Turning Ready Made Curtains into Custom Window Treatments

Ready made window treatments. 

PROS: Convenient. Easily available. Affordable. 

Panels and Scarf purchased at Tuesday Morning.

CONS: Often not the right style, color or length. And sometimes...just plain boring!

But that doesn't mean they have to stay that way! Using the ready made curtains shown above, we were able to lengthen, customize and considerably UP the cuteness factor for these windows!

White damask panels are roman shades custom made by the previous homeowner.

The windows in this master bedroom are quite tall. We needed to mount the hardware at 120". The chocolate brown stripe panels only measured 96" in length. By using one 6 yard green, scarf valance to create a "skirt" across the bottom we were able to lengthen the panels with enough left over to puddle on the floor.  

Each skirt consisted of 1.5 widths of fabric. The green scarf valance was cut into 6 pieces, 1 yard each. Two of these pieces were then cut in half, creating 4 halves, which were sewn to a whole width creating 4 skirts @ 1.5 widths each. These were then gathered, hemmed and attached along the hem line of the brown panels.

Here you can see the lining and inter lining of the ready made panels.

By attaching the skirt along the hem line I was able to fold the hem over the seam and hide it. I added a lining to the skirt (not shown) but it isn't necessary.  

The ball fringe (shown below) was sewn along the seam line of the skirt and panels.

The newly painted curtain rings were attached using drapery hooks. 

A glimpse of the headboard that was the inspiration for the paint treatment on the hardware. 



This is such a viable option. The ready made panels were lined and interlined! Another consideration is the savings by buying the 6yd length of fabric in the form of the scarf. This is often MUCH less expensive than 6 yds of fabric. (Plus, in my opinion, it's a much better use of the fabric than originally intended!)

So, the next time you're on the hunt for window treatments, consider mixing up some ready made panels for a completely custom look!   

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