Ribbon Curtain DIY tutorial

This girl's bedroom is in desperate need of some color.  I haven't painted the walls yet so adding this fun and easy curtain was a great start!
I love this ribbon from May Arts.  I love the width of this ribbon - it makes such a lovely statement when it is 2 and 3 inches wide, don't you think?  And I love how the ric rac is so wavy and feminine.
Here is how I did it:
I started out with some white muslin I have had in my stash for a long time.  Because I like to cut corners where I can, I used the width of the fabric so I didn't have to finish the side edges.  I tore the fabric to my desired length.  Then I proceeded to tear 3/4" strips of  fabric to add some ruffles later.  I tore 12 of these, as I needed 6 total so I added two together for the length I needed to ruffle with.  Then I tore 4 strips about 1.5" wide for my  bottom ruffles on each panel.

For the top opening which will slide onto the curtain rod I simply folded over the edge, tucked in the top again (so a small double fold as shown) and stitched straight across.

So here are my panels.  Believe it or not I did iron this before I started.  The fabric is thin and I pre-washed it a long time ago so it remained somewhat wrinkled which didn't bother me at all.  (Can you tell I am NOT a perfectionist?)


Now to the fun part.  I began pinning lenths of ribbon on each panel.  My four year old helped me on the other side and we laid them as straight as possible and she told me what order she liked them in.  I recommend using A lot of pins!

now that we had this laid out I began stitching each length of ribbon down.

I used white thread throughout and found that I like the contrasting stitches on each ribbon.  Don't you love this huge ric rac and that black and white diamond print?

After I had the ribbon on I decided I wanted ruffled edges.  To achieve this look I widened my stitch as far as it would go and loosened up my tension.    Then I stitched down the center all the way down the length of each stip of cloth (remember I sewed two together earlier to make them long enough to get a good ruffle).








After that, you simple pull gently on the bottom thread of each strip to gather the fabric, slowly working the ruffle all the way down the length.  Then pin it on each side and stitch down.  I like how the ruffle added across the top covers the beginning of the ribbons so you don't see the original stitching lines where I attached them.

Ta-DA!
I love how they turned out!  Better yet, Emma loves them and its her room so THAT is a victory.  I love how the black ribbon accents her black furniture and the walls will soon be a shade of pink!

What do you think?
Ribbon is awesome!  You can do anything quickly and easily.
I think I need more ribbon to add a pillow to her bed...

off to clean up....
E