Measuring and cutting your fabric - Part 1

Project 2 - Adding a Pencil Pleat to an Unlined Curtain - Part 1

It's well worth mastering the basic techniques within this project, as the skills you'll learn can be applied to so many different types of window dressings.

You will need:

• Fabric
• Ruler
• Measuring tape
• Clamps (desirable)
• Iron
• Pins
• Pencil
• Fabric scissors
• Threaded sewing machine
• Pencil pleat curtain tape
• Lead weight tape - 25g for shorter curtain, or 50g for longer curtain
• Piping foot for sewing machine (desirable)

Step One

Prepare your fabric and work out your widths.

• Lay your fabric out flat and straight on the table and cut to the required length - remember this will be your curtain length + 30cm.
• If you are making a pair of curtains, you can work out the width of each curtain by dividing the number of drops you have by 2. For the curtain I'm making, I have 3 drops, so each curtain will be 1.5 drops or widths wide.
• Leave 2 drops as a full width, and cut one drop in half lengthways so you have 2 full-width drops and 2 half-width drops.
• Giving them a good iron at this stage is worth doing, as the fabric will sit flatter on the table and be easier to work with.

Step Two

Join together your widths.

For this, I like to use a French seam as it's very neat, and this curtain is unlined so the seam will be visible from the back.

• Take the pieces of fabric you are joining together for one curtain, and place them back to back, then pin so they are nicely in line. It can be helpful to make a little pencil mark to remind you which is the back of your fabric.
• Use a straight stitch about 1cm from the edge of the fabric to sew the pieces together.
• Remove the pins, then press the seam open and flat.
• If you find the excess is a little uneven, it's completely fine to trim it so that it's nice and equal on both sides.
• Fold the fabric along your sewn line, then press.
• To finish, straight stitch 1.5cm in from the sewn line you have folded along. You will now have a neat finish on the front and the back with no visible raw seam.

Step Three

Add in your side hems. This process is exactly the same as described in in the rod pocket curtain project.

• Adjust your fabric again so it is flat and straight, using the edge of your table as a guide and clamping if desired.
• I use the four show two" method (described below) to add side hems.
• Fold 4cm along the entirety of one side of your fabric and press for a crisp line using either a ruler or an iron.
• Unfold, and fold 2cm into the pressed 4cm line, so the very edge of your fabric is in the fold line you've just made, then press.
• Finally, double fold this along the already pressed 4cm line, so the 4cm fold line is now the edge of your curtain.
• Add some pins to secure the hem.
• Straight stitch as close to the edge of the hem as possible, i.e.not the edge of the fabric.
• Repeat this on the other side of your fabric to create your second side hem. Make sure the hems are folded the same way - you want the bulk of all your hems to be on the back of your curtain.

Step Four

Add in your lead weight - again, use the same method you learnt in the first project.

• Place the lead weight tape roughly 1.5cm from the bottom of the curtain.
• Fold the fabric around it.
• Use a piping foot to stitch as tightly as you can against the lead weight to hold it in place - at this stage, you can decide which way you want your French seam to fold, and keep it consistent along both the top and bottom.
• Trim away any excess tape, and any excess of fabric.

Step Five

Create your bottom hem, just as you did with the rod pocket curtain.

• I am opting for a 5cm bottom hem as my curtain is short; however, for a longer curtain I would advise something larger. You would use exactly the same process, just with different measurements. For example, for a 10cm hem, you could double all the measurements in this process and would begin by folding over 20cm.
• As ever, ensure your fabric is flat and straight on the table before you start.
• Fold the bottom of the fabric over 10cm and press - you may need to work in sections if your fabric is wider than your table. Ensure the bottom hem is folded the same way as your side hems, so the bulk of the hem will be at the back of the curtain.
• Unfold, and fold 5cm so that the bottom of your fabric containing the lead weight sits neatly inside the pressed line you've just created, then press.
• Double fold this along the 10cm pressed line so that the lead weight is at the very bottom of the curtain, then press.
• Add some pins to secure the hem.
• Straight stitch as close to the edge of the hem as possible.
• Finally, sew up the sides too, this time as close to the edge of the fabric as you can get.