[kdaisy]

I am a little intimidated now...

I am making curtains for DS's room, and there was some great home decor denim on sale at JoAnn's. I splurged and bought it.

But then coming home, I am remembering how hard it is to hem my own jeans...The denim is so bulky, it never looks professional.

Does anybody have any tips? I have a feeling these curtains will definitely look
'home-made" and not in a good way!

 

[Porcelain Interior]

Mark your seams and iron them really straight and crisp before you sew, then pin them flat and even.

Decide before you proceed how you're going to hem the curtains, if you're afraid of the bulky multi-layered sewing part perhaps just use some bias tape or ribbon instead of hemming to encase the raw edges? Then you'd only have to fold over and hem the top leaving a pocket for the rod.

Use a denim needle and either jeans thread, or a thicker stronger thread rather than a regular all purpose thread.

The key to a professional looking finish is taking time on each step and getting it right.

And if the worse case is that the curtains will look homemade there is no shame in that. Most stores are carrying items that are manufactured to purposely look homemade.

 

[Noelle C.]

Press, press, press! Also use at least a 16ga needle and go slow. Your trouble spots will be the corners, where the bulk will be. Yu can eliminate this by mitering the corners.

Fold each corner in like a triangle, so that each cut side of the triangle is 1 1/2" (the third side with the fold will be longer, and that's okay). Press. Now fold in each side 1/2" and press, then fold again 1" and press. Slowly stitch about 7/8" away from the outer edge of the fabric. Your corners will not not be bulky at all, and your needle won't break trying to sew over 9 thicknesses in the corners.

 

[luv-my-boys]

I would recommend a needle for denim and also denim thread. They will help with sewing the fabric, as the needle is more sturdier and the thread is less likely to break. I would also suggest using a bit of fabric to practic on first, most fabric stores will give you a small amt of "sample" fabric. That way you can test the tension and spacing before actually using your fabric. I always do this for any expensive or tricky fabric im working on

 

[kdaisy]

Thank you for the tips!

I went to the store this weekend and saw Heavy Duty thread, will that work just as well?