DIY Anthropologie Style Curtains - Ikea Hack

If you've ever shopped for curtains at Anthropologie, you'll know how expensive they can be. Not only that but you're also limited to the standard lengths with a max of 108 inches. I wanted the curtains for the music room to be floor to ceiling length.  My ceilings are 10 feet tall so that pretty much meant that I would need to get custom curtains.  Fortunately I found out that Ikea sell a very inexpensive white curtain called Ritva, that almost looks like linen and is 118 inches long.  They are also only $34.99 for a pair!  Perfect.

Except it wasn't perfect.  Knowing how much cotton shrinks when you wash it, I decided to preshrink my curtains before hanging them so that I knew exactly where to hang the rod.  And boy, did those curtains shrink.  And not only that, but they also shrank to different lengths!  (I bought these curtains over a year ago, and recently bought another pair to use in the hallway.  The newer pair have not shrunk as much and they are also finished on the bottom unlike the older ones).

Another bonus of these curtains is they also have a built in tape at the top which allows you to make the pleats with curtain hooks (which is a much nice look than the simple rod pockets that most curtains come with).

So I hung the curtains and tried to ignore the fact that some puddled on the floor while others were 3 inches above it!  They're also kind of flimsy so they didn't drape that nicely either.  A chance purchase of a huge quilt on sale for only $70 from Sundance Catalog set the wheels in motion for a bit of customization to said curtains.

The first thing I did was decide how much of the patchwork quilt I wanted to attach to the bottom of each curtain.  I chose to use the bottom of the glass pane in the window to be my guide.

I then measured the desired height and used painters tape because I didn't have any chalk or a ruler long enough.  

I though about leaving it as is with just the quilt, but decided that it didn't look finished.

So then came the task of deciding what type of piping or detail to use.

I really liked the green geometric fabric, but it only came in 45 inch width.  I would either have to turn it around so that the pattern was not the diamond shape that I liked (see below), or I'd have to join 2 pieces together which would create a seam.

Once I had decided on the trim I dusted off the old sewing machine and got to work.

Fortunately the quilt, which incidentally is made from saris, is sewn together quite roughly so my bad sewing skills can be disguised.  I simply sewed the patchwork onto curtain making sure that the finished length of the curtain was the desired length (skimming the floor).

I then cut out the trim piece, folded it in half and ironed it.

The final step was to sew all the layers together using a straight stitch.

The trim is only sewn down one side so it is like a flap.

I feel a bit guilty chopping up the quilt because it states on the Sundance Catalog website that each quilt takes 6 months to make!  But I think that the curtains came out beautifully.

Here's a break down of the cost of the curtains (per panel).

Curtain Ikea $17.49
Quilt (divided by 6) $11
Trim $1
Grand Total of $29.49.

And I still have quite a bit of the quilt left that I can either make a small throw blanket or a couple of pillows.