Anyone shortened curtains?

[cakecakecake98]

Despairing after buying a pair of curtains for about £80 and finding they’re too long. They’re 54inch and I need 43inch (no I didn’t just grab the shortest ones they had)

I’ve shortened trousers before and have a sewing machine but haven’t used it in a long time. Is this a fairly easy job or should I really just return them and get custom made?
They’re eyelet curtains. Photo of hem below

I did this too and it's held up for 4 years so far

I have these curtains and I shortened them myself!

I cut to two inches longer than needed, then pinned in a turned up hem, hung them and checked they were ok. I then trimmed slightly, and sewed the hem using a running stitch. Important to measure and keep a straight line.

I did it on the John Lewis mini sewing machine, you don’t need anything fancy.

It is always a good idea to hang them up first, wait for the creases to drop a bit, and measure the amount to cut off, because even a pair in the same packet may not be exactly the same length.

I just shortened the exact same curtains.
I marked where I wanted them to hang as the ‘fold’ - used a biro as it drew well on the thermal lining and it will be hidden. Once I left about 6 cm and cut off the rest. Made one turn of about 2.5 cm and ironed the crease ( on the coloured side - not the lining- kept it moving on steam and the fabric was fine) then turned it again on the fold before ironing it again and pinning it.

i was going to sew the new hem on the machine but it broke and I’ve just done all 5.5 m by hand!

good luck OP

I recommend you find a local seamstress / curtain alterations person.

I had some lined curtains which were too long - needed about 7" taken off. They were 90" wide so quite big curtains. I found a local curtains alteration person, and this was all done beautifully for me and the cost was around £75. Really worth it to me as they hang beautifully straight and the correct length drop.

I’ve found a good video on YouTube that I think will help. But I’ve spent the whole day doing housework and I really can’t be bothered to do this now - think I’ll attempt it tomorrow. It’s just the fear that I mess it up when they cost about £50, but I have hemmed trousers before so I think it’ll be fine, it’s not my first ever time!

Curtains are much easier to hem than trousers! One tip, though, would be to use proper fabric shears to cut them, don’t hack away at them with kitchen or paper scissors.

That’s fine, I’ve got a whole box of fabric things that I really don’t use enough! Nice to hear that curtains are easier than trousers 🙂

I've recently taken these exact curtains to a local retired lady who has shortened them for me for £20 - well worth it!