Below is a tutorial on how to make sheer drapes. One frustration we often hear regarding family budgeting is how expensive it can be to make home updates. We get that. It’s always fun to dream up new ways to freshen up the nest. It’s less fun to look at price tags, right? Over the years, we’ve made an effort to uncover new ways to update our home by learning new skills. DIY curtains is one of our favorite ways to dramatically change the look of a space while saving the money it would cost to install custom. What are some of your favorite home decor tips?
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Why DIY?
Like many new homeowners, my husband and I became DIY-ers because we were young and on a shoestring budget. We started with easier projects where our learning mistakes weren’t as noticeable – we would tile a small floor, make sheer drapes for a bedroom, stain a deck. The best thing we did? We started. DIY for home decor? Yes you C-A-N.
So when our daughter and her husband bought a fixer-upper house, we were pleased when they went for it with DIY. And they were ambitious – installing wood floors, moving walls, doing drywall, wiring, painting – a beautiful, major makeover. How inspiring!
But imagine my surprise when she mentioned she was considering hiring a pro for custom window coverings! It can cost a fortune to purchase custom window coverings. Yes, learning to sew – even mastering a couple of basic skills – can save you thousands of dollars, especially when it comes to home decor. And, it’s not as hard as you might imagine.
Make sheer drapes? Can you thread a needle?
When she told me, our phone call began like this: “Yes, mom, I can sew, but you overestimate my skills. Besides we need the curtains now and I have NO time,” she lamented. “We’ve just got to get it done.”
Encouraging, I countered with: “But you can do this! You just sew straight seams. You know you’ll save a bunch. Want me to come and help you?”
Nope, she already had arranged for two different professionals to visit and estimate her project – floor-length (and 10′ tall) drapes and sheers for one 102″ dining room window and two skinny double-hung windows in the nearby small parlor, also 10′ tall. All faced the street.
After each estimator visited and returned quotes, then came her sticker shock: $12,000-14,000…plus tax!
The phone rings.
“Hey, mom….were you serious about coming to make those drapes?”
Our marathon window covering session began.
What’s it cost to make sheer drapes?
My daughter had already chosen her drapery style (since she had to give the pro something to estimate). She was going floor length and nearly reaching the 10-foot ceiling. She wanted to line the drapes as well as make sheer drapes. She also decided on the “stack back” (how much fabric will cover the walls beside the window when the drapes are pulled open.) She was still debating how to finish the tops – maybe a swag, valence or something similar.
We estimated our supply costs as middle-of-the-road, not going super fancy but not the cheapest materials either: so $600-900 for the drape fabric and lining, upscale rods, and stylish, heavy-duty drapery hardware, and miscellaneous sewing notions/supplies needed to do the job right. We ended up spending a little under $650 for the 3 dining room and parlor window coverings. That’s major savings. (We already had a sewing machine, steam iron, glue gun, drill, staple gun and other tools. ; )
How much time to make sheer drapes? We thought it would take roughly 6-7 days to find/purchase, cut, measure, sew, press and install everything. Here’s how we started … and how you can too. There’s not as much sewing as you might think.
Sew sheers or drapes – what to do before you cut fabric
- Choose your drapery style. Base your choice on what you want the drapes to do. Are they for privacy, to keep out light, block a view, soften a room or pull a color scheme throughout the house? Will you want to open/close the drapes or the windows they cover? Will the rods show or not? My daughter was thinking floor-length drapes (lined) and sheer drapes, plus a topper.
- Set your budget.This is the best time to consider the cost of all supplies. Rods and fabric can get pricey, especially if you have several windows and are going floor to ceiling or if you need really long rods. Before you purchase or fall in love with a certain fabric or rod style, make sure you estimate the cost of the entire project. Be sure to also include tools you may need but not have.
- Buy rods and attachment hooks. Choose what you like and what’s suitable. My daughter purchased these before deciding on fabric, because you need to know how much rod is required to support the weight of the fabric you buy. Rods range from lightweight to heavy duty, so base your choice on the support the rod must provide. And don’t get the lightest, cheaper rods just to save money. If your rods won’t show, no need to get fancy.
- Next, hang those rods.You’ll need to hang the rods in order to get accurate measurements on how long the drapes will be and determine amount of fabric to buy. We also needed to figure out the rod brackets to use, in order to best support the fabric’s weight (floor to ceiling is heavier than you think) and not let the rod sag in the middle. We opted for two parallel rods, with one holding the drapes and one for the sheers. (Obviously the sheers would be lighter weight than lined drapes, so we could use a lighter weight rod here.) We were thinking a 4″ x 1″ pine board would fasten above the rods and hold the swags, but we did not hang that yet.
