Fabulous Curtains from a Twin Size Sheet!
Y’all, I’m so proud of this project! And not because it took a lot of hard work….quite the opposite actually. I’m proud because of how great they look & how little work actually had to be done. Does that make me lazy? I hope not :)
We have pretty low ceilings in our home, probably 8 feet. So when I started on the curtain hunt I knew I wanted them to be pretty long so I could hang them from the ceiling to the floor and create some height in our living room. You’d be surprised how hard it is to find long pre-made curtains….IKEA has some that are pretty long (we used them here in our dining room), but they are also pretty plain. I didn’t want plain this go around. So I was really only left with custom curtains. And since I didn’t want to break out the sewing machine and I didn’t want to pay anyone else to break out theirs I had to get creative.
That is when I stumbled upon these fabulous patterned flat sheets at Wal-Mart of all places! I knew I had a winner :)
At first I hung them like this (I’ll show you how in a second):
And by at first, I mean for THREE years. While I liked them….I can’t say I ever loved this look. So last week I decided to try again.
JACKPOT! These curtains are cheap, long, and pretty!
So here is how you can hit the jackpot on these long flowing curtains that all put make themselves.
Flat sheets are a standard size of 66 inches wide x 96 inches long. If you wanted your panels to be a little more full you could use a full size sheet which is 81 inches wide and 96 inches long. Since I have single windows and never plan on really closing the curtains (although I could) so I went with the twin size.
First, you will need to wash and dry your sheets, possibly even run over them with an iron to get all the wrinkles out. Then you will need to cut them in half. To do this I simply laid the sheet out on the floor and folded it over/in half. Cut along the fold.
You will be surprised how straight this makes your cut. Now here is an optional step….use some stitch-witchery to “hem” your cut edge. Now remember I went the lazy route. Y’all I didn’t even fake sew the edge. There was little to no fraying and the line was surprisingly straight, so I just rolled with it.
Next, the longer hemmed edge (or the top of the sheet) is going to be your rod pocket. You will notice it is sewn shut. Not a problem, right inside the seam on the top edge cut a tiny (like a centimeter) cut. Then insert your scissors into the hole and cut down the edge of the seam on the BACKSIDE of the sheet (make sure you DON’T cut both layers, just the layer on the back side of the sheet! You will need to do this on both sides.
Now you have your curtain rod pocket. Go ahead…slide them on your curtain rod and be impressed with yourself!
Even Chickadee was impressed with the new look :) Seriously, in the time it took me to type these directions you can make your own set of curtains! Easy…quick…and cheap!
I’d also starch those sheets and line them with another white flat sheet either by sewing a simple seam or stitch witchery. Plus buying them at a thrift store. Sheets and curtains are about the same price at Walmart. But yea this is something I’ve done many times. Great idea
Laura, thanks for the wonderful idea, I have been in the sewing industry since last many years but never thought of this idea before. I have many windows to try this. Thanks again for sharing . Looking forward to have more posts like this in my inbox.
xxx
Hannah
Thanks for the idea I have a lot of windows going to try it.
I love this idea! The huge, page-covering ads are a bit of a pain tho.
Oh this is AMAZING! Thank you so much for sharing this. We just moved into a new house and I need a LOT of curtains which usually translated into a LOT of money. I’m so excited to go curtain~I mean sheet shopping tomorrow. You’re an angel!
Fantastic solution. I want bright striped curtains for my sons room. Nothing is available ready-made and I can’t sew. There’s lots of great sheets that are perfect. With this tip I will now have trouble narrowing down my options !! Thank you for sharing.
I’m going to try this in my bedroom. I have one queen size sheet at the moment up for a curtain, but it falls easy, so I’m going to figure out how to make a single panel out of it :) Thanks for the inspiration!
You are welcome! Good luck :)
I am anxious to try this as well, but also very interested in your tie back. Where did you get it. Wal-Mart does not have that style. Let me know if you can. Thanks for great ideas
I believe I bought them at TJMAXX. I wish I could tell you more, but that post was from about 6 years ago and we have since moved! I hope you find some you like!
Hi Laura Beth. Your curtains came out great. I love your tip for making an easy rod pocket.
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Thanks so much Heather :)
They look great–you could also hang them from curtain rod clips if you didn’t want to crack out the scissors! haha
What a great idea! That would look fabulous too :)
What a great idea! We finally upgraded to a queen sized bed so we have a bunch of twin sheets laying around, I’m totally going to try this!
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They really are fabulous and what a great idea. It is just so hard to find cute and inexpensive curtains!!
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I’m really excited with how they turned out!!
This is flat out GENIUS! We need curtains desperately but have odd measurements for windows (thanks 1950s!) and I cannot wait to make these!!!
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I cant wait to see how they tirn out!!
This is so clever! I’m so mad I never thought of this myself! The rod pocket thing? Brilliant!
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Thanks friend….seriously a game change!