In some rooms, slightly messy curtains can have a casual appeal, but in others, the tailored, tidy look is more a propos. Off-the-shelf curtains aren’t always willing to live up to those tailored expectations, though, and it can be a lot of trouble to add a stiff heading to them if your sewing skills aren’t up to snuff.

Well, here’s the little trick (in all its unspectacular glory) and how those lovely waves came to be…

On the day of the photo shoot (of my parent’s room) I decided the flimsiness of the curtain heading was irking me a little too much. Here’s how it looked to begin with.

Don’t get me wrong though, I get that in the right setting slightly messy curtains can look relaxed and casual, though in the context of my parent’s semi-formal-ish bedroom to me they just looked plain untidy.

Something that instantly came to mind was this roll of wired paper ribbon (blue-grey in colour if I recalled correctly) that I remembered from my childhood. It had been part of my mum’s gift wrapping stash. Hmmm, something like that could work, maybe.

So, pushing the silliness of my overly fastidious need to have unnecessarily neat curtain tabs aside – anyways, as a part-time perfectionist by definition surely I have the undeniable obligation to be overly fastidious at least part of the time – I headed to a local store to buy some said wired paper ribbon.

None – of course!

Hmmm, maybe flimsy curtain tabs would just have to do.

A little dejected, I drove to my parent’s house and, with low hopes, decided to rummage through mum’s current gift wrapping stash anyway. Just in case.

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And, guess what I found?

Yup, the very same roll of blue-grey (my memory served me well!) wired paper ribbon from twenty-odd years ago!

Hoarder much Mum? 🙂

Okay, tale now told, onto the tute.

  1. To create the neat tabs I first cut a strip of wired ribbon slightly longer than the curtain panel width. Of course, you don’t have to use wired paper ribbon. Wired fabric ribbon, or anything with similar bendy properties, would suffice.
     
  2. With the curtain in the ‘closed’ position (extended along the rod), I then threaded it right through the front pocket until it protruded slightly at both ends. This sounds fiddly and time-consuming though it was actually really quick and easy. You may need to fold the leading end of the ribbon over slightly to create a nice smooth edge for optimal glide.
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  4. Finally, I carefully pulled back the curtain into the ‘open’ position and went about manipulated the now pliable semi-rigid tabs into smooth looking ‘waves’ before trimming off any excess ribbon still visible at the ends.
     
  5. Once complete, I climbed down from my little step ladder, stood back and prepared to be totally underwhelmed. Surprisingly, it seemed to have worked! I must admit, I was totally impressed with myself (insert immodesty curtailing blush here).

Of course, they’re not totally perfect (I’m not sure there is such a thing where curtains are concerned) though they are approximately 112% better. And around two months on, even with billowing in the breeze, they have held their form beautifully.
Obviously, this type of solution is not an option for ‘working’ drapes which need to be opened and closed though for stationary curtains which are being used purely for the purpose of decoration or concealment it’s a simple and effective fix.

I know, I know, it would have made more sense to stiffen the flimsiness of the heading during the actual making of the curtains, though for whatever reason (impatience I’m looking at you!) that didn’t happen. Plus, I think this make-shift method actually provides greater control and the ability to create nicer waves.