DECORATIVE CURTAIN

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The project

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The sewing instructions

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Materials (for a finished curtain 65cm wide with a 2.45 metre drop)

2,70 metres of curtain fabric
30-40 decorative buttons of your choice (2- or 3-hole)
Strips of satin ribbon (different lengths and colours)

Instructions:

Take your length of fabric and lay it flat vertically, so that the short sides are at the top and bottom. From the side, measure a width of 75cm and insert a few pins along the length of the fabric. Using the pins as a guide, make a fold in the fabric right along its full length, iron down flat to make a crease, remove the pins, and cut off the excess fabric along the full length. You should now have a strip measuring 75cm wide x 2.7 metres long.
Sew a 2.5cm wide hem along each vertical side of your curtain:
Taking the bottom of the curtain, sew a 4cm hem.
Before beginning to sew the satin ribbons, fold the curtain in two along its length.
Iron the curtain flat to make a prominent crease at the fold, which will help you position your first satin ribbon.
Place the first satin ribbon in the very centre of the curtain, running from top to bottom, using the crease to ensure accurate positioning. The length of this first strip should be 1.12m. Pin the ribbon into place.
Position the remaining satin ribbons at 10cm intervals, working outwards from the first strip, and pin them into place. The next two strips (one on either side of the centre strip) should be 1 metre long. The next two should be 88cm long. Sew all the ribbons into place, working from the top of the curtain downwards.
Working from the bottom of the curtain, measure upwards 2.45m and mark a line by inserting a few pins. Iron the curtain to make a crease along this line.
From this crease, measure upwards a further 10cm, make a line, and cut off any excess fabric above this line.
Fold the fabric over twice (5cm, then a further 5cm) to reach the line of pins.
Remove the pins and sew the top of the curtain along the edge of the fold, leaving both sides open so that you can insert a curtain rod.

Now it's time to decorate and personalize your curtain! Sew your buttons along the satin strips in any pattern that pleases you - a relatively easy procedure that creates a very chic effect!

Don't hesitate to use your sewing machine for this step, too. The button sewing foot makes it easy to sew many different types of buttons, and is available for all machines in the Elna range

Handy hint

If you'd like to give the top of your curtain a more professional look, sew a second seam between the top of the curtain and your existing hem (centre the seam 2.5cm from the top, and 2.5cm from the current hem). While this will mean using a thinner curtain rod, your curtain will look more ‘finished' (see example).