Kureshi Design Group: DIY Grommet Curtain Panels

Our bedroom used to don forest green crushed silk tap top panels for about two years before our recent change to the lighter coloured grommet panels. Now that I look back, the room used to look smaller and more dingy definitely not as posh as I feel it is now. The new lighter, brighter and updated look is still functional because we have a thermal lining in the back along with the 2 inch blinds that keeps most of the light out of the room during the day and keeps the cold out during the night

We purchased these in excellent condition from Kijiji but they were originally pinch pleated and only 48 x 86 inches long. We have nine foot ceilings so that length was just no good. But I knew even before the purchase that I would have to add fabric to the bottom to get my 100 inch panels. I settle for no less. So since we liked the colour and their price, we went for it. This much fabric for 13$ is a steal and with thermal backing, it just takes the cake.
The colour is beige but with variegated woven grey-brown fibres throughout the whole panel. I have named this colour wheat grass. It reminds me of an Albertan prairie field with its brown grass and dusty winds.

Now starting out, the drapery style was pinch-pleated, and my first step for this project was removing the pinch-pleats. I took a simple seam ripper to the pleating seams and removed the hanging clips as I went along. Here is a sample of pinch-pleated drapery style.

Source: http://www.made-in-china.com/showroom/hifiej455/product-detailFezmWDTEOuVP/China-Pinch-Pleat-Curtain-08001-.html

To my surprise, after removing the pinch-pleats I had two extra wide panels, I'm talking like two 58 x 84 inch panels. My window itself is about 54 inches wide including the frame so these panels would have covered that entire wall of the master bedroom. Not exactly the look I was going for but impressive.
But then thats when I came up with the final idea. I decided to trim off about 9 inches off both sides of each panel to add to the bottom of the drapes to add height. This would leave me with 2- 40 inch panels covering more than enough of the window. Also, I felt that by adding the same fabric along the bottom, I would achieve a more simple and more professional look.

Now imagine me, sprawled out on the living room floor with two huge curtain panels, trying to cut a straight line, four times, count it four times from this fabric.
At last, I succeeded and now had two 9 inch strips from each side of each panel, I had created the foundation of the master bedroom window treatment. After ironing the panels, I lay the strips on top of the panel and cut the width to size.
To add the extra height, I first sewed together the two 9 inch strips leaving two inches turn for the bottom hem. The two-inch turn allows the window treatment to have a gracious fall.

Two Inch Turn for a Gracious Fall

Then I sewed this small 15 inch (15 inches after the turnovers and seams) panel to the main window panel with 1/2 inch seam. Again back stitching at the beginning, middle and end is extremely important.
This is how the elongated panel looks in the back with the thermal backing.

A bit ugly on the back!

The stitches from the front! There's no way you can tell that it looks ugly on the back!

Next I added the grommets. Grommets are so expensive. I never knew that, quite expensive. In fact I could have bought brand new drapery panels from Home Outfitters for the same price as some of these grommets that you can buy these days. So we ended up purchasing 2- 1.99 plastic grommet hangers from Fabricland and spraypainted them in white to work with our scheme.