Making lined / interlined curtains Part 2
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| Last week, we started with Part 1 of this tutorial: measuring, cutting and hanging the rod. This week, we’ll continue with the sewing part of the project.I decided to remake the curtains in my son’s room because last time I made them way too narrow, and although they covered the window, they didn’t hang nicely. I also lined them with the same fabric I used for the front – a solid brown – and wanted to use a proper black-out lining this time. I also added interlining, which makes them hang nicer. The interlining is optional. It’s most useful on a thinner fabric, but it’s got great insulating properties and I decided to demonstrate it on these even though they are a heavier fabric.
View Part 1 of this tutorial View grommet tutorial View the original post about this nursery |
Supplies
(Click fabrics for direct links for purchase at Warehouse Fabrics Inc.)
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| To determine the amount of fabric you’ll need and how to cut your panels, please see Part 1 of this project.For these curtains, I used 10 grommets in each panel. They came in packs of 8, so I had to buy 3 packages.
Drapery header is like a stiff interfacing that comes in a narrow roll. Interlining is optional. It offers good insulation and also body to finer fabrics. |
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The pattern
| To determine your curtain size and figure out how to cut your panels, please see Part 1 of this project. |
The process
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In Part 1 of this tutorial, you’ll remember that I was concerned about making sure the horizontal lines of this print line up from one panel to the next. In the center of this photo, you can see that they really did meet up nicely. Pat on the back for me!
I guess it would have been even better if they formed a perfect continuous chevron in the center, but since I pull them to overlap a bit anyway, it doesn’t really matter. |
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Start with hemming your lining. Simply turn it up 1″, press, then turn and press another 1″ and sew. You can blind hem this if you want, but I don’t see why it matters and this is easier.
For black out lining, the softer, foamier side goes on the inside, facing the back of the curtain. The more fabric-y side goes out. I used the off-white, so the off-white side faces the window. One more thing: the needle will leave holes in this material, so don’t mess up! Use a light heat setting on your iron, too, because it’s a vinyl-like material. And a light pressure on your foot and a walking foot help, as well. I guess that’s more like four more things, isn’t it? |
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| ABOVE LEFT: On each curtain panel, serge the top edge, or finish with a zigzag stitch.
ABOVE RIGHT: Press under 1/2″. |
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| ABOVE LEFT: For the hem, fold under 4″ and press.
ABOVE RIGHT: Turn another 4″ and press again. Now add your interlining (OPTIONAL). The bottom of your interlining will tuck into this hem — just to that first fold. To reduce bulk, it does not go all the way to the bottom of the curtain fabric. It also should stop short of the top of the curtain by about 3.5″ and should be the exact width of the curtain. |
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| ABOVE LEFT: Although you can just stitch a regular hem straight across, a blind stitch looks better. I’ve pinned my fabric in preparation for a blind stitch.
NOTE: This photo does not show the interlining fabric. ABOVE RIGHT: Using the blind stitch foot, stitch. Again, this photo does not show the interlining. If you’re using interlining, it should be treated as one piece with your main fabric. NOTE: For more help on doing a blind stitch, please see the blind stitch tutorial. |
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Baste the curtain and interlining along each side to hold it together. |
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| ABOVE LEFT: On the right side of the curtain, measure down 3.5″ across the TOP of the curtain using a ruler and fabric marker (you already pressed over 1/2″ along the top; you are measuring from that fold, not the raw edge). You can just make little dots every so many inches. Lay your lining piece right side down on the curtain. The top, raw edge of the lining should rest along the markings you just made so that the top of the lining is 3.5″ below the top of the curtain.
ABOVE RIGHT: Along the bottom of the curtain, your lining should sit about 1.5″ above the bottom of the curtain so that it doesn’t show. |
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| ABOVE LEFT: Your lining is narrower than the curtain. This is so that after it’s sewn and turned right-side out, the edges of the curtain fabric turn to the inside a little bit. So start by lining up just the left side of the lining and curtain, and ensuring the tops and bottoms line up as in the step above. Go ahead and pin the right side, top and bottom, too, just to secure everything. Sew ONLY the left side seam.
ABOVE RIGHT: After sewing the left side seam, pull the lining over to meet up the right sides. The left side will pull funny, but that’s OK. It will all work out in the end.Turn the curtain right-sides out. |
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| ABOVE LEFT: See how the curtain turns in a bit to the wrong side? Center the lining so that each side is even and press. The left picture shows the top. I have folded under the side piece above where the lining is.
ABOVE RIGHT: This picture shows the bottom of the curtain, and again, I’ve turned in the corner below the lining and pinned it. Leave these two side seams alone for now. |
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| ABOVE LEFT: Now we’ll add the draper header. Drapery header is like a stiff interfacing, but it’s cut long and narrow. We purposely did not interline or line the top few inches of the curtain because we are going to add grommets and want to reduce bulk. This drapery header will add some stability where we put the grommets. Pin the header close to but not right against the top edge. Stitch 1/2″ from the curtain top edge. NOTE:I recommend that you pin the header on with the fabric laid out on the floor so that everything stays in place. Then pin it really well along the top and bottom edges with lots of pins. ABOVE CENTER: After sewing the top edge, use a ruler to measure down 4″ from the top edge of the curtain and make a line all the way across. ABOVE RIGHT: This is your stitching line — you want it to be even from the top of the curtain, so that’s why we are measuring and drawing it on. |
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After sewing your header on, stitch down each side, catching the folded under tops and bottoms of the seam and stitching just inside on the lining part. |
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The last step is to insert the grommets. I’ve broken this step down into a separate tutorial. Please visit the Grommet Tutorial. |
Before & after comparisons
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| ABOVE LEFT: This was my original curtain. I used a solid brown fabric and lined it with the same fabric. It was too narrow for the window, and in these comparison shots, I’m surprised by how well it kept the light out.
ABOVE RIGHT: These wider panels hang so much better. The fullness looks lovely. I’m actually a little surprised so much light gets in since I used black-out lining, but one issue is that despite all of my careful cutting and measuring and math, I still made them a bit short. From the first picture to the second, I moved the curtain rod up about 3″, so really, in the end I wished I didn’t. If they hung a tad lower, they’d probably block more light. Also, I noticed that even though my flash was off, the light coming in the top and bottom was more pronounced in the photo than it was in real life, so it’s actually much less than that.Both photos were taken around 11 a.m. |
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| ABOVE LEFT: Original curtain. The panels were about 1/2 the fabric width.
ABOVE RIGHT: My new curtains are nearly a whole fabric width. I just trimmed off the selvages plus enough to even out the pattern. See how much better the fullness looks? |
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| ABOVE LEFT: Pulled back, old curtains.
ABOVE RIGHT: Pulled back, new curtains. I will say this: These new curtains with the extra fabric, lining and interlining are MUCH heavier than the old ones. I hope my lousy handyman skills will keep this rod in place with all the new weight! |
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