The curtains in the living room aren't the greatest by any stretch.
Before:
So I started with 8 panels of some curtains that I loved online, but are a little bit too shiny. Anyone know of a way to reduce shine???
Here they are all sewn together, it is one gigantic panel. Then I sewed onto the very top of the curtain something called pleaters tape. Mine is 3 7/8" wide, unfortunately for me, the pleater pins I bought at 3 7/8" went out of stock and I couldn't get them anywhere. So I had to make do with 3" pins and 3 7/8" tape.
It has pockets spaced evenly on the tape to insert the pins, which will gather the curtain panel evenly to make a pleat.
You just slide one prong in at a time (there are four prongs on each pin).
Two...
Three:
Four!
I skip one pocket in between each pleat pin. Now, I sewed on the pleat tape, and left about 7/8" hanging off the top, to cut off, so that the tape is approximately 3" wide. This is how I got around not having the right size pins.
Snip off the excess tape:
Here are some pins on the back, with one pocket space between them.
After:
As you can see, they are so long because it covers up a large sliding glass door. A feature is that they can slide all the way clear of the door, which is a pocket glass door, and when it is open the curtains don't block the doorway at all. I just wish they weren't as shiny. My husband wishes it didn't look like a theater curtain.
What do you think? Can I keep them? They don't match the style? Hate them? I am not in love with them. But of course now I've modified 8 panels of curtains from overstock.com and cannot mail them back. We will keep them for a while. But then I'll definitely have to switch them out. Baby steps. They are still new, clean, and a step up from the original.
A Girls Weekend In Sedona, Arizona
1 week ago
Michelle | March 9, 2013 at 12:23 AM
I have just discovered that there are no more ceiling pleater hooks for 3 7/8" tape of which I happen to own an entire 30 yard spool. Thanks for demonstrating how to jimmy-rig the hooks and tape. It's good to know I'm not the only one. We have a giant window/door as well that we are covering up. I think you did a great job!