I just love when a simple sewing project surprises me with a major ‘wow’ factor! My burlap curtain project is 50% complete, but I couldn’t wait to finish the other half before showing you how such a simple, budget friendly project can add some major ‘wow’ to a room.
This project was sew simple! Here's what to do: cut a length of burlap to coordinate with the length of the window to be decorated. Create a hem at the top of the burlap panel by folding a 3” width (your hem can be whatever width your heart desires) to the backside of the fabric and sewing with a zigzag stitch. I set my zigzag stitch width to 7.0 and length to 1.0. Next, to prevent the entire panel from unraveling over time you will need to either: create another hem at the bottom of the panel, the same way as you did for the top. Or, do as I did, and simply create a zigzag stitch about 2” from the bottom of your panel (no hemming) – this will allow the bottom to fray, but only to the point of the stitch line…I think the frayed bottom will look nice!
Here is what your panel should look like after completing these oh, sew simple steps!
This project was sew simple! Here's what to do: cut a length of burlap to coordinate with the length of the window to be decorated. Create a hem at the top of the burlap panel by folding a 3” width (your hem can be whatever width your heart desires) to the backside of the fabric and sewing with a zigzag stitch. I set my zigzag stitch width to 7.0 and length to 1.0. Next, to prevent the entire panel from unraveling over time you will need to either: create another hem at the bottom of the panel, the same way as you did for the top. Or, do as I did, and simply create a zigzag stitch about 2” from the bottom of your panel (no hemming) – this will allow the bottom to fray, but only to the point of the stitch line…I think the frayed bottom will look nice!
Here is what your panel should look like after completing these oh, sew simple steps!
I love how translucent the burlap is, letting in light and allowing us to still see the wonderful backyard, but also adding enough texture, warmth and richness to the room that most other sheers lack...
However, once I hung this up, I felt that it was still missing a certain je ne sais quoi….
Ta-Dah!! Stripes! Exactly what it needed (in my opinion anyway)! All I did was to continue the same zigzag stitch I used to make the hem, 8 “ apart across the width of the panel.
Simply pick a starting point at the top of the panel, line up the center of your sewing foot with a strand of burlap, and ‘drive’ the foot along that strand until you reach the end. Measure 8” (you can do whatever spacing you would like, and it doesn’t even have to be uniform) down from that line and repeat.
Simply pick a starting point at the top of the panel, line up the center of your sewing foot with a strand of burlap, and ‘drive’ the foot along that strand until you reach the end. Measure 8” (you can do whatever spacing you would like, and it doesn’t even have to be uniform) down from that line and repeat.
It really created this wonderful effect where the zigzag pulled in three strands of burlap together to form a sort of piping effect – I Love it!
This a great first time sewing project: gives you the confidence to know you CAN sew and also allows you to get comfortable with the sewing machine without having to do any ‘crazy’ stitching. However, if this is your first time sewing, please do not judge the craft by this project alone…sewing straight lines can get a little boring after a while but at least the result makes up for it…and once you are done with these curtains, you can graduate to more exciting projects!
Oh! And I almost forgot, I ended up discovering a pretty helpful tip when working with burlap…or any other shifty fabric for that matter…the burlap kept slipping, falling and bunching as I was trying to sew, and as I thought to myself, ‘geez, it sure would be great to have some sort of clip to keep everything from acting all crazy!’ it dawned on me: potato chips! I ended up making a beeline for the pantry to grab the clips we use to close our potato chip bags – viola! Problem solved.
Oh! And I almost forgot, I ended up discovering a pretty helpful tip when working with burlap…or any other shifty fabric for that matter…the burlap kept slipping, falling and bunching as I was trying to sew, and as I thought to myself, ‘geez, it sure would be great to have some sort of clip to keep everything from acting all crazy!’ it dawned on me: potato chips! I ended up making a beeline for the pantry to grab the clips we use to close our potato chip bags – viola! Problem solved.
Just be sure the clips you use don’t have ‘teeth’ as they will most likely snag on the burlap...Total cost to create this one curtain panel: $9.00! Now that's something to make you say 'wow.' Happy sewing!
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