Does anyone know anything about curtain making?

[StickThemWithThePointyEnd]

Not sure where to put this, but I thought I'd make a start here.

I want some red curtains for the DCs room, with white polka dots. I've fallen in love with a fabric, and I've picked out the blackout lining, too.
The lady from the clothing alterations shop said she'd put the two together, attach the lining, do the hemming etc, but she said curtain making is difficult and she wouldn't be able to do any more than that...

Now, I'm thinking I don't need anything too fancy, and curtain poles keep the curtains too far away from the windows because of how ours are built, so doing the ones in the kids' room with curtain tape would be fine by me.
I've looked on ebay for some, but there are different types, and I don't know what the difference is. I thought curtain tape just went flat onto the top of the fabric in a strip (the only pair of curtains I ever owned with tape had it like that, anyway), but it seems there are ruffles and pinch and who knows what else.
I'm confused.

Anyone know anything?

It depends what you want the finished curtains to look like. You can put the standard tape on, then you would gather the tape and attached curtain hooks, which would go directly onto the rail if it's the traditional white plastic rail, or onto rings if you are putting it onto a pole.
Pinch pleats etc are making hard work for yourself, I would go for standard curtain tape and gather them up.

HTH

Ditto the advice above...You make basically 2 squares each of lining and curtain fabric...sew the two together...(you might want to sew them individually to begin with - hems and such, then sew them together at the top and sides)

Sew on the curtain tape...the one with 3 strings on is the one I always use (for no particular reason!) And tie up one end of strings..pull the other till it gathers to half the window. Your other curtain panel will be the other half.

If your making the curtains yourself...you can choose how 'full' you want your fabric to be..

So could do double window/curtain pole width, one and a half...etc etc.

Make sense?
x

uhhh.. I follow to the bit about two squares attached to each other, then sewing on the tape. flat? where do you pull the strings from? do they dangle? or does that just make the curtains wavy at the top? can you tell I've never done this before? so if I want fuller curtains I use more fabric?
I can crochet lace, but when it comes to simple things like sewing two squares together....

You can buy blackout linings and that will save you the hassle of making them - and they are not too expensive either.

The more fabric width you have in each curtain determines how they look when pulled closed. The minimum you'll need for each will be half the window width - so they'd look flat when pulled. If you have each curtain 1.5 times the half width there will be more "fullness" when closed.

Pinch pleats give a decorative look to the top of the curtains but do use lots of fabric.

If you buy the header tape that has 3 rows on it you can use the top row to attach the the curtains to the rail/pole rings and then use the bottom row to hook on the blackout linings.

The stings are just there so you can gather the top of the curtains in a bit.

my only advice is make blackout fabric totally blackout, so good quality stuff, not something cheap. if my experience anything to go by you will be forever grateful not to have red room if sun is out and the curtains are drawn

So many ways of describing the same thing!

So, the alteration lady will go so far as to join the widths of fabric together, join the linings together, pput hems on both of them, then join them to each other.

This leaves the tops left to do (?) Why cant she do the last bit? Its as easy as the other bits.

I would advise you to buy what you had before. Which sounds like it was a tape with three strings running through it. This is called a few names: heading tape; pencil tape; 3" tape.

If you have to end up sewing the tape on yourself then do in this order.
1)Decide the length you want them to be.
2)Measure from the hem at the bottom up to the top and fold the top over.

3)Stick pins in and iron this fold flat. Remove the pins.
4)Lay your tape on top and pin it to the fabric. Pin both edges of the tape - so you have 2 rows of pins. (Dont knot the strings yet).
5) Put the stitch length of your sewing machine to the Longest length.
6) Sew the upper edge of the tape first - the one nearest the top.
7) Sew the lower edge and be sure to sew in the same direction as before.
8) Dont sew over the pins but remove them when you get close to them.

Now you knot the strings at both ends. Pull just one end to gather up the fabric. You can wind the dangly string around a piece of card and tuck this into the end of the tape or wedge it in between the strings.
For the curtain hanging on the left you will pull the string so it hangs on the outer/left side and the right side curtain will have strings pulled on the right.
(The outer ends of curtains never move so the strings will not unwind or be visible).

Dont put a knot in the strings once they are gathered up as you need to be able to flatten the curtain out again if ever cleaned.
Hope this helps.

I would u-tube this as describing by text isnt very easy to understand. Bound to be simple books in the library or secondhand.

I use Merrick & Day for books. They also have website for all your needs. www.merrick-day.com/acatalog/Merrick___Day_Curtain_Making_Books__New_.html I bought my blackout from there. Agree the better quality blackout lining. I would gather 1.5 times as you dont want a formal look and saves on fabric. Again buy best quality tape, the cheap stuff is very stiff.