Ready to sew some curtains? Here’s how you can make hidden tab curtains that hang gracefully and have a cute ruffled hem. The ruffled hem is optional of course, but I love this little bit of old fashioned flair.
Our living room and dining area needs some new curtains so I thought why not put my sewing skills and love for a handmade home to good use!
Here’s how I made some lovely floral print curtains with hidden tabs and a cute ruffled hem.
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How much fabric do I need to sew curtains?
This depends on the window area that your curtain will cover. Measure the height and width of the area taking into account how many panels you will need and divide the width accordingly. Don’t forget to give yourself an extra 1/2″ for the seam allowance.
A bolt of cloth is typically 54″ in width so I just let that be the width of my curtain panels and I bought 5 1/2 yards of fabric for two panels.
Here are the measurements of the fabric for the roughly 8′ x 54″ curtains I made in this post per panel.
- Curtain Panel – 100″ x 54″
- A strip of fabric for the hidden tabs – 6″ x 54″
- Ruffled hem – 7″ x 81″
What you will need:
- Fabric
- Coordinating Thread
- Scissors
- Measuring Tape
- Pencil or Tailor’s Chalk
- Pins
- Sewing Machine
How to Sew a Hidden Tab Curtain
Pre-wash the fabric.
Pre-washing fabric is a good practice to get into for most sewing projects. If you don’t wash the fabric and dry it before you make your project, then the first time you wash it, the dyes in the fabric may run and it may also shrink in the dryer which could be disaster.
Cut the fabric.
I needed panels a little over 98″ x 54″. 54″ is the typical width of a bolt so I only had to cut the length of the curtain panels out.
I rolled the fabric out on my floor as I don’t have a table large enough for this project and using a measuring tape measured out 100″ just to give myself a little leeway.
Hem the sides.
Next, I hemmed the sides of the fabric. This is not absolutely necessary if the fabric you chose doesn’t have rough selvage edges.
Most of my fabric edges had pretty smooth selvage edges so I simply rolled the hem over once and sewed all the way down the length of the fabric on both sides.
For the rest of the edges, I zigzagged the edges then folded them over once before sewing them down with a straight stitch.
Make and cut the tabs.
For the tabs, I cut a strip of fabric 6″ x 54″. I folded the edges over right sides together and sewed it together.
I then used a safety pin to turn the fabric inside out.
With a heated iron on the cotton setting (since I was using 100% cotton fabric), I ironed down the tab strip to help it lay flat. You don’t have to do this in a particular way because the tabs are hidden and no one will see them when looking at your curtains.
After that, cut the strip into 3″ tabs. You will need 6 tabs per curtain panel.
Zigzag the edges to keep them fraying.
Iron and pin down the facing panel.
The next thing to do is to iron down or baste stitch the top of your curtain about 1/2-1″. Having a wider hem will help catch it once you go to sew on the tabs on to the facing panel.
Lay down the curtain panel and measure from the top of the panel and make a mark on the edge of the fabric right at 8″. Fold down the top and pin it at both ends on the 8″ mark to create a facing panel.
You may find it helpful to pin it all the way across to keep the facing panel evenly at 4″. This will keep it from slipping around when yo go to sew it down.
Sew on the tabs.
Lay out 6 tabs on top of the facing panel and evenly space them out before pinning them down to the facing panel with pins at the top and the bottom of each tab.
Sew a straight stitch all the way across the top and another straight stitch across the bottom of each tab. Make sure you catch the hem of the facing panel with the bottom stitch.
Sew the bottom hem.
You have two options here: to have a simple hem or to add a ruffle.
For a simple, but professionally looking hem…
Hang your curtains and decide how long you want the hem to be. I like where it barely touches the floor so to do this, mark the panel with a pencil where it hits the floor. You can then take the panels back off.
Measure from the mark down the panel 3 1/4″ to give you a decent professionally looking hem. Iron down the bottom of the curtain 1/4″. Then pin the bottom wide hem up 3 inches from the mark where the curtain will grace the floor. Pin and sew it down.
Iron down or sew across the bottom of the curtain just to make the hem hang flat.
Alternatively: Sew on a ruffle.
To make a ruffled hem, hang your curtains and measure up 6″ from the point where the panel touches the floor. Take the curtains down and cut it across.
For the ruffle, I used the leftover material that I cut off the end of the curtain panels. You’ll need 1 1/2 the length of the curtain (54″ x 1 1/2 = 81″).
Since I cut off 6″ from the bottom of the curtain panel, I gave myself a little wiggle room and made the ruffle 7″ in width. So my strip of fabric came out to roughly 7″ x 81″ (I did have to piece together fabric pieces in order to get 81″). It doesn’t have to be exact because you are gathering the fabric so the length is forgiving if you run a little short or a little long.
To sew the ruffle, hem the two short sides and then the bottom of the ruffle.
Baste and gather the top.
Pin it to the bottom of the curtain panel right sides together. Zigzag it together to keep it from fraying then do a straight stitch to attach it more securely.
Remove the basting stitch if it is visible on the other side.
For more details, read this post on how to sew a ruffle.
Hang your lovely new curtains and enjoy another beautiful touch in your handmade home!
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