My easy peasy no-sew DIY curtains

Okay, I am really excited about this post. I love, Love, LOVE when I have success with something I find on Pinterest.

For way too long now we have needed some curtains in our living room, but let's be honest...curtains are stinkin' expensive!  So, I hit Pinterest (of course!) for some ideas on how to make curtains.  And, oh yeah, I needed it to be something I didn't have to sew since my machine is on the fritz.  I found several different tutorials for no-sew curtains and  I meshed together a couple to come up with my own flavor of no-sew curtains.

When I say these curtains were easy, I mean they were easy.  Now, that doesn't mean quick; just easy.

Here's what you need:

1. Fabric (Measure your windows to see what length and width you need.  My windows are about 84 inches long, but I like to hang my curtain rod high, so I decided to use pieces that were 2 1/2 yards long; I actually had the lady at the fabric counter pre-cut the fabric into 2 1/2 yard pieces for me instead of just buying one 5 yard piece.)
2. Scissors
3. Stitch Witchery (You can find this is the fabric section at Walmart for around $2.  It looks like a roll of mesh tape.)
4. An iron
5. Ironing board
6. Measuring tape

Start out by making sure that your pieces of fabric are the same length.  I just laid them on top of each other and then trimmed them up.

Next, put your first panel on the ironing board.  Start on one side and fold about a half inch seam.  Cut a strip of the Stitch Witchery and place it under the seam.  I had to do this part in several section because my fabric was so long.  Then, iron the seam with the Stitch Witchery underneath.  This part will probably take a little longer than you expect.  It takes about 60-90 seconds for the Stitch Witchery to seal.

What your seem should look like after using the Stitch Witchery

 Just repeat this process on all four sides of your fabric.

To double check, lay your pieces of fabric on top of each other again to make sure they line up evenly.

Purchase a couple of sets of curtain clip rings (can also be found at Walmart), attach them to your curtain rod, and you're in business.

Your finished product should look a little something like this:

I lucked up and found some great upholstery fabric for $1.50/yard, so my fabulous new curtains cost me a whopping $9.50! ($7.50 for the fabric + $2.00 for the Stitch Witchery.  If you count the curtain clips, throw in another $7.00, for a grand total of $16.50, which is still significantly cheaper than even one panel of a nice set of curtains.)

Up next (in a few days hopefully), fun with super old windows!  I found this beauty that someone had just thrown out, and it now has a new happy home on my dining room wall.  I have some great ideas about how to dress her up and I'll be posting an update on her progress soon.

Until next time...

Decorating like crazy...

Yet again, it has been way, way too long since I posted.  One of my New Year's resolutions is to post more regularly to my blog, so fingers crossed.

There has been A LOT going on around the Tolle House the past few months.  The holiday season always means lots of visiting with family, which is wonderful, but that doesn't leave time for much else.  So, I'm finally sitting down at my computer and writing this entry.

When we moved into our house two and a half years ago (whoa! doesn't seem that long ago), we didn't have much time to adjust or have a chance to get settled in.  I was studying for the bar exam (I feel sick even thinking about it!) and Brandon was working a job that kept him out of town 2-3 days per week.  We were lucky to just get our essentials unpacked.  Needless to say, between me starting work and Brandon continuing to have to work out of town for a while, pastoring our start-up church, and then beginning a second career as a teacher, there hasn't been much time for decorating in the interim either.  So, he and I vowed that we would spend at least one week of his Christmas break doing some much needed work around the house.

Last fall, we finally put paint on the walls that had been screaming for it since move-in day.  That made a BIG difference, but it barely scratched that itch I had to really make this house our home.  So, with a very limited budget, we set out this past week to "home-ize" our house.

Project #1:  The Master Bedroom

Our bedroom was one of the rooms that didn't get painted last fall and it has received very little attention in the decorating area.  I dug through a bunch of our decorative items in the garage (this process was aided by Brandon's building of some awesome storage shelves for the garage, which made organizing the garage a necessity).  I picked out a few items that we already had that weren't being utilized and turned them into something pretty cool.

I took the backing off of a frame, hung it on the wall, and put a plaque with scripture inside of the frame.  Above the frame, we hung our "Love Honor Cherish" sign. To finish things off, we hung a couple of candle sconces that my grandmother handed down to me a few months ago.

I think it turned out pretty nicely.

I also added a little bit of flare to our master bath, which had also been lacking any decoration since we moved in.  I tend to think of my garden tub as a nice place to escape from everything, so I wanted to make it a little bit more of an oasis.  I hung a couple of pictures and added some artificial flowers, all of which was previously utilized in our former apartment.  When paired with our monogrammed towels that I hung a while back, the tub now seems like a very peaceful place to escape.

I'm also very much wanting to blog about my recent no-sew curtain creation, but I think I'll put that in a separate entry.

Until next time...