Master Bedroom Curtains

Finally a follow-up post on the white linen curtains I was making for my bedroom.

I actually finished these a couple of weeks ago but these are a bear to photograph and edit and honestly I've been a bit distracted by House of Cards.

So, pinched pleat, unlined white linen.  When I made the pleats, I folded the pleat into two gathers rather than three. I did this so that the look was less frilly, which I thought was more fitting to the simplicity of the drape.

The challenge in making pinched pleats isn't the actual sewing, it's the calculations. If you can get the calculations down, making a professional looking drape is pretty easy. It is no exaggeration that it took me, like hours, to finally get the spacing and pleat allotment correct for these. I am in no way qualified to do an actual tutorial on this. I referenced many different sites on the web and finally came to the conclusion that the best way to go about determining pleat spacing is to start at the center with a 5" pleat (2.5" to each side of center) and alternate 5" of pleat then 5" of spacing and fudge the last space at the end to end with a pleat and a couple of inches of space at the edge. Just be sure to do the math ahead of time to make sure that the width of your starting fabric is wide enough for this method so that you don't end up with a panel that is too narrow. That's a Horror Show, believe me I know.

I wanted a pretty big pool at the bottom. This is 4" of extra fabric and I finished with a blind stitch hem.

These drapes are mostly for privacy rather than darkness.  They do block out the moonlight but not the morning light.  We are early risers so this is fine and actually our preference. Heavy block out curtains make my husband feel claustrophobic.  

So there you have it. Total cost of material was just over $100. Plus,I had to buy some more rings from RH which cost $40. These are a huge improvement over the dingy things that were hanging in here before.