DIY Cafe Curtains

Use your fabric napkins for your DIY window treatments.

Café curtains' relatively small size and straightforward installation process make them natural candidates for budget DIY home decoration. The rod for these curtains usually sits about halfway across the inside of the window's casing, creating a casual and homey, if not terribly private, window dressing. What café curtains lack in privacy, they make up for in natural light, which the short curtains allow to stream unfiltered through the top of the window. Even if you lack sewing skills, you can make a set of café curtains for your home.

Things You'll Need

• Two matching tea towels, decorative fabric napkins or similarly sized scarves
• Iron and ironing board
• Pencil
• Tension rod
• Café clips

Instructions

1. Iron your towels or other materials to remove any wrinkles.

2. Hold up a towel against the window you want to cover. Lightly mark the height of your towel inside the window's casing on both the left and right sides.

3. Spread both of your towels flat, with the edges you want to use for the top of the café curtains facing you. Clip a café clip along the edge facing you, the "top" edge; start at the edge's end and work your way to the next end, attaching a clip every 2 inches.

4. Thread the clips' "O"-shaped rings onto your tension rod.

5. Insert the tension rod into the window's casing. Line up each of the rod's ends with the height marks you made. Twist the rod to expand it until it sits snugly inside the window.

Tips & Warnings

• If you can't find matching napkins or scarves for this project, you can make them yourself. Buy a yard of fabric. Look for fabrics that look good from both sides and can withstand multiple washings, such as linen. With fabric scissors, cut the fabric into two equally sized pieces that measure 31-by-18-inches. Fold over 1 inch on each side and use straight pins to secure the folds. Carefully hand-sew or use a sewing machine to create two hem lines along each section: one near the fold, and a parallel hem near the unfinished edge.

References

• "Woman's Day"; DIY Home Décor: Café Curtains; Lisa Yakomin; May 24, 2010
• "No-Sew Fabric Décor: Transform Your Home"; Pamela J. Hastings; 2004
• Apartment Therapy; Café Clips: Hang Your Curtains for Under $3; Sarah Rae Trover; May 8, 2009
• "Prints Charming: 40 Simple Sewing..."; Cath Derksema and Kirsten Junor; 2010

Resources

• University of Kentucky; Window Treatment Trends; Linda Adler and Debra Cotterill, M.A.; April 1999
• West Coast Crafty; Tea Towel Curtains -- Now Even Easier; Susan Beal; September 25, 2008