If you are a great seamstress than look away! This tutorial is not for you. This is for all my girlfriends that are always complaining that they can't sew curtains or fix the curtains they have for different houses. Most people buy curtains once but if you are in a military family you get to move a lot and the windows are never the same size.
You can make curtains without sewing. All you need is an iron, scissors and steam a seam. I bought this Houndstooth for Fabric.com for about $7.50 a yard. I got 6 yards so it cost me $45 for super cute curtains.
I didn't even iron it before cutting. Gasp! Sorry Grandma I know you taught me better. If this wouldn't have been a straight printed pattern I would have ironed but the little houndstooth print gave me a great guide as to where to cut.
I wanted my curtains to be 84" but you have to leave allowances for the hem and the top. You need 5 inches extra at the top and the bottom. So I cut my fabric 94". Measure YOUR windows because you need to cut for your house not mine. Unless you want to send me your curtains. Then take your cut piece and set it on your uncut fabric and use that as a guide for your second panel. In my opinion the most important thing is to have both of your panels the exact same size!
Start by ironing the selvage sides of the fabric in. Do both sides!
Then iron the top and the bottom up one inch. I have a special sewing ruler but a regular ruler would work fine too.
Then I fold the sides in the same amount that I already ironed. Then iron again. Repeat on opposite side but leave the bottom and top just ironed and folded over that one inch. Your selvage sides should now look like this.
Now here comes the easy no sew part. This stuff is called Steam a seam and you can buy it at craft stores like Michael's or a fabric store.
Take the steam of seam out of the package and line it up with the outside edge of the wrong side of your fabric.
Now flip it over and iron down! The steam of seam should be under the fabric. See easy! Repeat on the other side.
If you have a sewing machine you could just sew the fabric down. I like to do it right on the edge. I've made most of the curtains in my house this way. It took me about an hour for both panels.
Done! I bet you can't tell which are sewn and which are steam a seamed!
All my curtains are attached with little ring clips. Best invention ever for people with kids. Now when some kid hangs on the curtains it just pulls them off the clips instead of the rod out of the wall.
I also made E's curtains this way.