DIY Tutorial: Make Your Own No-Sew Drape Shade Curtains (like Pottery Barn!)

I absolutely love Pottery Barn's sheer linen drape shades.  They are in my living room, dining room and Molly's room (and I made a DIY version for Owen's room).  Pottery Barn seems to carry them sporadically, but I've seen them on eBay (which is where I bought all of mine).  I've also seen knock-offs at Target.  They are just perfect for a room that does not need privacy and needs lots of light but also needs some kind of window treatment.  Love.

So, naturally, when it came time to figure out a window treatment for my mother-in-law Rita's dining room's big bay window, my first thought was to use a Pottery Barn drape shade.  Her window looks out onto the backyard, so there is no need for privacy.  Once we removed the old valence over the window, she really liked how much light was streaming through that window, so we knew we needed something sheer but that would also warm up the space and finish it off a bit.  There were more than a few wrinkles: her windows are a non-standard size and Pottery Barn does not have the drape shades available right now.  I took a close look at my own drape shades and knew I could DIY them.  And I did!  It was very simple.

First, I measured the windows.  She had two skinny windows and one larger one.  I bought three tension rods at Target (totaling about $10 total).  Then, I ordered 2 yards of faux white linen from fabric.com, which was on sale for about $2.50 per yard.  Score! Cheap!  Yay!  I grabbed some more no sew seam tape with permanent hold.  Finally, for the ribbon ties, I picked up some white grosgrain ribbon from Wal-Mart for about $5 total.  Sum total of supplies was $25.  For three curtains!

Once I had my supplies, I got out my iron and ironing board and got ready.

First step: cut your curtains.  I had measured the width of each window and decided to add an inch to this measurement, to account for the "hem" on the side when I ironed the seam.  [Note: I now recommend adding two inches.  I cut it a little too close for comfort this time].  So I used my yardstick to cut the three panels.

Second step:  create your hem on the sides the the bottom. This is very easy to do: simply place your seam tape in between your layers of fabric and iron.  I've used a bunch of different brands of seam tape, so it's best to follow the instructions on the back, as they are all a little different.

Third step:  create your pole pocket.  This is where you hang the curtain from.  I find that a two-inch gap is more than sufficient.  I measured and folded the top part over, which created a two-inch gap at the top, where I could insert the tension rods.  It's important to go slowly here so that your top hem is straight and even.   You could even put the rod in the pocket as you iron.  Repeat steps 1-3 with each panel. This takes awhile.  It took me about an hour to do all three curtains.

Fourth step:  hang your curtains.  Don't they look good?

Fifth step:  add the ribbon ties.  You could use any kind of ribbon for the ties.  The Pottery Barn version has the same linen as the actual drape, and I considered making my own ties from the leftover linen, but the idea of making six skinny ties and doing all that ironing and cutting was not appealing.  At all.   So I went with white grosgrain.  I placed the ribbon over top of the drape shade and the tension rod and figured out how long I wanted them to be.  Then I played around with the length of the shade by making knots in the ribbon at various lengths.  This part takes awhile.  Once I figured out the right length, I just repeated the process on the other two shades. It also takes awhile to figure out how to drape the fabric.  You kind of have to play around with it.   You can also play around with how the ties will look: do you want bows? knots? just the ribbon?  I was toying with the idea of using a dot of permanent fabric glue on the ribbon and having them be just loops, but for Rita's window, I really liked the look of the plain knots.  And voila! Here is the finished product:

What do you think? Ready to try something similar in your own place? You know we'd love to help if you want it!

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PPSS:  Yippie!! We've been featured again on Copy Cat Crafts for this project.  Click here to see it.  And if you want to see the other project we had featured back in Fall 2010, click here.  Yay!

See you swoon,

{Pottery Barn Drape Shade photo found here}