Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Shirred Curtain/ How to

I needed some new curtains to go with my new bathroom. So I had and idea to shirr a curtain to add a little “pop” but I didn’t anticipate how beautiful they would be.  I LOVE THEM, I just love the look of them they turned out better than I imagined.  Now I want to make more for my daughters bedrooms.  Oh and they were super easy to make just a little elastic thread and a pre-made $5.00 curtain. 
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This is how I did it.
You’ll need a spool of elastic thread. 
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and an empty bobbin.
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Loosely wrap the elastic thread around your bobbin until it is full. 
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Then place it in you machine just like you normally would.  Set your stich length to the longest stich and get sewing.

Make sure you have your curtain right side up while you sew.  Don’t forget to go back and forth at the beginning and the end.
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Keep sewing right side up until you have the desired width.
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I used both of my hands to smooth out the un-shirred part and to help guide it through the machine. 
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My original plan was to shirr the whole curtain (actually my original plan was to to something a little different) but I liked it like this a little better.  I still want to try the original plan for something though so stay tuned.
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So in the end I used one really long curtain.  I cut it in half and used both ends to fill up the window.  I could have used half of it and shirred less rows and it would have worked too. 
LIKE THIS
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I also thought about making a valence.
LIKE THIS (kind of, I didn’t make the valence so I didn’t finish it off)
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But since I had the curtain I used all of it
LIKE THIS
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32 comments:

Christine @ sugarandtrash.com said...

this is so sweet and romantic. would look great in my kitchen, I may have to try it.

Christine @ sugarandtrash.com said...

this is so sweet and romantic. would look great in my kitchen, I may have to try it.

★Rebekah {All Thingz Related}★ said...

That is very pretty! I love it!

Nina said...

That turned out really well! For some reason sewing with elastic has always scared me, and I would have never thought to put it on the bobbin. I'll have to give it a try...

Erin said...

Sooo cute. I think I'll try this for my daughter's room. Thanks for sharing!

Marisa said...

very clever of you, I'm going to have to try that myself!

Sara said...

I am in the process of re-doing my girls room, I am going to have to make these now! Did you just use regular thread through the top and the elastic in the bobbin? or elastic on both?

Jaime S. said...

You use the elastic thread in the bobbin only and regular thread in the top. good luck with your curtains!

Katherines Corner said...

Gorgeous! Great tutorial. Happy Friday Hugs! P.S. have you made it over to my new location?

jandjhome said...

What a great idea. So beautiful and feminine.

Barillafab4.blogspot.com said...

love them!! thanks for sharing :)

Jen said...

That is so pretty! I am wanting to make a curtain for my daughter's closet door, and this idea gives me some ideas. :) Thanks for sharing.
Following from Creative Girls Blog Hop.
Cheers!
Jen
www.cariboobutterfly.com

chris said...

Great job! I love your curtains. I hadn't thought of using elastic thread.

Fatima said...

Those are beautiful! I bet they will look magnificent fluttering in the breeze!

Suzanne@Meridian Road said...

Oh, I need some of those for my guest room! They're gorgeous! Thanks for the tutorial.

Megan said...

These remind me of curtains sold at Pottery Barn. So pretty.

megan
craftycpa.blogspot.com

RDRD4 said...

I love it,so Beautiful

Anonymous said...

Beautifully done!

I did that by hand gathering some stuff last year, and the sheer thought of doing a curtain was misery.

I did not know you could use elastic like this, now you have made my desire a reality!

Thank you so much for posting this and linking it so i could find it!

DANA said...

Congratulations! You made the round one finals for April on Saturday Mornings! Here is the link! Voting will be near the end of the month and I will give you a button to display proudly!

http://www.thesaturdaymorningsblog.com/2011/04/finalists-for-best-of-april-round-1.html

Stephanie said...

That's just lovely. Thanks for the instructions!

Anita @ GoingALittleCoastal said...

Wow, these turned out really pretty! So you just used regular thread for the top? It's amazing how it all just pulled together.

Christina said...

How darling! This would be perfect for my girl's room, they need some new curtains. Thanks for such a great tute.

Christina
frozenfamily.com

Rebecca @ My Girlish Whims said...

these are so pretty and whimsical! love them!

I'd love for you to link this up to my new link party, Your Whims Wednesday! http://mygirlishwhims.blogspot.com/2011/04/your-whims-wednesday-1.html

Remodelaholic said...

I totally love this! And actually I have been wondering how you use that elastic thread, so thanks for showing how!

I wonder if you would be interested in writing a special guest post on Remodelaholic about the project! Let me know, I will send you the details.

Thanks,
Cassity

Quiltstory said...

Great tutorial! Such sweet curtains, love it. Thanks for linking to Fabric Tuesday :)

Kathie said...

oooh I love these! very cute.

Valery (CEO Wanna Be) said...

Hi there I am a new follower and love your blog
Those curtains are so cute.
Stop by any time.
http://thisnthatboutiqueblog.blogspot.com/
http://www.etsy.com/shop/ThisanThatBoutique

EllensCreativePassage said...

That is genius...looks high dollar! Great job!

Tammy @ she wears flowers said...

I love this! I'll be linking on Thursday--I hope you will stop my! ;)

http://sassandfrasscrafts.blogspot.com/ said...

Beautiful.
Tess

KJ@letsgoflyakite said...

You did an amazing job on these! I would never have thought to use elastic thread, it worked out perfect!

Pine Tree Home said...

Who knew this could be so simple. I have to find me some of that elastic thread! Beautiful.