Bathroom Curtain - DIY Tutorial

Are your eyes ever bigger than your stomach when it comes to food?  Mine are all the time and now my brain thought I was up for a challenge - beyond something I've ever done!  I've pledged (unofficially) to not purchase home decor or ready-made clothing this year.  When I talk about home decor, if it is something that can be sewn then it will not be purchased but made.  Purchasing fabric is permissible.

This isn't a new idea and you've probably seen recycling, upcycling, refashioning, and other descriptions of such around the internet and in the book stores for some time now.  Since DH and I moved, we've been downsizing and a lot of the items were donated but now we're to the point that we are into the soft items.  Items that are still in really good shape but no longer wearable for whatever reason.  We don't want to pass along a top if there is a hole in the knit or a stain - so I'm reusing the material to make other things.

A challenge, that I gratefully accepted, was posed to visit 15 websites each day for 5 days and leave a comment somewhere on each site.  Mentioning that because two websites came about that brought me to another challenge.  The first challenge was from Sew Your Own Wardrobe Challenge and the one that I'm unofficially doing is the Goodbye Valentino 2014.  Guess I'm into challenges this year - YIKES!

A couple weeks ago (sorry it's taken me so long with this post - and there are so many more to come), while the weather was so cold and yucky outside, I took apart an old IKEA bed skirt (not able to find a picture and of course forgot to take a picture but it was a box-pleat type) and used the cotton fabric that usually lies on the box spring. Still have the actual skirt portion for another project.

Hometrends Ashdown Shower Curtain

This was what my shower curtain looked like.  It was fairly new but didn't go with the colors in our main bathroom and we have a glassed-in shower with a garden tub in the master bathroom.  The colors are PERFECT for our master bathroom.  Don't you love saying, "Master Bathroom"?  Doesn't it make you feel so royal and posh?  OK, it is just a bathroom that happens to be attached to the "Master Bedroom" hehe got to say Master again!

Now, for the project and then the long-anticipated (it certainly was for me) reveal.

Lilly helps me cut away the skirt portion of the bed skirt so that I can use the main body for the backing on the curtain.  All the window treatments in my home, with the exception of the window dressing in the laundry room, has a white backing so from the outside of the house you only see white if the blinds are open and the curtains are closed.

Remember trying to find Waldo or Carmen Diego?  Can you spot Lilly, my wonderful little helper?  You can also find Lilly helping out here and here.  She also likes to help write and read so you may see her in unexpected places.  How many times have you been able to spot her throughout the site?

After cutting out the main portion of the bed skirt, I (with Lilly's help) pinned and sewed around the sides and bottom of the curtain.  The right side of the shower curtain was placed down onto the white fabric and then a 1/2 inch seam was used.  After sewing, turn the fabric right side out.

My window is 46 inches long and there was more than enough fabric for the width to make the ruffly effect so nothing needed to be done about the width.

I had this whole complicated explanation which took up waaaay too much time to read and then you would have had to come up with your own measurements for your curtain and rod opening.  Here it is in the down and dirty so you can make your own curtain.

I measured my window from top to bottom and then added additional length for the rod pocket and so my curtain would hang over the window ledge.  Which allowed me to keep all the design in the original shower curtain fabric.

Sewed up the two sides and the bottom.

Placed my curtain rod on the back side of the fabric and folded the fabric over.  Didn't actually pin or sew yet.

Once I figured out how much room was needed for the rod, I cut any remaining fabric from the top and folded each fabric in on itself to make a half inch seam.  By folding the fabric in on itself, what I mean is that each piece was folded to the inside so there aren't any raw edges showing even within the rod pocket.

Top portion of Shower Curtain not used in Final Project

In this next picture, you can see my two seams.  One for the actual hemming and the other for the rod pocket.

Here is the rod pocket from the right side.

I hope you liked this tutorial and it has inspired you to start looking at items you have around the house that can be used in other ways.  Join me this year in reusing what we have and keeping some of our money in our pockets and not in the stores cash registers.

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