Easy No-Sew Curtain Canopy {Little Girl Bedroom Progress}

Raise your hand if you're terrified of sewing!  (Am I the only one raising my hand here?)  

It's not that I don't want to learn.  I do.  My mother has tried to teach me multiple times on her really cool antique Singer machine.  I even took home economics in middle school and learned enough to make a pair of really pathetic looking shorts.  And then I forgot how all over again.

Plus, if you haven't caught on already, I have the patience of a two year-old, which can be a bad combination in our house since we already have a sassy one.  But I really really wanted to make a canopy and curtains for our toddler's new room, so darn it, I was going to figure it out somehow!  And, thus, this no-sew version was born.

Okay, I'm not the first blogger to come up with a no-sew curtain tutorial (so I guess I'm not the only one terrified of a needle and thread, huh?).  But I've read multiple ones over the years as I've tried to conquer my lack of crafting skills in this area, and this is what I came up with that worked for me.  

I'm not sure if this method would be good for fabrics that you want to put through the washing machine, but it's awesome for simple curtains and pillow covers.

For Olivia's bedroom, I chose Premier Prints French Stamp fabric in Bella Pink and Storm Gray (affiliate).  

Since I was making a curtain canopy, I made the panels on the skinny side.  For her actual window, I'm using the full width of the fabric, which is 56".  The general rule is curtain panels should be 1.5 to 2.5 times the width of the window you are framing.  

After cutting the width of the fabric in half, I cut the panels to the length I wanted, which ended up being about 6 inches longer than the height of the ceiling to create some puddling at the bottom.  

I pinned the raw edges on the sides and bottom of the panels.

To create a nice, crisp fold, I ironed the pinned edges.  This step made it a lot easier for creating the seam too.

Warning: If you're a professional seamstress or a lucky crafty person who is pretty decent with a sewing machine, look away now!

My hot glue gun and I are best friends.  We're tight.  Flo the glue gun understands me.  And we braid each other's hair and gush over Cosmo and watch chick flicks together.  Don't hate.

So of course I had to bring her in on the action of my needle and thread diss party.  All it took was applying a line of hot glue under the fold and finishing the "seam" while removing one pin at a time.  I pressed the edge to make it flat as I went.

You could finish the top edge and add ring clips if you want, but I chose to make a rod pocket for the canopy.  I used a 4 inch seam allowance, folded it over, and pinned in place.

Then, a strip of hot glue finished the job.

It's not perfect by any seamstress's standards, but considering the entire canopy cost me about $20 (thanks to a coupon I had), I'm ecstatic!  

I'm pretty sure I hung my curtain rod a smidge too far to the left, but I'll be taking it down to paint anyway, so I'll fix it then.  I had a toddler trying to climb up the ladder with me, so the fact that it's up is miraculous.

Oh, and do you recognize it now?  I used her canopy to frame the sweets table for Olivia's ballerina birthday party last weekend.  

I love that I was able to incorporate my old pointe shoes as tie backs.  Once we get the other ballet-inspired decor in here, it will be even better.  

I wouldn't be a good friend if I didn't share my great little trick.  If you rent and can't drill holes in your wall or you're a teacher who can't destroy your classroom walls like I once was, Command hooks are da bomb!  

I had a classroom that varied from hot to cold and dry to humid all school year, and these bad boys with heavy curtains hanging on them never fell once.  Since I had the hooks leftover, I decided to use them again.

They're holding up my pointe shoe tie backs too.  

By the way, you can see the inspiration board for Olivia's bedroom plans along with her dresser makeover and bed refinishing from previous posts to see how far we've come.

This really marks the last of the pink stuff (because I'm trying not to overdo it), and I'll be throwing in more gray and metallics next.  We still have a long way to go, but the vision is starting to come together!  

What do you think so far?  I love reading y'all's feedback!  

Blessings,

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Thrifted Bed Makeover {Little Girl Bedroom Update}

Excuse me while I go cry in a corner.  Our "baby" is about to get a big girl bed.

It wasn't on purpose that she ended up with a new bed for her upcoming birthday.  It just sort of happened thanks to a lucky Goodwill find.  If you haven't been following along, we've been slowly transforming our little one's nursery.  (The big plans can be seen here.)  And since we moved in back in December, we never did anything to her very bare room because we knew this phase was right around the corner.

Here's the very blank before.  Not even a stitch of fabric on those windows or a single swipe of paint, y'all.  But this cute moment between Olivia and Robert makes it perfect anyway, right?

And guess what!  Still no paint or curtains.  (Did you think this was going to be the big reveal?  Sit tight, my friends.  We're slow pokes.)

But things are looking a bit different now.  About two months ago, I found the perfect bed for little miss Olivia's room in Goodwill for $25!  I debated and debated about it because we were really thinking a queen size would be better for when guests come to stay, and this one was a full.  After telling her about it, my sweet mom drove over to pick it up, and lucky for us, it was still there!

Ever have one of those moments when you see something great, debate about it, and leave it behind only to kick yourself later?  Thank goodness for my mommy. :)

That blurry snapshot of it in the thrift store may look nice to begin with, but believe me, it was all scuffed up, dirty, and needed some love.  And the paint job had dried drips and chips all over it.

So I chose to give it the same finish as my $15 dresser I found using Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in Old White.

Isn't it perfect?  I'm so glad, as fate would have it, we ended up with a full bed because a queen probably would have been cramped.

I really roughed it up. (I know completely contradictory since I just told you the before was scuffed and chipping, right?  There's shabby chic and then there's just plain ol' shabby.)  You want to know a secret?  That is dark brown chalk paint peeking through, not wood.  You can't even tell in person that it's not wood underneath.  I'll do anything to avoid stripping paint from furniture.

If the distressed trend ever passes (oh, I hope not), I can always go back over it with a coat of Old White again.

Olivia's sweet great-grandmother bought the bedding for her as a birthday present.  It's from Target, and I was really impressed with the quality.  Since we have company staying with us this weekend, she was nice enough to give it to us ahead of time.

We're getting there, slowly but surely.  The fabric for her curtains came in yesterday, and it is perfect!  I'm working on that project next.  I have a little bit of wall decor I've been creating too.  In a couple of weeks, I hope to have the room painted.

We may work at a snail's pace, but progress is progress.  I have to keep telling myself that when I get impatient.

If you liked this post, be sure to check out this one too. (Just click the image.)

Blessings,

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