Consignment Bedsheets + Ribbon = Homemade Curtains

I knew that when R and I bought our house and I decided to save money by making most of my accessories, it would be a lot of work. None of the windows - of which there are 14 - had curtain rods, so we put the curtain rods up while we were installing other hardware. Once the curtain rods were installed, I sat back and stared at all the work. Wow!

Thankfully, mom had been helping me save some fabric in the form of old bedsheets. Through various estate sales, yard sales and Goodwill expeditions, I had quite a collection of gently used vintage print bedsheets. And you can't beat working with vintage fabric - the materials are airy and soft, and the patterns are unique and simple. 

Anyway, so I split the curtains in four long parts, stripped about twenty inches off the tops and hemmed all the pieces. Then I cut ribbon and sewed them into four looped tabs at the top of each panel. Voila!

After I bought a pile of ribbon and thread, my friend Anna came over and zipped my bedroom curtains together with her superawesome sewing machine. The rest I finished yesterday in time for us to use our tv/guest room this weekend.

Then the closet windows...

Then the bathroom

The downstairs half bath...

And the tv/guest room and the sitting room.

For this one I ran out of ribbon, so I used strips of lace I had in a box for the tabs. It's strong, synthetic lace, so it actually holds just as well as ribbon.

It was fun, and it feels great to have made them myself (and to have saved money!). A very easy project, if anyone is thinking of ways to save on decoration. It's great getting to exactly pick your own style!