Sheer curtains are long and elegant pieces of fabric that look good on any window sill. Sometimes, they can be too long and cause problems such as dirt accumulation and many more. Luckily, learning how to shorten sheer curtains won’t be much of a challenge.
Trim or hem your long curtain fabric until it is cut at your desired length. You can opt for a traditional method using a sewing machine, needle, and same-colored threads, or finish the hemming with some iron-on hem tape.
These thin and translucent window treatments beautifully cover every inch of the window. It filters the light while providing a sufficient amount of privacy. However, these same qualities may pose a difficulty when altering the curtain’s hem.
Step 1: Trimming
If your sheer curtains are unnecessarily long with a lot of excess fabric to lose, then you better get those fabric shears ready. Hemming unusually long curtains will make it appear bulky and less attractive, which is why you need to trim off the unnecessary sections.
Don’t worry about trimming off the extra fabric. You can do it while your curtains hang from the rod. Measure, mark, and cut off the excess fabric. You can take a more meticulous approach by first calculating the amount of material you want to remove while hanging on the window.
After taking the measurements, take the fabric down and use a sewing pin or fabric pencil to mark a long horizontal line across the curtain. Use it as a guide before cutting off the excess material. Don’t forget to leave a 1-inch seam allowance for the hemming.
Step 2: Measuring
Use your tape measure and fabric pencil to mark along the curtain’s width. If you have a hard time marking the curtains while it is on the rod, you can take it down and prepare for the sewing process.
Step 3: Prepare the fabric.
Take your curtain and lay it right side down on a clean and flat surface. Get rid of any loose threads from the initial hemming. Fold the bottom edge ½ inch and another ½ inch to make a double fold and hide the raw edges.
Use a generous number of sewing pins to hold the fabric in place, especially if you are working with silk and other slippery sheer fabric. Iron the folds in place to make a memory on the cloth.
Step 4: Sewing
Take your sewing machine and adjust it to a longer stitch length. Run the fabric under the machine to hem the sheers. Make sure to use the same colored thread for a professional and streamlined look.
You may want to do a hand stitching method by working with other kinds of sheer fabric such as lace and different complex fabric types. The holes in the material make it difficult to do the hem when using a machine.
Tip: Use smaller size needles
You might want to use a size eight, nine, or ten needles for hand-stitch sheer curtain sewing. These needle sizes are specially made for fragile and lightweight types of fabric. Also, try a fine polyester or extra-fine cotton-wrapped polyester thread for better results.
Alternative to Sewing
You can always use iron-on hem tape if you aren’t too familiar with hand stitching and machine sewing. Follow steps one to three to prepare the fabric. Once you have trimmed the unnecessary sections, fold and iron the cloth.
Take your hemming tape and lay it between the folds of the fabric. Make sure that the curtain completely covers the tape before ironing it. Set your iron to a low heat setting and gently press the cloth.
Remember that you are ironing sheer curtains. They can be extremely sensitive to heat, so try to be more careful when ironing the hem tape. If you know how to do it right, it actually sticks even on slippery sheer curtain fabrics.
Hem Removal Tips
If you want to remove an inch or two from your original curtain fabric, then you won’t have to cut the fabric. Simply make the alterations by removing the existing hem and re-attaching it at a different length.
Take your seam ripper and carefully remove the existing bottom hem for new curtain fabrics. If the thread was a bit more stubborn than you anticipated, you could always get a pair of thin scissors to cut through. Be careful not to damage your sheers while removing the seams.
Where to hang shortened curtains
Despite what most people say, they can still look casual, chic, and trendy. We all know how kids tend to pull on floor-length draperies. Now, you can hang them in children’s bedroom windows to keep your pets and toddlers safe from falling curtain rods. You can also pair it off with some curtain valances or some swags to complete the look.
There are multiple occasions wherein you might need to know how to shorten sheer curtains. You can hang them on windows with built-in seats or those above a kitchen counter. There are plenty of instances wherein shortened curtains are a more practical window treatment. Don’t be afraid to break some stereotypes and let your creativity run wild.