I promised a tutorial for our Basement Drapes, so here it is! And it's loaded with pictures - I hope it's not too bad to get through. How to make THIS... 60" wide Home Dec. or canvas Fabric - 5.5 yards - (purchased mine at IKEA at $7.99/yd.) Seam Gauge (to measure folded edges) 12" Ruler (to measure grommet spacing) Measuring Tape (at least 10-ft long to measure length of drape) 2 packages of Grommets ($12.99 sets of 8, bought at Joann's with a coupon) Curtain Rod (small enough to fit through grommet holes) Marking pencil or pen Always be consciencious of the direction of your fabric print and/or texture. I'd be sad if one drape print ran in an upward direction and the drape next to it went in a downward direction! It's easiest to make a pair of drapes at a time, rather than making one side of the drape first followed by the other side of the drape. I used 100% cotton fabric, so I used my iron at the hottest setting. If you use polyester, silk, or blended fabrics, please be careful with your iron setting so you don't burn or melt the fabric!

Since these drapes were going to lie up against a basement wall, I didn't line them. However, if you're going to make drapes to go over a real window, please buy drapery liner fabric at the fabric store and tuck it into the back of these drapes to so they're not so see-through when closed. Plus it's classier to see white drape liner from the outside of your house than the back of some wacky printed fabric. Might as well hang a Big Bird sheet with clothespins up in front of yer' dang winderr' then! Length Measurement for Cutting Fabric: 1) measure your ceiling height down to the floor to get the length of your drape. 2) add 6.5" for your top and bottom folds (86" + 6.5" = 92.5" for my total length of each drape) 3) Cut two long lengths of fabric at 92.5" each (or just cut your 5.5 yards of fabric in half if you want your drapes to puddle a bit at the bottom onto your floor) Order of Sewing (to get you mentally organized): By doing the top and bottoms first, the sides will fold over their seams, leaving a long, clean, smooth edge from the side view of your drapes.

READY - SET - SEW!!! a) fold in 1/2" of the TOP edge of the fabric, pin in place, and press with a hot, steamy iron. (side note: I went to Catholic schools and had to iron pleats all around my skirts - took forever, but I learned how to pin one fold after another and another, then press them all at once by sticking pins into the ironing board) b) fold in another 4" of the TOP edge of your fabric, pin in place, and press with the iron. (this area is where your grommets will go) c) Sew with a straight stitch very close to the inner edge (1/8" to 1/4" max) a) fold in 1/2" of the BOTTOM edge of the fabric, pin in place, and press with a hot, steamy iron. b) fold in another 1.5" of the BOTTOM edge of your fabric, pin in place, and press with the iron. - here's where you're going to get a little fancy with what I call a "Military Sheet Fold... kinda," to get a clean, mitered looking corner at the tops and bottoms of the drapes  (my Dad was in the Navy) -

a) Place a pin 1.75" up from the TOP edge b) Open the raw edge between the top fold and the pin, and push the center of the fold up into itself toward the pin, creating a 45-degree angle that goes out to about 1.5" from the top edge. Weird sounding, I know... here are pictures to help: c) do the same thing to the BOTTOM EDGE place a pin 1.75" from the raw edge (to the right of my finger), then push fold up into itselfsynagogue ark curtains bottom edge after miter corner fold, half inch fold, and 1.5" fold - ready to sewgrey shower curtain asda NOW you can proceed with the same fold - pin - iron steps as the bottom:evie ready made curtains white

d) fold in 1/2" of the SIDE edge of the fabric, pin in place, and press with a hot, steamy iron. e) fold in another 1.5" of the SIDE edge of your fabric, pin in place, and press with the iron. f) You can straight stitch the sides, but it might leave your drape looking a little, what I call, "woogilly-waggilly". There's no give with a reeeeally long straight stitch. So I think it's better to do a "Blind Hem Stitch" (hey! thermal door curtain asdaI used a real sewing term for once!). blackout curtains tescoYour sewing machine may not have this stitch, but if it does, your sewing manual should show you how to do it. maharam curtains(if not, it's worthy of its own tutorial) curtains cosa vuol dire

Here are some pictures: how you fold the fabric back to stitch onto the  inside of the 1/2" fold, picking up a few threads of the outer fabric every 5th stitch how the stitch looks like on the backside of your fabric how the stitch looks like on the outside of your fabric (follow package directions, really... which is:) a) evenly space grommets, starting at 2" from either edge of the top of the drape. I kinda eyeballed the spacing first and then measured to get more accurate, even spacing. My grommets ended up being 5" apart, edge to edge (or approx. 7" from the center of each grommet) b) use the template and a pen/pencil to mark a grommet circle - being careful to center it between the top edge and bottom edge of the 4" area that was stitched down at the beginning c) cut out the circles using the skills you learned in kindergarten. d) wedge the grommet side with the inner lip through the circle, line up the top grommet piece over the bottom grommet piece,