Whenever I go to a store with a friend who's looking for curtains, I feel terribly frustrated. Why are curtains so pricey for something so simple? Most of the time, I see ordinary curtains that don't have anything tremendously special about them; at least, not anything worth the price at the store.
Usually, I find that curtains, whether they are for showers or windows, are made with a simple straight stitch. The curtains are, merely, panels of fabric. At times, the fabric is a lovely material, but the pattern on it is hideous. Other times, I find the opposite, where the curtains have a fantastic pattern on cheap fabric. Another issue, the color- you might find a great fabric with a beautiful pattern, but the color doesn't match your decor. What to do?
I decided to make my own shower curtains, using supplies that I had already on hand. I purchased white flat sheets, at a thrift store, for 50 cents per sheet. I intended to use them for Halloween costumes and forgot all about them, after stashing them away in a closet. Obviously, the sheets had been washed and bleached before I made the sheet into a shower curtain.
I also used two shades of lavender acrylic craft paint, lids from candles, one large soda bottle and one small soda bottle. I used the bottles and lids to stamp the paint, in a random pattern, on the sheet.
In an effort to thin out the paint and to make it more flexible, I blended a bit of fabric softener into the paint. After spreading the sheet on top of newspaper (the paint bled through the fabric), I began stamping a random pattern onto the fabric. Once the paint was dry, I needed to add tabs onto the sheet so that the curtain could be fastened to a rod. I had matching lavender fabric in my fabric bin, already on hand. Using a sewing machine, I sewed on the tabs so that they could be added to any shower curtain rod, with ease.
In the end, it was a very easy and inexpensive project. It didn't take very long to complete; in fact, it could be done in an afternoon. Since it would be used in a bathroom, I wasn't too concerned with how perfect it looked. I really only wanted a curtain to use over a tacky plastic shower curtain. The random pattern is fun and it will look really cute in a small bathroom. For an investment of less than $2.00, it was worth my effort; it was fun to do and it prevented me from enduring the frustration of curtain shopping.
The satisfaction of making my own curtains, for cheap, was worth the afternoon spent on making the curtains. Honestly, I really dislike spending money on things that I know that I could do myself and for way less money. Now, I'm looking forward to finding ways to sew curtains for other rooms! Part of the fun will be the challenge of making the curtains for as little money as possible. Frugality is foxy!
In other news...I grabbed vintage dress patterns and a dress at the thrift store and I'm hoping to do some fun crafting with them soon! When I manage to do that, I'll post about it. Until then~ Toodahloo!
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