Sewing: Remodel a Curtain

This is a project that I got volunteered for. My daughter-in-law had purchased a long and narrow curtain, and wished to have it converted into two shorter and reasonably equivalent curtains, for my new grandson's bedroom. (It goes without saying that if my baby grandson is the beneficiary, I am more than willing to do the work!)

First task: Measuring

The key measurements of the existing curtain were:

• The length of the curtain (94 inches)
• How much hem was turned up on the bottom, including the half-inch turn under (3 inches).
• How much header was turned down on the top, including the half-inch turn under (5 inches).

Basically, the curtain looked like this (not to scale):

What I needed to do is figure out a cutting point, so that I could get the following:

The red shows the new hems.

Zipping into math now, what this picture is telling me is that 2 of those somethings + 5 + 3 (those new red hems) has to equal 94 inches.

• 2 x something + 8 = 94
• so 2 x something = 86
• so something = 43.

But we're not done yet. Because the something is the finished curtain length.

From the existing bottom hem fold, I need to make the cut 43 + 5 (for the top hem plus turn under). That is 48 inches.

And from the existing top hem fold, I need to make the cut 43 + 3 (for the bottom hem plus turn under). That is 46 inches.

And 48 + 46 = 94 inches. This is good.

And for a reality check, it does make sense that the piece including the original bottom hem has to be 2 inches longer than the piece including the original top hem, but the bottom half has to have a 2 inch bigger hem for its new top.

So that is where I did cut the curtain into sort of half.

Second task: New top hem on bottom half

The target here is to duplicate the existing top hem onto the bottom half of the curtain. Here is the existing top hem. Note that there are tabs sewn onto the back of the top hem for inserting the curtain rod.

Fold the new top hem 5 inches from the cut edge, or 43 inches from the bottom edge, and press. Turn under 1/2 inch at the bottom of the hem, tucking the raw edge under. This photo shows the new top hem pressed. (As it turned out, the pinning was premature.)

As noted above, there are tabs for the curtain rod on the existing top hem. I had no matching fabric, and there was no opportunity to take a piece out of the existing curtain. So, off to the stash of quilting fabrics, where I found something that matched reasonably well, especially considering that the tabs would not be visible from the room.

Cut a 4 1/2 inch wide strip of 44 inch wide fabric, sew into a tube, turn right side out, and press with the seam centered on the back. From this, cut 7 little tubes, 5 1/2 inches long.

On each of the tubes, turn under 1/2 inch at one end, and press.

Lay the existing top hem onto the new top hem, and mark the placement of the tabs.

Open out the new top hem, and pin the tabs in position.

Sew the tabs to the top fold of the new top hem.

Fold the top hem back into position. Tuck the part of the tab that extends past the bottom turn-under of the top hem underneath the top hem.

Stitch the bottom edge of the new top hem in place. The raw edges of the hem and the tabs are now well hidden.

And the curtain made from the bottom half of the original curtain is now done!

Third task: New bottom hem on top half

Check out how the original bottom hem looks. The lining is a couple of inches shorter than the main curtain. And there is a diagonal seam holding the fold in place. The lining is narrower than the curtain fabric. That is a standard practice. When you sew the side seams, you automatically get nice side hems with no lining showing on the outside.

To determine where the hem is on this curtain, lay the finished curtain on top of it, with several pins to prevent any shifting.

This shows where the hem will have to be in order to make the curtains the same size.

Mark the hem.

Press the hem along the marking. When the hem is opened out, then it will be clear where to cut the lining, to ensure that the lining is shorter than the main fabric. Unsew the side seams, so that the lining can be hemmed.

After the lining is hemmed, resew the side seams.

Now, deal with the finishing of the corners. The hem is pinned in place, but some main fabric is still sticking out. No problem.

Fold that sticking-out fabric over the hem, pin, and stitch the entire hem. Then stitch the side flaps down.

And the second curtain is finished.

Conclusion

The curtains are now hung up in my grandson's bedroom, and they look ok.

All this project took was some math, some measuring, and some analysis of how the original curtain was made. Having a big table to work on helped!

My husband is suggesting that I should now make some curtains for some of our windows. I will - as soon as I have time. But usually other projects surface to the top of my to-do list. But some day....