Ribbon Trimmed Canvas Curtains

Earlier this week, I showed you how I made several things to insert bright colors and a fun pattern into my otherwise neutral décor. 

Remember how that valance was originally a tablecloth?  It was a pretty big tablecloth, but after two pillows and a long valance, I was starting to run low on snowflake fabric.

Originally, I planned to make another snowflake valance to top the window in my dining room (the other end of our large great room).  I played around with a couple of ideas, but finally came up with something completely different.

The curtains on this window are—don’t be too shocked—dropcloths.  Just call me the dropcloth curtain queen, because that’s a pageant I could win.  When I first hung them this fall, I hadn’t decided how long I wanted them to be, so I just folded the extra fabric over the top (instead of cutting it off) to give me the freedom to experiment.  You can see the extra fabric in this picture:

Once I determined the length I wanted and cut off the extra fabric, I was left with two panels of canvas that were already hemmed on three sides—much like the fabric I used for the snowflake valances.  I cut them 18 inches above the longest hemline.  To make the rod pocket, I simply folded over the raw edge 2 inches, and sewed it down with a straight seam.

Since the adjoining wall in this room also has dropcloth curtains, I needed to break up the sea of canvas.  I found a roll of red grosgrain ribbon in my sewing drawer, and stuck that onto the valances with hemming tape.

A couple of notes:  I could have used hemming tape instead of sewing a seam for the rod pockets (for a no-sew option), but it is my preference to actually sew that part of the curtain.  Also, this window is topped with only one of the valance panels, because I need more ribbon to finish the second.  I’ll do that eventually, and then there will be a little more gather and poof.  But for now, this is fine.

I really love that bright stripe of red on the plain-jane curtains.  It was a cheap and easy way for me to carry the red from my winter décor into this space.

Click here to view my other winter projects.