Making your own curtains?

[Goodwordguide]

I think I might have to make the curtains on our new place to save money. I noticed on a couple of the renovation threads people mentioning making curtains. Can I ask
-do you really save money doing this even with heavy duty curtains (we will need these because of old draughty windows we can't afford to replace yet)?
-I'm not a good sewer but can operate a sewing machine and am fairly 'crafty' - will I be able to do it?
-any good tips for sourcing quality but cheap fabric?

Cheers

To make curtains you need a reasonable sewing machine (not one of the very basic models which won't be strong enough to cope with the weight of material going through) and plenty of floor space to lay out the material. I've made loads of curtains in the past and am not particularly good at crafty stuff.
Are there any discount fabric warehouses in your area? Otherwise - sales, remnants and even market stalls.

Something else to consider is buying second hand curtains and having them altered. There are quite a few curtain exchange type places or ebay.

Also, charity shops can have some great curtains once you get past the 80s pastels. I recently bought fabulous lined and interlined curtains from a charity shop. They are very lush and if bought new i would expect to pay in excess of £600 just for the fabric. I paid only £30 then a further £60 to have them dry cleaned. They are very heavy.

Something else you might consider is to buy basic curtains from the likes of ikea and then line them with fleece or buy thermal linings. Using fleece as a lining is quite easy as you don't have to worry about hemming it as it doesn't fray.

Thanks to you both for the good tips.

I got some awesome material in the seconds box at our local fabric shop.
they pointed me in the direction of a local factory who punch holes and add rings to tops of curtains.
fabric was £30 fleece lining and backing fabric £20 hole punched for £10
have goreous flor length dining room curtains for £70

seconded for ebay, charity shops and furniture schemes. I am extremely rubbish at crafty stuff, and can just manage to shorten curtains and get the seam roughly straight. It is not as easy as it looks - but as you said you can do this kind of thing you should be fine.

the ebay 'shops' are also good for thermal/blackout linings at good prices - I bought a house with south facing bedrooms (good) and flimsy curtains. Added some linings and the rooms are now darker in the summer and warmer in the winter.

I bought fabric on ebay and made my own curtains. I was able to buy material that normally cost £30 a meter for about £10 a meter or less. I absolutely love my curtains and I've saved literally hundreds of pounds making them myself. I'm not an experienced sewer by any means, but it really wasn't too hard.

I've done a cheat's version, and just used old curtains as a base, and stitched new material over the top. You will need to put in stitches to hold the fabric in place in the middle bits too - I did rows of very large herring/hemming stitches every 8-10 inches, and a line of neat top stitching at the top and sides. Weights in the hem also help them hang correctly. Very easy and you get very thick curtains as a bonus.

I've made curtains, so they must be quite easy.
Think if you have standard size (think barrett box like our current house) windows, its cheaper to buy ready made BUT if you want big or uncommon sizes (like in my old beloved 1900s terrace) making can be economical if you have access to a decent sewing machine.

We have also had success with buying cheep unlined curtains (ikea) and then getting liners which are a bit small from dunelm and stitching them together (ikea stitching not strong enough to hang full length liners from!)

Thanks, that's all very helpful. I'm not sure my sewing machine will be up to it to be honest,as the curtains we need will be massive and heavy but perhaps I can borrow one. I would be great if we could save some money on this!

I've been a professional curtain maker for 12 yrs. I have a shop and websites and a team of seamstresses. If you want to pick my brain feel free.

First made my own curtains nearly 30 years ago.
I bought the material at Peter Jones and had a good old nose at the back of their sample curtains to get some idea of how to make them.
I'm now a bit of a roman blind maker when needs be. I just used the instructions in the Pretty Frills kit.
I think if you have patience, attention to detail and have a determination that you really can do this, then you can.

I've made various curtains, to be honest you only need to be able to measure accurately and cut straight. I spent a few £ on this book which gives all the details you could possibly want - you might get it from the library. Fabrics: ebay, Dunelm, sales, Ikea. you should certainly find something for about £10 a metre.

Thanks everybody, I'm quite excited at the prospect now!

There are lots of instructions on the internet. I have just made roman blinds using excellent video and advice on MyDecozo.com. I can't vouch for their curtain making instructions though. You need to have lots of time, if you've not made them before I think the first pair will be slow work.

I've made my own a few times, so long as you can sew in a straight line you should be fine.
I bough some nice lined ones from Roseby's in the clearance section for my Dd's room.

as long as you can sew in a straight line

Yeeesss..... This is the part that worries me!

For the hem you would usually hand stitch anyway. You can do the sides hand stitched too. Just leaves pattern matching and tape to be done with the machine. If you sew slow anyone can sew in a straight line. When I've taught people, that's always the first battle. Sew much slower than you think. It's easy to let the machine run away with itself and then yes it is in a mess. Take your time. I would recommend a very good hot iron

I would back up sadsong's (professional) opinion. I have just done a huge three-width curtain for patio door where I hand sewed the hem and sides, it was surprisingly easy as you just are doing quick hemming stitches. I could work with it laid flat on a big table rather than fighting it through the sewing machine - the finished curtain hangs beautifully. The little flat weights are definitely worth using for heavy curtains - takes seconds to sew them into the hem. A pattern that doesn't need matching eliminates one complication too .

Start with some plain lined curtains for a smallish window and then have a go at bigger/interlined ones.

I'd start small and work your way up, size-wise. You'll be amazed at how much fabric you need for a small window!

Check out You Tube videos for curtain making tutorials. I always struggle with the mitres on the corners, but figured it out after watching a few videos.

I second (or third!) the suggestion that you start with a plain, unpatterned cotton.

Thanks, this is all great. i've also had a good nose on Ebay and found cheap old velvet curtains - the windows are large and single-glazed in the sitting rooms so I think we'll need really heavy-duty ones there and I'll (try to!) make the cotton curtains for the other rooms.

These tips are really helpful, thanks again.

ikea do curtains with a 300cm drop. We had 2 pairs (4 curtains) for our bay window, with dunelm thermal liners stitched in, even tho they weren't quite long enough, made a massive difference.
Looks to be coming in under £100 for the bay at current prices, assuming you have a big bay, that e-bay hasn't solved!