How to Make No Sew Black Out Curtains

Love no-sew projects? Be sure to check out my tutorial for no sew envelope style pillows here & all of our simple sewing and no-sewing tutorials here! 

I really believe that, second to painting the walls, the easiest way to transform a room is to add window treatments. Though I’ve been living in my condo since mid-October (wow the time has flown!) I still am seriously lacking in curtains.

Until now.

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I knew that I wanted to keep the gold & grey look going in my bedroom. I wanted something bold in color but subtle in pattern. And I wanted grommets. So, after poking around the interwebs a little bit, I decided to just dive in & make my own.

One evening while Sean was out of town, I bombarded his email with about 30 fabric ideas. Once he put on his wellies & dug thru his flooded inbox, we came out with one design we both loved – this Premier Prints Small Dandelion Twill Storm in yellow/white.  I love the sweet little dandelions & Sean dubbed them “subtly and not too girly.” Win, win.

So I ordered 6 yards of the fabric. I also ordered 6 yards of white blackout fabric & two packs of white no-sew grommets. The blackout fabric ended up being on back order so I just picked that up at our local Hancock’s.

Then I set out to get going on these bad boys. I actually contemplated sewing them, then opened my craft closet, saw all the junk piled on top of my sewing machine, and ran out and bought more Hem Tape (Steam & Seam for curtain #1 (Hancocks) and Ultra Bond (Walmart) for #2).

Check out my other no sew projects:

No sew envelope style pillow covers

No sew bow pillow

No sew sweater pillows

No sew towel pillows

No sew pillow with piping

No sew fur snood

Let me take a beat to tell you about these two no-sew tapes. They were both awesome and both had a major pro and a minor con. The Steam & Seam was awesome because you peel off a layer of paper & it was sticky – but still re-positionable.

This made it stay in place really well while you were waiting to iron it. However, you had to iron each spot for 20-30 seconds to fully melt it. The Ultra Bond melted in under 5 seconds, but wasn’t sticky, so it slid around a little bit, but no big deal. Both were awesome & I recommend both!
You might of seen my no-sew tutorial here and here, but I’d be glad to reiterate it.

How to Make No Sew Black Out Curtains

First, lay out your main fabric, face down. Iron it flat. I just ironed it flat on the carpet.

Then, I measured the length I wanted & cut it flat across. I used 8 feet of fabric for each panel. This resulted in curtains about 7’4″ long. I hung the grommets 2″ from the top so they ended up being able to be hung 2″ above my window that was 7′ above the ground…. but more on that later.

I measured & marked both sides of the fabric & then used the straight edge to draw a line connecting them.

Now, go around the entire edge of the fabric and hem it 1 inch. I did the long sides first and then went back to hem the top and the bottom. To do this, first fold over the edge & iron it to make a crisp fold.

Then, place a strip of hem tape in the fold. Following the directions on your pack of tape, iron each section until the tape melts. Slowly work your way around the fabric. It takes a little while but is E-A-S-Y.

Once you have a clean edge all of the way around, lay your liner on top, good side out.

Now, starting with the long ends again, fold over the edge & hem. I folded over approximately 1 inch, same as the previous hem, on the 2 sides and the bottom.

If you end up hemming liner-to-liner & not getting any of the outside fabric on your hem, it’s ok. That’s the beauty of hem tape! Just add more & iron again.

To hem the top, I folded the edge over 5 inches. This allowed space for my grommets and a little wiggle room.

Iron away & remember to hem the sides of the folded part closed, too, if you’re going to use grommets. If not, you can leave it open and stick the curtain thru that fabric tube. If you’re not using grommets, ta-d-a! You’re done!

I, however, had to be fancy. My grommets came with a nifty circle tracer tool. So, I eyeballed where I wanted the holes to be (uniformly 2″ from the top- you want it to hang straight) then traced circles to cut out.

I actually used a knife to stab the first holes… very theraputic.

Then I used craft scissors to cut out the hole.

Then I added the grommets. You put the edge with the lip on the good side & the edge with the teeth on the back. Use the palm of your hand to snap them closed.

Some went easy and some were a pain in the butt. You have to make sure that you cut out the entire hole or they won’t work. If you have too many layers of fabric, you might want to trim back some of the innter layers. Once I did that, it was very easy.

The whole thing took about 2 hours a curtain. I did it on the living room floor while watching TV. It was easy, the ironing just takes a while.

I have to wait until Sean gets home to hang them. It is so hard to wait!

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Have you been up to any projects lately?

Update: Click here to see the curtains in action in our master bedroom!

Morgan

Hello, I’m Morgan, half of the creative force behind CharlestonCrafted.com! With a passion for DIY that dates back to 2012, I’ve transformed three homes and now I’m dedicated to helping others craft their dream spaces. Let’s turn your house into a home together!