Boho Patchwork Curtains

 

I just finished making the HAPPIEST curtains I’ve ever owned.  And as a bonus I used fabrics I’ve been hoarding from stash along with pieces that just didn’t have the right home until now.  My life has needed a little cheering up and gorgeous fabrics came to the rescue.  My bedroom window bank is quite large with four large windows side by side along one wall.  I don’t have a ton of room, so I’ve learned not to take these curtains to the floor but rather just below the sill.

 

 

I started by collecting fabrics from my sewing room that all had a strong floral feel or feed sack look.  Many of my go to fabrics ended up being from two designers, Amy Sinibaldi and Sharon Holland who both currently design for Art Gallery Fabrics.  I had yardage of these fabrics and filled in any gaps in my selection with other large cuts of similar feeling fabric no smaller than a fat 8th cut.  These curtains are a celebration of the fabrics and using such large cuts from fat 8th to 1 yard felt really indulgent and special to me.  Remember, I’m normally a person who chops up every fabric into tiny pieces for a quilt.  So this was a different take on yardage.

 

 

I used my previous curtains as my approximation for the size of these.  Mine are somewhere in the 55″ x 65″ size.  But the beauty of this project is that I didn’t need to fuss about keeping the curtains all the same width.  I did make sure they were the same length after sewing all four large panels together.

Before I started, I searched the interwebs to find some inspiration.  I was delighted to find Rachel Hauser of Stitched in Color had also sewn some similar curtains.  After reading through her blog post on her own curtains, my biggest take away that I wanted to imitate was the use of French Seams throughout the curtains.  This is a laborious method of sewing seams with wrong sides together first and then after pressing etc, resew these same seams with right sides together.  The result is a perfectly finished product on both the front and the back.  This method of sewing seams is largely used for sheer fabrics in garment making and I’ve done it before.   And while my fabrics are obviously not sheer, when sewn together and held up against a window they have a beautiful stained glass effect.  The seams are quite prominent in the visual and it was TOTALLY worth making these super tidy and neat.

 

 

Curtains will drape best with a bit of weight in the hem.  Trust me, it’s a thing. So I bought a spool of 2″ ribbon from Amazon to use as a hem tape.  I cut each panel to the same length (a deceptively difficult part of the process given the size of these curtains and the space I was working in).  Then I added the ribbon to the bottom with a 1/4″ seam and flipped it up and sewed it in place.  This gave me a universal finish to the bottom edge of all of the curtains.  I just used a simple 1/4″ double turn for the top and both vertical sides to finish them.

 

 

And then came the time to hang them in my bedroom! I had carefully but also in an improv manner pieced together these panels to distribute the fabrics I was using evenly throughout them.  Now I just had to pick the order of the four panels as they would hang together.  I really didn’t have a bad choice, but I had fun playing with the different options and keeping the balance of light and dark fabrics and pieced sizes.  These are hung with a curtain system uses a track and hanging clips that move freely within the track (thus why I could get away with just making panels rather than having a large pocket for a rod at the top).  Those beautiful french seams were worth all the extra work as soon as I saw them hanging in the windows with the light shining on them.  It makes my OCD inclined self very happy and peaceful.

 

 

My kitties love to hide behind the curtains in this room and I got their immediate stamp of approval.  Not to mention they adored the creation process when I had large panels of fabric all over my living room floor.  If you have cats you know that you can’t set fabric down without curious creatures coming to investigate and stake their claim.

 

 

The full view of my windows is something that makes me smile every time I see it.  All of that seemingly chaotic color and print that was actually very deliberately arranged one piece at a time.  The large swatches of fabric that show off the beautiful designs by the designers.  So many favorite fabrics in one place that I am enjoying on a daily basis rather than having them stashed away in my sewing studio.   The lines of the french seams give order and linear minimalism to a colorful burst of floral and friends fabrics.  It’s just perfect for me and my aesthetic.

 

 

The lesson here?  Don’t be afraid to go a little crazy and just put together a happy collection of fabrics that you can enjoy.  I wake up and smile at my windows every day.  Tweaking the ruffles of the curtains gives me endless entertainment as well.

2 thoughts on “Boho Patchwork Curtains”

  1. buddhajames777

    These are absolutely excellent! The only thing I would add for my bedroom windows is blackout lining, as it seems I’m the only one with conventional sleeping hours in this neighborhood. People all around me are pulling into their driveways (and shining their lights in my windows) at the wee-est of the wee hours. And, I think you’re right…French seams are so worth the effort.

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