod. They were now too long. I did not want to hem them.
After looking at them and measuring how much needed to be taken off the bottom, I realized it was basically the length of the hem at the top. I folded over the top hem and clipped the rings to hold it.
It worked on both the Toile pattern and the sheers! Don't be too critical of the decor here! There is a table missing. The windows are installed and I am still working on getting everything back in order and watching grandchildren, too. How did I ever raise four kids and get anything done?
So what if your curtains are too short? too long? Easy Little Fixes are right here! Hopefully, this gives you some ideas for that dilemma.
