It will be 9 years next month since we moved into our house. There were absolutely no drapes in the house. So I had to find a frugal way of either buying drapes or making them myself. My husband and I first started shopping for drapes at several stores. I looked at the price tags and was astonished and knew right away that it would have cost us a lot of money to do the entire house.
I either read this frugal tip in a magazine or heard it on TV about making drapes out of flat bed sheets. I thought to myself, "Why not give it a try". I purchased two flat queen sized sheets from Sears because I fell in love with the large flower pattern. The flat twin size sheets were either purchased from K-Mart or Walmart. I also had to purchase some drapery rods for the kitchen, bathroom and three bedrooms.
I didn't use a sewing pattern, just plan old ingenuity and the many years of sewing experience helped me out tremendously. I wanted to make floor length drapes for my living room windows. So I ran the curtain rod through the top casing on the sheet and hung it up to my window. Then stepped back and took a long hard look at what needed to be done. The sheet was extremely long so I measured as to how much I should cut off at the bottom. I cut both sheets the same length and sewed the bottom hems on my sewing machine.
I'm so frugal, that I didn't want to spend the extra money for another flat sheet so I made a pair of drapes out of the left over fabric that I used on the kitchen window.
They are so very easy to launder, and never need dry cleaning. Just wash, dry and press with your iron. I even bought four pairs of sheer drapes in a few garage sales that I used for my living room and bedroom windows.
Now you're probably wondering what it cost me to do the entire house. Would you believe if I told you about $109.00 - $115.00.
By Marge W. from Sanborn, NY
Here are the questions asked by community members. Read on to see the answers provided by the ThriftyFun community.
How do you make curtains out of bedsheets?
By Kay Smith
I would go with the clip on curtain rings. I have seen this done on many decorating shows. It is the easiest way to do it and I am all for easy.
Fast and Easy Curtains:
Another way (besides using curtain clips) is to use a seam ripper or a razor blade & open up the top 3 inches of the thread on each side of the top of the flat sheet (where it's folded over). If you open both sides, the sheet will simply slide right on to the curtain rod & all you have to do is to hem the bottom of your sheet!
Spring Rods:
I prefer "spring-rods" instead of curtain rods, because they need no hardware & simply fit tightly inside your window with spring-action! Spring-rods come in all sizes & you twist them to get them bigger or smaller. With the more heavy-duty ones, you use a butter-knife or a screw driver to size them. They cost about $5 at Walmart & are sold with the curtain rods & blinds.
No- Sew Curtains:
If you don't want to ruin your sheet, a simple way to make a quickie curtain is to use a spring rod or curtain rod, then fold your sheet over the curtain rod, so the back is longer & the front (which is shorter) hangs over towards you. Let the back of the sheet hang down to the floor (or however long you want it). Now simply arrange the folds evenly so it looks nice. The shorter part (on top) that is hanging towards you is the "valance". Anyway, this is a quickie way to make an okay looking curtain & you don't damage your sheet.
Fancy Apartment Curtains:
You can use 2 identical sheets & do the same thing, but part them in the middle & add a matching color of ribbon to tie back each side with 2 matching large silk flowers pinned to the ribbon. This looks nice in an apartment or rental house where you want nothing permanent, but want to cover your mini-blinds or windows with something pretty.
