How To Make Cafe Curtains Without Sewing

HOW TO MAKE CAFE CURTAINS WITHOUT SEWING, LINEN STYLE HALF CURTAINS WITH PINCH PLEATS!

You guys! I’ve been working on redecorating my small breakfast nook and I really wanted cafe curtains for the windows. Not only that, I specifically wanted linen cafe curtains with pinch pleats similar to the beautiful cafe curtains on my bathroom window.

I had gotten the bathroom curtain on Etsy, so I reached back out to that seller first. Shockingly, the price for the larger windows was around $250. While that seller does beautiful work, I could not spend that much on curtains.

After searching endlessly online, I could not find anything similar. Fortunately, my best ideas usually come when I really want something I can’t afford. So I figured out a great way to make my own cafe curtains with pinch pleats – no sewing machine required!

In one Google search, I noticed a set of pinch pleat drapes from Wayfair that were linen. They were far less expensive for full drapes ($42 on sale for two panels) than they would have been for the custom cafe curtains. With a lack of sewing skills, I knew I couldn’t make pinch pleats myself, but I had hemmed no-sew curtains before.

My thought was to buy the full drapes and hem them to the size of the window. Then I’d get my pinch pleats without sewing!

When ordering, take into account the width of the window, you want to be sure you have enough fabric for fullness.

What You’ll Need to make DIY cafe curtains with pinch pleats

• Full-Length Pinch Pleat Curtains
• Hemming Tape
• Tension Curtain Rod
• Curtain Ring Clips
• Scissors
• Tape Measure/Ruler
• Pencil

Prepping to Make half curtains

The easiest way I’ve found to prep for hemming curtains is to hang them first.

You should also iron them first for best accuracy but I didn’t because mine weren’t so wrinkled that it would matter much.

Once hung, I marked each curtain panel where I wanted them to end on the window sill with extra for the bottom seam allowance. But before I did that I made sure the tension rod was level so they wouldn’t be uneven.

Using a tension rod is helpful because you can adjust it if your measurements are slightly off. But you could also use a regular cafe rod if preferred.

For my cafe curtains, I wanted them to skim the window sill. I used a paperclip to mark each end because it was easy to get on there nice and straight.

Next, I went across the bottom of the curtain and marked it with safety pins across. Before I took the curtains back down, I cut off the bulk at the bottom. Don’t worry about this raw edge being straight, it’s going to get cut again.

As for the leftover, I had a lot. I put this into my basket of fabric scraps because I’m sure I’ll eventually have a project where it will come in handy.

Making the no-sew curtain hem

First, I used a tape measure to find the length from the top of the curtain to the spot I wanted it to end (marked by the paper clip). My length was 26″.

Flip the curtain face down onto your work area. Using a pencil, I marked the back of the curtains at the 26″ mark all the way across. I also marked them at the 28″ length to account for my bottom hem.

To make this easier, I used a level and drew a straight line with a pencil across the back bottom of the fabric at both marks.

Now cut the curtain straight across at the longer length.

From here, I brought my curtains to my ironing board, again laying them face down. I folded the bottom up so that the fold was at the 26″ mark where I wanted them to end. Run a hot iron over the fold to get a nice crease.

Open the curtains back up and place your hem tape where you want your curtain to end. Be sure to get a piece right along the edge as well.

I used ultra-hold HeatnBond and it worked very well on this fabric. You simply run a hot iron over the tape you placed on your fabric first. Then you remove the paper from the tape and fold your curtain back up over it and iron again to seal. It only takes a few seconds for it to adhere.

A simple tip to keep in mind

Great Tip: Another bonus to using pre-made curtains to get this look is you likely won’t have to worry about side hems. When using fabric material, you will have to take that into account and adjust the sides as well.

If do you prefer to use fabric and find that you have to adjust the sides, you can see how I did that when I made floral patterned living room curtains without sewing.

That’s it!

It’s SO easy, it just takes a little time to do. I did two panels in about 2 hours.

Hanging The Curtains

To hang the cafe curtains, you’ll need a tension rod and curtain rings with clips. I had a good bit of trouble finding the right tension rod for this. All the rods I found that were the right width were too fat in diameter and looked more like shower rods which I didn’t like.

After buying and returning a few, I finally found this tension rod that was just right. Of course, you’ll want to make sure the round clips fit your curtain rod, which was another problem I had with the first rod. These curtain clips fit my tension rod just right.

If you have a lot of windows to do, here is another idea for hanging cafe curtains that would save money on buying the rods.

These panels were a little too wide for this window and I didn’t want to attempt cutting them vertically. This was an easy fix. At the end of the curtains, I folded them back a few inches and secured them with the curtain clips. It really isn’t noticeable at all.

Accounting for mistakes

With this method, I was pretty confident it would all be straight. However, when using a tension rod and curtain clips it’s easy enough to adjust the curtain height when hung to make them look straighter!

You really can’t go wrong! Cafe curtains would also be idea for a kitchen window! They’d be very charming over a kitchen sink.

Hanging Blinds With Cafe Curtains

The only issue with cafe curtains is they offer little privacy covering only the lower half of the window.

There are other ways to still get this look while adding more privacy. In our nook, we used a roman shade on the top of the window. This still lets in natural light but offers the ability to close it at night.

I already had these really beautiful Roman Shades (plain style, in the color Wilmington Natural) hanging here. I did love how these looked but I knew I wanted to add small hanging baskets above the windows so I ended up changing that out.

Rather than the Roman blinds, I bought a simple accordion shade. We used an inside mount style to put them inside the window frame, across the full width of the area. When opened, they almost disappear but are easy to pull down at night for privacy.

Both are great options, go with whichever is your personal preference.

This is what we did with the café curtains in our bathroom. My bathroom window upstairs has a cellular shade that almost disappears when fully open and I like that look with our adorable cafe curtains.

If you don’t know how to sew this is the perfect solution to make your own DIY pinch pleat cafe curtains. It certainly makes it easier to not have to worry about the top hem at all because it’s already done for you!

Stay tuned! (Update: see the breakfast nook progress here).

Want more budget decorating ideas? Check out this guide to beating the high cost of decorating!

Another window treatment idea you may like: bamboo blinds for the living room.