Striped Curtains DIY Project

I have been changing up a lot of things about the upstairs in my house lately.  I have been trying to brighten up my living room.  I hung some new Ikea curtains, and I have been working on a gallery wall.   

I feel like I need to do a house tour video at some point so you guys can see what I'm talking about, but basically my living room and dining room kind of blend in to each other, so when you first come up the stairs you can see my living room and dining room at the same time. 

For my dining room window, I had a sage green valance that had been there forever.  As I was looking at my gallery wall and the dining room in the background, I decided that window needed some new curtains. 

Pretty quickly I figured out that I wanted some white and yellow striped curtains.  There are hints of cream/yellow in my gallery wall, and I thought it would tie everything in nicely and brighten things up.  

I searched high and low for thick-striped fabric before I got desperate and checked Pinterest - and then I realized that I could just make my own!  I read a tutorial on making them which gave me courage, so I bought some fabric.  However, I feel like that tutorial (which I can't find now, of course) made the process of making striped curtains seem much more intimidating - it wasn't really hard at all!

1. To start with, I just got three yards (each) of two different types of fabric.  The fabric I got was 54 inches wide.  I tried to make sure both of the fabrics I picked had a similar weight.  I ended up with a $4 per yard yellow clearance fabric, and a $6 per yard fabric that is actually supposed to be for lining curtains (I didn't tell the clerk that I was planning to use it for my actual curtains!).

2.  I just stuck with the 54 inch width for my two curtains, so I didn't have to trim the width of the fabric - I just cut it straight into strips.  I used a rotary cutter and trimmed the edge so that I was starting with a straight line.  I decided I wanted 8 inch striped, so I cut one 11 inch white strip for each curtain (for the top of the curtain, so I could hang it), and I cut 9 inch strips for the rest of the length.

3.  I sewed them together, leaving the 11 inch strip on the top of my curtain.

4. Once I had all my pieces sewn together, I trimmed the excess so the edges were straight, then hemmed the edges.  I took the side with the 11 inch strip, and I folded it over three inches and sewed it into place, making a "tube" that I could slide the curtain rod into.

5.  Then I hung my nice new curtains!

I was a bit intimidated about sewing stripes, because I was afraid if I cut them a little crooked the whole thing would be crooked.  But it actually wasn't hard to cut straight strips - I just laid all the pieces out to make sure they looked right before I sewed them together, and it turned out fine!  The striped curtains are actually pretty forgiving too - there are a few puckers, and some of my hems ended up bunching a little, but you can't really tell.  If you have ever wanted striped curtains, definitely try making your own - it wasn't hard at all!

I really like the way they turned out.  I feel like they add a lot of style to my dining room, and it brightens everything up so much.  It looks much more cheerful upstairs now!