Lengthening curtains....help?

[lilibet]

My living room curtains are about 6 years old, dry clean only and very mucky.

I have two pairs, a full length pair which go over the patio doors and are slightly too long and another pair which are ok in length but verging on the too short side.

I washed the long cutains on a cool wash and they have shrunk a couple of inches, they still look ok lenghth wise and look and smell a whole lot better otherwise.

The short pair have a very large hem, but I'm worried that if I lengthen them I will end up with a faded line where the old hem was.

any ideas?

thanks

I can see your concern that they will likely shrink when you wash them and then defintely be too short.
Firstly, are you any good with a needle and thread?
Have you up picked the hem to see if there is a visible line?

I'm ok at sewing and there is a visible line but I'm not sure if it's just because of the dirt

Could you put a ribbon or border over the line?

Hmm. What are you feelings on adorning the curtains with ribbon or tape? That's all I can think of if there is a really noticable line. Course you'd probably then have to do the long ones too.
Or...
Can you try and scrub a small section with a toothbrush and soap and see if the line fades. Drycleaning probably won't work better than washing to remove the dirt, IME.