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)
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???
Did you get the kiwi or grass color? These are awesome and will be using your tutorial to make for my nursery!
Kiwi – it’s almost exactly the same as the green in Michael Miller’s lagoon prints. Perfect!
Love these!!! Where did you purchase the grommets?
Just JoAnn – they’re $12.99 (full price) for a set of 8 (enough for one 54″ panel)
What is the finished length of your curtains? And do the Grommets come with a pattern or is that something you have to make?
The curtains are about 54″ in length and the grommets do come with a template.
I purchased the Thick Navy Stripe fabric from the same Bekko collection (love them all!!)…however, the lines run PARALLEL to the selvedge. On the website, it shows that the Kiwi stripe runs parallel to the selvedge as well. So I am confused how you made your stripes horizontal? The way the lines run on my fabric, I would need to hang the curtains with the lines running vertically. Did you happen to add a few more steps of cutting and sewing to achieve the length you wanted with the stripes running horizontally?
I did flip mine around and made them 54″ x 54″ so I could have the stripes running horizontally. I should have mentioned that…You can make full length curtain panels by piecing the fabric together. I don’t know why they printed it like that, the other way would have made more sense to ME, but I’m sure they had a good reason. Vertical striped curtains are super cute too, I thought about doing it that way… Good luck!
I’ve just found your tutorial and have ordered my fabric, black out lining and grommets so am anxiously waiting their arrival to make curtains from two different rooms. In reading over the directions I do have one question. Instruction #1 states that we should add 3 1/2″ to the length for the bottom hem. Instructions #6 (which I assume to address sewing the bottom hem) states to “Lay out flat and fold up hem – fold serged edge under 1/4″ and then fold up again 2″. Stitch hem in place.” Shouldn’t you “fold up again 3 or 3 1/4inches” to account for the full 3 1/2″ we added to the length for that bottom hem? Maybe I am just missing something and it will make sense once I start production but would appreciate any clarification you might provide. Thanks for your great tutorial and I hope my curtains will look as fantastic as yours. And, I have bookmarked some of your other tutorials in anticipation of my first grandchild.
I bought a fabric shower curtain at Target with same pattern in navy blue and white, and made curtains. Fab.u.lous. And cheap!