Lined, Grommet Top Curtain Tutorial AND New Bekko Home Dec for Michael Miller

by Kelsey Norwood

in Crafts,Sewing,Tutorials

Remember how I went to the Fashion District in LA looking for modern home dec fabric and didn’t find anything?

Well I found it now. Michael Miller’s new BEKKO Collection by Trenna Travis is EXACTLY what I was looking for. Perfect colors, perfect prints, perfect weight. It’s 100% cotton sateen and it’s fabulous.

It comes out this month and I can’t wait.

I got my hands on some sample fabric to play with and since we’re building a house and I want to do curtains for most of the window treatments the timing could not be better. I’m getting a head start so all my curtains can be finished and hung before our heads hit the pillows on the first night in our new house.

First up: Linus’s room.


Here’s a quick run down on how to make fully lined grommet curtain panel for 1 window:

MATERIALS

  • home dec weight fabric
  • Roc-Lon budget blackout fabric ($6.99 full price at JoAnn – it’s the best and so cheap!)
  • 2 packages grommets (8 in a package)
INSTRUCTIONS
1. First you need to decide how long you want your curtains to be. They can be any length really, and I usually determine how long to make them by how much money I want to spend on fabric. Linus’s room in our new house has 2 – 5′ wide windows so I’ll need 4 panels, so I’m making them just a few inches longer than the window.
Decide the total length and add 4 1/2″ for the top hem and another 3 1/2″ for the bottom hem (8″ total).
I recommend keeping the full 54″ width for each panel – it just looks right – and you’re going to lose some on the hems anyway.
2. Cut out the fabric – 54″ (or width of fabric) x finished length + 8″.
3. Cut out the blackout fabric the finished length of the curtains (not including the extra 8″ for hems) and 52″ wide – I think it’s 54″ wide, so cut 2″ off of one side.
***Be sure to measure your actual fabric widths as they vary. You want the curtain fabric to be 2″ wider in width than the blackout fabric.
4. Serge around the entire exterior of the curtain fabric.

4. At the top of the curtain fabric, fold over 4.25″ and press.

(I used a coordinating print for the top of the curtains – it takes a little bit of extra planning and math, but the most important thing is you want 4″ finished length at the top for the grommets.)

5. Open the curtain fabric back up and lay the black out fabric right along the press line. Fold the curtain fabric back down, turn the edge under 1/4″, and stitch the top hem in place. (The grommets will hold the blackout fabric in place above the hemline.)

6. Lay out flat and fold up the hem – fold the serged edge under 1/4″ and then fold up again 2″. Stitch hem in place.

7. Sew the side seams the same way – fold the serged edge under 1/4″ and then over again 1/2″. Stitch at 3/8″ on both sides.

8. Mark the two end grommets so the center of the grommet is 2 – 3″ from the edge of the fabric. Measure the distance between the center points of the two end grommets and divide by 7. Trace the template that many inches apart, cut out using a small rotary blade or scissors, and snap the grommets together.

Grommets are so easy to use and they look really professional and beautiful, but be sure to use all 8! I learned the hard way that if you only use 7  one end of the curtain rod will come out in front of the fabric and the other end will come out behind. Using all 8 ensures that both ends look the same.

Making lined curtains is pretty easy, finding the right fabric is usually the hardest part but Bekko is the answer! I want one of each!

Have you made lined curtains? Do you dare?? Which Bekko print is your favorite???

 

 

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