- Buy the fabric. Buy fabric as per your measurements. When I arrived, we immediately shopped for fabric and it took us an entire day to find everything. While my daughter wasn’t picky, it was still a trick to find a nice, harmonious color in a suitable weight – and enough quantity. (Remember – floor-length.) We figured we needed 20 yards, plus about the same amount of lining and sheers. We scoured Jo-Ann’s fabric stores in the area to find several pieces of a soft nubby grey that flowed softly. Great! But we had to go to several stores to get enough yardage and make sure we had enough. (If you have more time than we did, there’s the option to order fabric so it’s all in one piece or at least at one store.) Since the sheer fabric was a regularly stocked product, we purchased it all on one bolt. Plus it was 108″ wide – an awesome bonus, since that meant no vertical seams to mess up delicate fabric and less time sewing! Hint: When you are buying a lot of yardage, the clerk can re-wind it back onto a cardboard tube so it’s easier to transport and store – and no wrinkles. Do be sure you inspect the fabric as it’s being measured – in the store and before buying – because you don’t want any flaws in the middle of such a large piece.
6 easy steps to make custom sheers for windows
Now we have rods, fabric and tools. We are ready to cut and sew! I decided to start with the sheer drapes. So follow along with these 6 easy steps to make the sheers. Our next posts will cover “How to make custom, lined drapes you’ll love” and “easy window toppers you can do in a weekend”.
Step 1: Measure, measure…then cut one.
Measuring and cutting wasn’t as easy as we had planned. Sheer fabric is really slippery. We measured (twice at least!) to find the exact finished length – plus we added 8″ for the bottom hem and 6″ for the top. To add to the difficulty, we had to work on the floor since the counter wasn’t long enough to allow 10′ x 108″ fabric to lay flat. But having the fabric twice as wide, although cumbersome, was a real advantage and more beautiful.
Step 2: Sew the sides first.
Since one width of the sheer fabric made one panel and covered half of the window, we did not have to sew a seam – yeah! That meant we went right to finishing the left and right edges by machine. We folded, pinned (a lot) and pressed both the left and right sides. Then we used a blind hem stitch about as long as a basting stitch. That worked really well. And, it was much quicker and more evenly stitched than hemming by hand. If you don’t want to use a machine stitch, you can basically hand-sew each side with a regular hemming stitch.
Step 3: Hem the bottom of the sheer panel.
Next, we folded, pinned and pressed the hem in place. The 4” hem is double folded – so we used 8” of fabric ot make the hem. The easiest way to do this is to measure up to 8” of fabric on the bottom and press a fold. Open it up, fold in half – put the bottom raw edge up to the fold you just pressed (so you now have a 4” double folded piece). Pin in place and hem. Again, we used the machine and did a blind hem stitch. Three sides of one sheer panel are now done – things were going smoothly, only the top was left. We sewed a second sheer, same size as this first one. With two done, we are ready to tackle the top.
Step 4: Finish the top.
We were using a box pleat design, and a round clip that fastened to each pleat would slide onto the rod. So, we folded and pressed the top edge, adding an interfacing to stabilize the top of each sheer. This top should be roughly 6” of fabric, which will be double folded. (This is the same procedure used to make the bottom hem.) You might have to adjust overall length of the sheer by using a bit more or less than the top 6” of fabric. You do this by measuring how far you want the sheer to be from the floor.
Step 5: Measure and pin the box pleats on the top.
The key to having a great looking, nicely flowing sheer panel left to right is this: Measure so the panel has a pleat on each end and hangs properly (and ours had to be an even inch from the floor). We pinned the pleats in place and sewed vertically (3” with wrong sides together) to get the boxed pleat look desired. If you notice in the photo here, we opened the pleat flat and the clip on the ring held it in place. We did not do any tacking to get this look – just stitched 3″ vertically through all the layers of the top band, per our measurements across the 108″ left to right. (If you’re measurements are accurate, your pleats will be evenly spaced. Ours were.)
Step 6: Last step! Hang sheers on clips.
Now for the time of reckoning. Would the sheer drapes look good and do the job? We strung the clips on the rod, attached each to a pleat, adjusted the spacing a bit…and voila! Sheers are up for the picture window. They looked good and opened/closed like they should. We helped them hang perfectly by adding a small metal weight (basically a washer about the size of a quarter) in each lower corner. Added bonus…we didn’t have to iron the sheers since the weight pulled out the few wrinkles that existed. In the photo below, you can see how the sheers will diffuse the light nicely. and fyi…the sheers will extend slightly beyond the white window trim pictured.
More sheers – and a great look – for skinny windows
We used the same process to sew the sheers for the two small parlor windows, with this exception: We used one 108” panel per window and opted to make it stationary. (These two windows were so much narrower that the sheers were unlikely to get moved back and forth regularly.) Since the top of the sheer would be covered by a swag and never visible, we simply folded over the top edge and stitched a casing, or pocket 2″ deep.
Then, instead of using ring clips and box pleats, we just slid a 1¼-inch rod through the casing and gathered it slightly to get the desired fullness. This took less time and saved the cost of extra rings that needn’t function and wouldn’t show anyway.
My daughter’s new window treatments looked gorgeous. Her vision for the sheers really came together, and I was pleased she was able to capture the savings! With the sheers done, it was time to change the sewing machine needle from delicate to heavy-duty and make the heavier, lined drapes. Just wait until you see how she chose to layer these sheers with lined drapes and toppers for a fabulous look in their Craftsman house!
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