Ruffled curtains: The Tutorial

Welcome once again to Transformation Thursday! It's the one day of the week we all get together to celebrate getting stuff done. No matter if you've been coming around for quite a while or this is your first time, everyone is welcome to share their projects, big or small. Just link up at the bottom of this post.

Last week I showed y'all the reveal of my own little spa, and lots of you commented and emailed (and some even called) me about a tutorial for the curtains. They are really easy.

First you need to determine what size curtain you need for your window. You'll need a "base" (or a piece that covers the whole curtain), and you'll need to cut strips for the ruffles.

Determine how many rows of ruffles you want, then measure the length of the curtain and add 2 inches for each ruffle. Divide the number of ruffles by the total inches to figure out how long you want the ruffles. Your ruffle fabric should be 4x the width of the base, so that you have plenty of gathering room. Confusing enough? Welllll... I just eyeballed it. No joke. I'm way too lazy to do all that math (I do have an English degree, after all :)

Make sure to add enough to the top of the length to make a pocket rod - then fold it and sew it down before you get to the ruffly part.

Do you have a ruffler? If you do: run it through the ruffler.

If not: ruffle it by hand. By hand is slower, but still works pretty well.

Once your ruffles are ready, overlap the bottom of the base

 fabric by an inch or so and pin it down all the way across.

Sew the ruffle down to the base fabric.

Lay your second set of ruffles down about 2 inches

over the top of the last row, then pin them down.

Now sew that down. Rinse and repeat all the way to the top of the curtain.

I left the top edge of my curtain at the bottom of the hem pocket.

And there you have it! Mine took about 30 minutes because

I used a ruffler, but you could still do it pretty quickly doing it by hand.

Thank you for all the sweet comments on my curtains - so glad you liked them :)

Soooo.... whatcha got? I wanna see and so does everybody else! Just put your PERMALINK into the linky, and please link back here so everyone can find the great ideas. DO NOT link to an Etsy shop, online store or other selling venue. Be sure to say hi to your neighbors - it is a party after all.

Welllll..... let'er rip, tater chip!