You have every right to be proud of your work - they are GREAT looking!!! I make all my own drapes and window treatments, too; much less expensive and you get 'custom'!

Love the crisp new look! I know from experience, even though they are 'straight lines' when you're handling that much material it's not just zip-zip and done so kudos to you. How did you do the stripes?

Your drapes look wonderful and definitely not something you whipped up at home. My not being able to sew at all makes your accomplishment all the more fantastic.

T

Thanks guys. It is nice to have new drapes that I actually like without the big price tag. It wasn't easy trying to handle the large amount of material. I would get overwhelmed if I thought too many steps ahead. One seam at a time.

DLM, I painted the stripes. Here I was practising. I decided to only do stripes at the top.

I also made pillow covers and a table runner.

A girl after my own heart! Painted stripes - love it!

Wonderful job!

Great job. I would on never thought to use drop cloths. And you can machine wash the drapes yourself. Might use them next time I need to re-cover the porch furniture. Material at stores like Jo-Ann fabric is soooo over priced.

Very nice!

Function, I just used latex paint so probably not able to wash them. I think I was supposed to use fabric paint. If washing, air dry the material then iron while damp using steam to get all the wrinkles out.

Wonder how the paint will hold up with washing? I did once make replacement outdoor awnings out of canvas for two small windows and I painted our initial on them with latex paint and they held up to the elements. All you can do is try washing them and hope for the best.

Brilliant! I've sewn drapes for my home and I know how hard that is! They look stunning--well done!

They look fantastic! Well done!

Nice!! I have seen these done before. Washing drapes is overrated! By the time they need washed, you will want a new color of stripe! Good job.

Oh my Anglophilia, what a nice mom you are lugging all that stuff back and forth. Good made drapes will last for years.

As far as washing drapes. I wash mine 3 times a year. I have drapes for summer and winter and wash them before I put them up for the season. The winter drapes in the living room also get washed mid winter.

Washing MAY work for unlined curtains, but not for lined/interlined ones. Ask me how I know...

My winter drapes also have an interlining and they wash well. I guess it depends on the material. Mine said they were washable. They are a bit_h to iron though. Did you have problems with yours? Sometimes linings do shrink and pucker up the drapes.

I've sewn a duvet cover and umpteen pillow covers. I did make curtains for a friend once, but he was such a pain about it that I swore never again!

I've made several quilts for new babies in the family and some for the dog too because she likes digging a nest with blankets and throws whether on the sofa or the bed. Over time you get the hang of things and projects go much faster.

They are lovely. Based on the look of my many-times-washed painting shirt and pants, I would say you have a good chance of successfully washing those drapes.

So true Graywings.

Your drapes look fantastic!!! You should be proud.

Looks great. I was just looking this up a few weeks ago because I would like to do the same but most people said that their drop clothes had seams and some were not evenly sewn either and some packages did not so that was a bit of a problem. Did you experience that?

Fabulous job, ctlane! I too think the paint may hold up well to washing, let it cure for a month or so and it may never budge. lol I also made a pair of drapes from drop cloths to close off the kitchen from the living area when cooking/baking and like them much better than any of the store bought drapes I have.

That is a wonderful job! love the painted on stripe!

It proves it. I am lazy! I did not want to make my own drapes and I did not want to pay the price that people are charging these days. So I went out and bought some drapes at a second hand store and attached sheets to the back of them and hung them and they work very well. They were only $10 a panel. The sheets were already mine

Winker, I had to buy 2 packages of 8 x 12 ft drop cloths. The first one was all one piece with no seams. When I opened the second pack there was a seam down towards one end but since it was such a big piece and I didn't need all 12 feet, I just cut that end off. Also the second one wasn't even around the edges. Had to fix that.

Yeonassky, smart thinking. How did you attach the sheets to the back?

They look great!

Wow, they're wonderful--you are an inspiration!

I'm embarrassed to tell you I pretty much just stitched it all the way along by hand in a quick loop stitch. I had a thread that matched the cream color of the drapes and the cream color of the sheet so the stitches pretty much disappeared luckily. See lazy:-)

niz!

Ha, Teeda. Like I said, not a seamstress. Just hard to find what I like so easier to make myself. Not sure if I would do it again.

Yeonassky, that works. I have 2 panels on each side which I attached together with a large safety pin from the back. Didn't want to sew them together.

