Raise the Roof!

Or raise the curtain height in this case.  I have been starting at the curtains in my living room for a year and a half wishing they were longer and finally go around to matching up the fabric to do so.  This week I actually have 2 curtain projects to share with you but today's is the simpler of the two and thats adding length to a curtain. 

Here is a before shot of the living room (kitchen has the same curtains at the same height)

I decided that it would look better if the curtains were at the ceiling height so off to Joann's I went in search of a fabric match.  It was pretty hard to find an exact match but the color match was very very close.  The store associate actually made a great suggestion to add ribbon to the seam to try and make it look pretty seamless so I decided to go with that idea.  As a side note...none of this requires a sewing machine.  Arguably it would have been better if I had sewn it, but since I cant sew a straight line to save my life I figured hem tape would work better.  Below is after the curtain rods were taken down, and you can see what a big difference even sheers make to a window.  It looks so boring and bland, but with the curtains it brings more life into the home.  Dont get me wrong its cool if you dont want curtains, I just happen to prefer having them.

Here is what i started with...

 Thats the bottom of the curtain and the fabric that I used to make it longer.  First I measured with width of the original and cut the new fabric plus 1 inch on either side to match.  The 1 inch on either side is to make the hem so that the unfinished edges dont show.

 Here you can see the pinning of the hem.  What I do is first pin the hem, then iron over it so the hem stays down then I insert the hem tape between the fabric and the edge.  Make sure you read the instructions on the hem tape so you know how long to leave the heat on for.

 Here is a closer shot of the edges hemmed down.  Not the best shot but you get the idea.  I did the 1 inch hem on 3 edges to make sure there were not going to be any unfinished edges showing.

 Above is a better picture of all 3 edges hemmed and ready for the next step

 To attach the extra length put the original curtain face down and the new addition face up so they are back to back.  The white line you see at the bottom of the brown is the hem tape before I put it in between the 2 fabrics.  Once you have both fabrics as close to perfectly lined up as you can, put the hem tape between the 2 pieces of fabric and iron away.

 Once them hem tape has had about 1 minute to cool flip the extra length piece down and then iron at the seam to help it lay flat.  As an extra step I also flipped the curtain over and put a piece of them tape at the seam as well.  Since both fabrics were pretty heavy it helped to have the extra bonding to keep it from flopping around.  If you have a lighter fabric this wont be necessary.

Now for the decoration.  I have a hard time with straight lines so ribbon really is my best friend and helps me hide a host of problems.  Same is the case here, so I put hem tape on the curtain where I wanted the ribbon to go (aka cover up a mess haha), put the ribbon on top of that and ironed it all together.  Below you see the sheers have also magically grown in length as well...well I spent another 2 hours taking a seam ripper to them to make them longer.  These babies had like a 6 inch hem on them which was great because that meant I didnt have to add any length to them I just had to take the seam out.  Major score on that one.

All in all I had 4 curtains to do and it took about 3 hours to do all 4...and thats including distractions from the dog and the TV shows I was watching...oh and another 2 for the sheers.  Truth be told I am actually going to move these curtains to the kitchen with their sisters because i want to make a sheer valance for in here...but seeing as I used all my fabric allowance in here and the bedroom that will have to wait a few more weeks.  Oh and cost on this, the fabric was $13.50 for 3 yards, $5 for 2 spools of ribbon and $3 for 2 rolls of hem tape.  Total for this project of 4 curtains is $21.50.  Not bad considering you cant really buy a 100" length curtain for that price!

My back is killing me from all the sitting on the floor but I think its worth it, makes the room look taller and it was pretty cheap to do as well which always makes me happy.  Do you have curtains you like but would love to make longer?  Whats holding you back?!

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