Curtains Made Out of Ticking

I made curtains out of pillow ticking for my dining room.  The ticking is a really good choice for curtains.  Ticking is a heavy canvas which makes a good heavyweight fabric for a curtain without a lot of expense.  I needed 11 yards so that limited my choices on where to find that much yardage.  I ordered my ticking off of Fabric.com.  The first thing I will tell you is to measure your yardage as soon as you get the fabric.  I ended up making my curtains a few inches shorter than I had intended and I used some other fabric I had on hand to make the tiebacks because I was a 1/2 yard short on my order. 

Here is my high tech measuring tool!  This was another reason I really liked working with ticking, it was easy to lay out and measure because it is a stiff fabric.  I didn't wash it first so the sizing helps keep it stiff.  I measured the height of my curtains by measuring from the floor to the top of the curtain rod.  I then added 5 inches to the top to create a pocket and 5 inches to the bottom for a hem.  This makes the most basic curtain panel.

You really want to measure your the width of your window and make the curtains two times that width.  I had to use a 32 inch-wide ticking instead of a 45 inch-wide so, I really didn't have my fabric two times the width.  One side of the ticking has this stripe that doesn't look like the rest of the stripes.  I pinned these two stripes together on each piece of fabric so I can sew a seam  in each panel that doesn't show.

Here is the seam right side up.  When you press this the seam will disappear and the curtains will look like one big panel.

I then sewed the panel together with this seam and turned it over to press the seam flat.  The edge of this side of the ticking was finished so it won't ravel.

The rest of the edges will ravel so, I used a serger to create an overlocked edge.  You can use any fabric edge finish you are comfortable with.

This is the side hem on the curtains.  Just turn, press, and sew desired amount to finish the sides.

In this photo I have finished the edge of the top of the curtain, turned, and pressed it, and I am measuring the three inch pocket and pinning.  I then sewed it in place to finish.

I really liked the drape of this fabric.  I am checking it here to see what it looks like.  I actually crumpled it with my hands and left it unpressed.  The fabric is so heavy it falls nicely and the crumples hardly show.

Here I am measuring for the final hem.  I turned, pinned, and sewed the three inch hem in place and then I pressed it.

This is the tiebacks.  They measure 32 inches (the width of the fabric) by 5 inches.  Cut two.

Pinning right sides together I sewed one end, and the 32-inch side together, leaving one end open to turn to the right side. 

I then turned the tieback, pressed, and top stitched the whole tieback together.  Then I sewed these plastic rings on the inside corners to hang the tiebacks by.

Here are the finished curtains.  They are unlined but you can't see through them.    I really like how they turned out.

Sherry

 I will link this to:

Air Your Laundry Friday  at Freckled Laundry

Thriving on Thursdays  at Domesblissity
Rooted in Thyme Simple and Sweet Fridays

Transformation Thursday at The Shabby Creek Cottage 
Adorned from Above Blog Hop  at Adorned from Above