I am so excited about this DIY. I searched high and low and could not find curtains I liked for the basement. So I did what any crafter would do, I made my own DIY Tassel Curtains! They were super easy to make and I love the touch of whimsy they bring to the space.
I actually had envisioned this space with printed curtains but I am so glad I never found any because I think that would be too busy with the rug. Since I couldn’t find anything after looking for months, I turned to Pinterest for some DIY ideas. I made curtains for my first apartment after college and loved them. But I knew I did not have the patience to sew the four panels needed for the window and patio door. So I started looking for ideas of things I could add to plain panels.
Eventually I came across a pin for Pottery Barn curtains that were no longer available. That was fine with me because the color options weren’t right anyway. But it did get my wheels turning. And I love how there is more emphasis on the hardware with how they are hung!
Supplies needed for DIY Tassel Curtains
Flat sheets (I used 4 twin size)
Shower curtain hooks (one set per panel, depending on the width of your panel)
Curtain rods (of course!)
Sewing machine
Small piece of cardboard (for the tassels)
Scissors
How to make the curtains
First, wash you sheets. You could also use actual curtains but I have hung these flat sheets from Walmart with curtain clips before and knew the large hem was sturdy enough to support the rest of the sheet for hanging. Lined curtains would work the same but will cost a lot more. Once the sheets were washed, I started marking where to sew buttonholes. I actually looked at our shower curtains since that’s basically what I was creating. These twin flat sheets are about 66 inches wide. I had the buttonholes start a half inch from the top and the end ones were one inch from the end. Since the shower curtain hook set came with 12 and normal shower curtains are 72 inches, I decided to just use all of them.
To find the spacing between each buttonhole takes a bit of math. My sheet was 66 inches wide and I had buttonholes sewn one inch from either end. That left about 64 inches in between to use the remaining 10 hooks, but you don’t want to divide by 10, you want to divide by the number of spaces between buttonholes you need. In my case that was 11. So 64/11 came out to 5.8″ from center of buttonhole to center of buttonhole. I did not remember to take pictures of this process but I stuck a pin in every 5.8″, then I used a fabric marker to mark from the top the length of my buttonhole plus the half inch space I wanted. Then I just sewed 48 buttonholes!
How to make the tassels
The longer I waited, the more I was scared making 48 tassels would take forever. But it really didn’t take long at all! I cut 96 strips of yarn about 10-12 inches long. Half of the strips I left as is to tie the tassel together at the end. The other half, I used to make the loop they hang from. I folded the yarn in half and tied a knot about an inch down from the fold. Note: I prefer pulling yarn from the center (if I can find the end) so I used that for these pieces. I do not recommend using the center yarn for the tassels because they are a little to curly so it’s best to unwind the outside of the skein for this next part.
After using some tassel earrings I have as a sample, I knew I wanted the tassels around 4 inches long. I cut a piece of cardboard 4.5″ to allow room for trimming ends. After trying a few different sizes, I found I like the thickness of the tassel when I wrapped the yarn around the cardboard 12 times. Before cutting one side, I used my loop piece and tied one end together. Next, I clipped the opposite side I just tied. I worked in batches like this until I had a bunch and then I tied the final piece around to create the “ball” at the top.
Hanging the DIY Tassel Curtains
The flat sheets are 96 inches long. I could have easily hemmed them but after playing around with the curtain rod height, Landon and I both agreed the full length worked better with the tassels. This way when the curtains are open, the tassels are completely above the window and door trim. We hung the curtain rods and hooked the curtains through the buttonholes. After they were up, I put the tassels over the hooks and we were done!
See why and how we painted our basement floor in this post.
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