DIY No-Sew Curtains

Living in an apartment is hard. Especially in a college town. Here, the apartments don't have much character because they're geared more towards student living. And they're tiny. We're talking there's no room in the bedroom for much more than bed so whoever was large and in charge decided to throw the only storage closet in the place in the bathroom... without a door. Finally I got a little tired of brushing my teeth and staring at the deep abyss of clothing mixed among craft supplies and decided I had to come up with a solution that not only looked classy but was also affordable. Each time I moseyed down the aisles of Target or the purgatory named Walmart, I was met with curtain panels that either didn't fit the dimensions I had or that were $40 or more a pop for a set. No. Thank. You.

One coupon search later, I found myself knee deep in fabric at JoAnn's trying to decide on what pattern I wanted. I'd have to take the longer yet more fulfilling route of making my own curtains. Twenty bucks and less than an hour later, boom, my place looked a little bit more like an adult lived there. Plus, they're pretty much foolproof.

Here's what you'll need:

• Your choice of fabric (I chose a thicker one so it felt more "solid" )
• Heavy-duty iron on hemming tape
• An iron
• Some towels to put under the section you're ironing (don't make the same mistake I did and melt a nice new rug)
• Tape measure
• Tension rod
• Curtain Clips

Do you have a tiny window to cover? A big ol' space to section off? Measure your fabric so it fits the area you need and cut to fit giving about two to four inches of "give" on either end. And on the sides too. I was lucky enough that the width of the fabric they gave me just about fit, it just needed some finishing up on the edges.

Next, decide how wide you need it to be. Do Not cut off the excess yet. You'll want to fold over the fabric evenly on each side so that the main curtain measures the width you need, then use a few pins to hold it in place while you iron the edge. this will be your outer hem. 

You will then want to fold the raw edge to meet the crease and iron that edge as well. If you have a lot of excess fabric, this is where you can trim it up. After you've got things in order, follow the directions for the hemming tape and iron that sucker on. 

Peel of the backing nice and slow, like a John Legend song, and then fold the fabric over at the crease and iron again to seal the hem and create a nice finished edge. I preferred to do the longer sides first and then the top and bottom. Pick an end to add the curtain ring clips to and space them out evenly. I wasn't picky about them being exact, but my boyfriend was. He kept going on about how he's going to be an engineer and things had to be done right so that they preformed correctly and then I just kind of stopped listening and let him do it. Talk about making a crafter's life hard. 

Then, hang up your new masterpiece and enjoy! Voila you've just created your own curtain!

Good work, guys.

First Thing's First... What is Meraki?

Okay, so I created a blog. Now what?? I could remain ambiguous and mysterious, the quintessential qualities of a hermit, or I could open up and tell you a little about myself and why I'm here. We'll go with the second option. Word on the street is you attract more flies with sugar rather than vinegar.

I am still quite young, at twenty-three years old, filled to the brim with random tidbits and ideas, and I'm pretty sure I spend more time making pilgrimages to my Meccas (blessed be the Holy Trinity that is Target, Hobby Lobby, and Michael's) than I do in my own apartment. Any trip my boyfriend takes with me (bless his heart for he clearly doesn't know what he's getting himself into when he agrees) turns into him gently coaxing my wallet away from me while I quietly whimper "But it would look so good on Pinterest". I had to find some way to justify the countless hours of "research" and "project management" I've completed since getting my Bachelor's degree. I mean, I got a certificate in Art Therapy too, so at least I'm using that really expensive piece of paper for something, right?

Here we are then. This is the part where you click that subscribe button by the way, because there's a lot more where this came from.

Craft your heart out, kid.

-Tara