Directions on How to Make Beaded Curtains

You can use differently sized beads for your curtain.

A beautiful addition to any room as a flowing door, curtain for a window, or just as a wall hanging, is a handmade beaded curtain. You can still find beaded curtains for sale in specialty stores, but they are sometimes flimsy, not done to your tastes or outrageously expensive. Investing a little time and effort will give you a perfect, lovely touch that fits into any decor. Beaded curtains take some time, but the efforts are well worth it.

Things You'll Need

• Tape measure
• Pen and paper
• Roll of fishing wire or thin filament
• Scissors
• Beads
• Hammer and small nails
• Curtain rod set with eye hooks
• Drill

Instructions

1. Measure the doorway, window or wall area you want to cover with the beaded curtain. Measure the height, width and decide how dense or how many strands of beads you want your curtain. The closer the strands, the more wire and beads you will need.

2. Cut the fishing wire. Use the measurements that you took in Step 1 and add about 2 inches to the length for the length of the wire. The additional length will cover the wire needed to make the knots when you hang the beaded wires. Cut the wire one strip at a time.

3. Tie a double knot at one end of the strand of wire. If you are using an alternating pattern for your beads, write down the order of the wire strands for your colors. For example, if you are using dark blue, medium blue and sky blue, write down the order of the beads so you can refer to it when you pick up the beadwork after finishing for the day or when you start a new strand.

4. Thread the beads onto the wires. After you're done with a string of beads, tie a knot on the ends, but make sure to leave 2 to 4 inches of wire as an allowance to use when hanging the bead strands. Bead until you finish all of the strands for your curtain.

5. Attach the eye hooks onto the curtain rod. Make small holes along the length of the curtain rod using a drill. Space the holes about an inch or two apart. Then screw the eye hooks by hand into the pre-drilled holes.

6. Install the curtain rod according to the manufacturer’s directions. If you don't have a curtain rod, hammer nails in a straight line across the top of the doorway, window or wall where the curtain will hang. The nails should be an inch or two apart.

7. Tie the strands of beads onto the eye hooks on the curtain rod, using the excess 2 inches of fishing wire to tie the strands.

Tips & Warnings

• Do this as a family project or with friends and cut the time considerably.

• Allow a lot of time for this project. It will not be done in a day or, probably even a week.

• Set aside some time each day to do your beading.

• Do not use thread instead of wire. It is not strong enough to support the beads.

References

• Bead Curtain: How to Make Beaded Curtains