Nice! Truly, straight lines are not so hard, so drapes and pillows are pretty easy -- if we just try!

Another obstacle: Fabric is tremendously expensive, and it's scary to take scissors to expensive fabric ... though you certainly worked around this by choosing the painter's cloth.

Washing MAY work for unlined curtains, but not for lined/interlined ones. Ask me how I know...

The problem is that often you're combining two different materials, and often one (or both) of the materials hasn't been pre-washed; thus, the materials shrink and/or shrink at different rates.

It is always good idea to wash and dry material before you use it for a sewing project.

Function, thats what I did. Then ironed while damp.

ct - i know those long lengths can be a real pain. recruit another family member to feed you the fabric, you can go really fast then like a race car driver. and though i comprehend what everyone says, I never prewash. I am a very want it done now!!! Can not tell you how many arts i have quit because they take too long. I do not wash, I do not iron. I make, I hang. dont even use straight pins to keep the fabric together. unless i am positive it will make it faster. if it shows folds after 24 hours, i spritz and pull it. that always works.

i know, i know, I am an absolute horror. lol

Havingfun, this material came in a plastic wrapping and once I opened it the folds were deeply ingrained into the material. No choice but to wash and iron. I hate wrinkles. I even pinned the seams and then ironed them taking out the pins as I went so sewing would go easier.

ok. just not me.

ctlane, I wear my grubbiest clothes when I paint rooms in my house, and I get latex paint all over them, and it doesn't come off in the wash. If you have a small piece of drop cloth left, you might put some paint on it and then experiment washing it - maybe in the sink with a bit of detergent to be safe. :-)

Your stripes look very nice at the top - you made a big improvement. I've made all my own drapes (except for the vintage ones I've collected) as well as drapes for others, and today it is even easier since you can use clip-on rings, which is what I have done with my most recent ones. I painted diagonal stripes for drapes that I made for my mother's bedroom, and this way I would make the drapes make a "V" pattern by painting the stripes in a mirror image.

I get lots of free fabric at work, and so the closet in my sewing room/guest room is pretty much filled with bolts of fabric waiting for me to make something with them.

I've used both fabric paint and acrylic paint for painting fabric - the fabric paint is pretty expensive, and the acrylic paint only needs to have fabric paint medium added to it. I have on occasion just used water, but that was when I wanted to create a certain effect with brush strokes.

Did you thin your latex paint? Do you also set it with an iron and press cloth? The paint will fuse with the fabric when it is ironed, but if it is too thick, it could crack. However, you can keep extra paint for a touch-up, if necessary. If you set the paint with an iron, it will not come off in the wash, but I would still be hesitant to wash lined drapes, even though (like you) I preshrink cotton and linen fabric, unless it is going to be used for upholstery.

My3dogs, when I saw you were first to comment that you liked them, I was thrilled. I have seen some of your sewing projects. That means a lot. There is a lot of material left. Good idea on trying to wash a piece with paint on it just to see.

Lars, thanks. I didn't thin the paint. Didn't even think of it. I didn't set it either. I made sure they were ironed really good before doing the stripes because I assumed I wouldn't be able to iron after. These aren't lined. The fabric is thick enough that you definitely can't see through at all.

Really nice job on the drapes...a girl after my own heart.

I've used textile paint, paint that I added textile medium to, and regular acrylic latex paints for various fabric projects. I found no difference in any of them when it came to washing (and one was a duvet that I made out of 2 flat sheets, so you know that got washed a lot).

When the time comes to wash, you can just set the paint with an iron if you wish (the jury is still out on whether that matters, but it might be fabric-dependent, so it's a ymmv thing) before tossing them in the wash. If you didn't pre-wash them, then I would wash in cold and hang to dry because they might shrink.

Also, I hear that quality/color/seams will all vary depending on.....who was playing video games that day at the factory...really no rhyme or reason :)

They look Beautiful! Great job! :)

They look great! Huge accomplishment. About 20 years ago I got the idea to hang porch curtains and none were available at that time so I made them out of painters cloths. I used a grommet kit and punched grommets in that heavy thick fabric. Then I screwed cup hooks into the header board all along the porch. The porch was 20' long and it was about 95 degrees the day I did it so I probably would not do it again, but I sure did love my curtains. I hope that you love yours too!