Hello everyone and happy Monday! Hope you all had a great weekend! I ventured out into the stores on Saturday and it was complete madness so I quickly retreated back home to pull out some Christmas decor and also continue working on my daughter’s room which is a slow makeover in progress.
In this space, we’re taking it one wall at a time. This past weekend I stitched up some simple ring top window panels for her and also reupholstered the windows seat bench.
The geometric fabrics on the window panels and on the reupholstered bench I designed. I colorized them with her chosen shade of lavender and printed them at Spoonflower. The cool brushstrokes pattern in lavender and green is a Waverly print I used to make into an accent pillow.
The scene is more colorful in person – the afternoon light doesn’t show the colors like in the image above, but they all play so well together.
Sewing ring top panels is pretty simple. If you can sew a straight line you can make these!
The way I do it is to measure the length of fabric I’ll need, factoring in the height for the rings, and allowing an extra inch on the bottom and top for a hem. I typically line curtain panels with inexpensive fabric liner for two reasons, one the panels appear plain white when viewed from the outside window and two, it helps the panel drape better by giving it more weight. You can usually find fabric liner for $4 to $6 a yard.
I like the basic wood window panel sets you can buy at Lowe’s – I’ve used the Allen + Roth brand a few times. I buy the rings, brackets, rod and finial since they all go together, then cut the rod to fit the length of my window.
I don’t care to see the clips that come with the set so I sew each ring to each panel by hand with a needle and thread. It’s not shown above but each ring has a small metal eye hook screwed into the wood, and that’s what I attach to the fabric.
The clips certainly make hanging easier so if you don’t looking at them you can skip this step. Another trick is to cut a small opening on the backside of your panel for the clip about ½” below the top seam.
I like how the rings look when they’re attached by ring instead of by clip – it’s a cleaner look to me.
I always hang the curtains up without sewing the bottom hem, pin the bottom and then sew the hem as a foolproof way to get the length just right. I like them to drape an extra ½ inch instead of the fabric just “kissing” the floor but that’s a personal preference.
The thrift store bench was upholstered in green silk several years ago but now it wears a fun geometric print in a shade of lavender. I followed this step by step to make the pillow cover.
I’m hoping we can get this room finished in the next few months – my girl has asked for bunk beds and I had them as a kid and loved them so I’m on the hunt for some affordable white versions. I’m also working on a few other textiles prints including several botanical repeats … will share more patterns in the near future!
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Hi Kate! Happy Cyber-Monday. :)
I LOVE the idea of sewing the rings to the curtain, but I can’t really tell from the image exactly what you’re sewing. Is there a little hook or ring at the base of the big ring? (Or, in other words, what’s behind the curtain? Hee hee.) Thank you!
Hi Kristin, wooops! That’s me going to fast! I’ll snap a pic and update the post !
Kate
Beautiful as always. You made that beautiful table/desk for the play room, you can make the bunkbeds, too. I know you are familiar with Ana White’s site and she has them!
Gorgeous! I love the fabrics you created! If you don’t mind my asking, where did you find the beautiful bench?
Hi April, the bench was a thrift store find, I linked to it at the bottom!
Kate
Love the coordinating fabrics! Beautiful!
You might have better luck on craigslist. But these are nice bunkbeds and very reasonable prices. http://www.bunkbedking.com/
For another quick way to attach rings, you can buy metal drapery hooks that stick in the back side of the drapery header and loop through the rings. If you position them just right, you only see the rings- easy peasy!
Yes those are fab Shauna, thanks for sharing!! :)
You did an awesome job on designing the fabric and the curtains! Great tutorial also.
Judy
Is there anything you can’t do? ;) Love the fabrics you designed. Such a pretty window treatment.
I love the mix of fabrics. Good job designing the two. I love them! The room you are creating looks like a good, next logical step, for my daughter’s bedroom. My daughter will be three in December, so her juvenile, lavender room will need to stay as is for awhile. I’ll be paying attention for ideas for the next stage of my daughter’s room.
Gorgeous!!! What material did you use at Spoonflower and is your designs available for the public to buy?? :)
Hi Jasmine, I used the linen/cotton blend and they give a small discount if you order your own pattern. I think it’s around $22 a yard with the discount. Kinda pricey but you get exactly what you want.
Looks great– such fun fabrics! I have a silly question for you– where did the little stuffed dog in the last picture come from? I love him!
Ha! Meredith, little “muffin” has been my daughter’s favorite pup for years, I found him in a boutique years ago!
All I can say is WOW! That is so beautiful.
Kate, it’s so bright and beautiful! Love the geometric designs you created. Good luck with the bed hunt…I know you’ll find something just right for all those fun sleepovers.
I am in love with the patterns you put together! Everything is beautiful.
Hi again, Kate. My question wasn’t meant to be a criticism at all! I’m just a little clueless and need a little more help than most. You did a beautiful job with the fabric, the projects, AND the post!
Hobby Lobby has great prices on the wooden curtain rod sets…they are unfinished wood, but so much cheaper than anywhere else I looked. Beautiful curtains!
Thanks for the tip Deb!
How did you design the fabric patters for spoonflower? Did you do it on photoshop or can you draw it out for them and spoonflower creates the pattern for you? I LOVE the idea!
Hi Stacy and Krista, it’s really difficult to design your own repeat, I had to teach myself and it took dozens of hours. The other option is to download seamless repeats from websites like Shutterstock and then colorize them. I have the Spoonflower color chart so I just input the hex codes once I designed the repeat. I’ve read a lot of books on the topic and watched a few YouTube tutorials too… very time consuming but now that I know how to do it, I really can create any pattern I want. I wish I could explain it all in a single comment or even a single post but unfortunately it’s really complex to describe how to do it from scratch.
I’d love to learn more about how you designed the curtains at Spoonflower, especially cost :)
Do you have a link to the Waverly fabric? I’ve been looking for the perfect kitchen curtains and these are it!!! I’ve scoured the internets but am having a hard time find it.
Thanks!
Heidi
Yes Heidi, here you go! It’s called ‘Bits and Pieces’ in Violet.
http://www.onlinefabricstore.net/decor/drapery-fabric-and-supplies/drapery-fabric-by-manufacturer/waverly-bits-n-pieces-violet-fabric-.htm
You are my new bff!! Thank you so much!
Fab! I was thinking it would be the Linen-Cotton but wanted to check.
We are semi rural, no street lights so it can get pretty dark and the MR gets a little claustrophobic (even though he’s not lol) when it is too dark.
Thank you for replying :)
I think maybe if I buy Spoonflower fabrics I will just buy someone else’s designs lol Sounds like A LOT of work to come up with your own color and pattern. But yours came out beautifully. Don’t know if you have the room, but I have used the full size bunk beds before and love them. They might grow with your daughter and her friends a little bit longer than the standard twin size.
Hi,
Did you make that pattern public on spoonflower? Love it!
Not yet Kelsey, next year and in a few colorways! It’s really pretty in white/taupe/gray and black/taupe/gray and also white/orange/pink !
Kate
Love the patterns you mixed!! My girls have a beautiful white bunk bed set that we got through one of the vendors my husband’s store works with. I know it was very affordable. I’ll have to ask him for the name of the company again. We’ve been very pleased with the quality….
I can’t wait until you find some bunk beds! We moved our two girls (7 & 5) into a room together and I think we need bunk beds for some extra space!
Beautiful! I love your designs and the colors! The colors are actually spot on to what I’m wanting to do for a nursery! :) Can you do a room tour?? :D
Are your patterns available on spoonflower yet? and what is your seller name so that I can look them up and purchase them?
Not yet Kim, full release in January!
Kate