On Sewing Pinch-Pleated Curtains...

Thanks for all the great feedback on my new curtains! I love all the support that I get from blogging! I was a little nervous about trying to make pinch-pleat drapes by myself, but I wasn't about to scrounge up the cash right now to pay a seamstress for the job. And surprisingly, the project was FUN! And I learned a lot about sewing. Honestly, I think I'll probably make my own drapes from here on out. The first panel took about three hours start to finish, but the second took less than an hour! Why pay someone $150/panel for labor when I can do the work myself?



Here are the details:

1. The hardware was a Target clearance aisle buy. I did my best to cover up the 'Tuscan' look (below) with black spray paint and I'm happy with the hardware, for the most part. It works.


2. The fabric is made by Braemore and was purchased at Zimmans. I haven't looked online yet, but I'm sure it is available somewhere on the interwebs. The stripes are 6.75" wide, if that helps.

You can see the vertically striped fabric rolled up here in this before picture. I just love a good before shot! :)

I really wanted horizontal (railroaded) stripes because I think that often vertical stripes get lost in a pleated drape (which I also wanted). I searched high and low for horizontal, thick (at least 6") stripes in a black and white pattern, but no luck. The Braemore fabric I decided to go with runs on the vertical, like most stripes. So I ended up cutting 54" lengths of the fabric and sewing two pieces together to get one 108" long piece of fabric with horizontal stripes.

After piecing together the vertical striped fabric to make railroaded stripes.

I was worried about the seam being super obvious - but it's really not. I have to inspect the drape with my hand to figure out where the seam is. The trick is to press the fabric really well and to line the drape.


3. I'm not going to give a full tutorial on making pleated curtains for you guys, because there are tutorials all over the web. I will say that I learned how to do a blind hem stitch and I used this pleating tape and these 4-prong pleating hooks to get my pleats perfect. I am so, so happy with the way my pleats turned out. They were easy and look very professional, thanks to the tape and hooks.



Hope that answers most of the questions. Let me know if I missed anything and I'll answer in the comments section.

Thanks!