We recently started working on our master bedroom makeover and I have been on the hunt for the perfect curtains. As soon as I saw the Ombre Lace Curtains from Anthropologie I was in LOVE! The $188 per panel price tag . . . not so much. That makes them nearly $400 for both panels, yikes!
I have a bunch of doilies but unfortunately not enough to add to two 95″ panels, so I started to price out some doily style trim instead. I quickly realized that could get pricey {or at least more than I wanted to spend} and hit a road block. Then I had an idea…. I still had some lace runners leftover from our wedding reception last October {which you can check out here}. I had left more than half of them at the venue for future brides to use but was hoping I may have enough for the curtains.
I only had 4 runners but I laid them out flat to measure how long they were all together. I knew I would basically have double the length because I could cut them in half. Luckily, I had JUST enough, yay! Of course I didn’t have any curtains to add the lace too, but I did have a Bed Bath and Beyond gift card with about $25 left on it so I headed there to see what I could find. Normally I don’t have much luck finding the 95″ curtain panels there in the style AND price that I want, but this must have been my lucky day. I found what I thought were perfect AND they were on sale for $40 for BOTH panels, woo-hoo! So after my gift card and 20% off coupon I was able to pick up 2 panels and only spent $20 out of pocket. Score!
I wanted my lace runners to be a dark navy blue color to match our navy and copper dresser, but didn’t necessary care to have them be ombre like the ones at Anthropologie. I liked the ombre style but when I first looked at the photo I didn’t even notice it, the dark blue and romantic/vintage style is what caught my eye. I decided to keep the lace all one color instead, which also made it easier.
First I mixed up some custom navy paint with some fabric medium in an old plastic bin {just make sure to follow the directions on the back}, and then threw the lace runners in there because I was too impatient to test it out. Go big or go home, right? I had never used fabric medium before and purchased it back when I planned to paint a west elm inspired rug, but wound up using a sharpie instead.
I’ve gotta admit, that stuff is amazing! It’s water based so that thinned out the paint a bit and I just stirred the lace around in the paint every 5-10 minutes or so for about 40 minutes. I wore gloves and used my hands to stir them around because that easier, but you could just use a paint stick if you wanted. Afterwards I squeezed all the excess paint out and laid them out flat on old towels in the garage to dry. It was 2am and rainy so I couldn’t leave them outside to air dry. The color looked great and I couldn’t wait to see what they would look like the next day!
I didn’t take a photo of this process, but afterwards I had covered the bin with foil so I could possibly use more of the “dye” on other projects. Here is a photo of the paint the next day:
And yes, it did work on other items {which I will share soon} and now I am in <3 p="" process="" this="" with="">
You are supposed to let the fabric dry for 24 hours, but I was impatient and after 12 hours they seemed completely dry to me, so I went ahead and ironed them out. This also heat sets the fabric medium and allows you to be able to wash them later on without losing the color. {I’ll have to jeep you posted on that}. I kept an eye out to make sure the paint didn’t get on the iron, and it was all good. Once I added more water to the iron and turned up the heat it started to get sticky so I just lowered the temperature and let out some of the water.
Once the runners were dyed, dried and ironed I used a chalk pencil to make a line halfway down and then cut each runner in half.
I’ve gotta admit that I originally planned on just using the glue gun {or liquid stitch} to attach the lace to the panels to save on time and because the last time I used a sewing machine {despite having one in our house} was during Home Ec in high school, a loooong time ago. Ha. My mom nearly had a heart attack when she heard about me using the glue gun though so she convinced me that we should sew them, and she could show me how to use the sewing machine again.
By the way, I actually did use the glue gun on my pom pom curtains and they turned out great, but because lace is delicate I figured sewing would be a better option, and make them easier to wash later on. {My pom pom curtains are not posted yet but you can see a sneak peak here}.
If you don’t have a sewing machine I would definitely recommend trying out liquid stitch, that stuff is AMAZING! I’ve used it on several placemat pillows and it has held up really well.
It’s funny because learning how to use the sewing machine has been on my never ending to-do list, but I have never been so motivated to actually do it! Guess these curtains really did inspire me. So with my mom’s help and direction we pinned all of the lace down to the sides and then sewed them on. We also cut off a section where the lace overlapped to get the pattern to look consistent and I later hand sewed that small section together. I was so excited to see how they were coming along and that the sewing machine isn’t as scary as I thought. Plus I LOVE our new curtains!
I know they don’t look exactly like the Anthropologie curtains, but I love the contrast in navy and white and how romantic and vintage they look and feel. They are exactly what I wanted and only cost me $20 out of pocket, whaaaaa?! Not to mention that we were able to use something from our wedding day which makes then even more special.
What’s funny is the lace runners never made it to the tables during our reception anyway {well aside from one on the sweetheart table}, because the gazebo didn’t get finished in time and we had to improvise. Guess they were never meant to be table runners to begin with :)
So what do you think? Do you like to make your own curtains or buy them?
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