I will share a trick that I use to create a custom drapery look, but with out breaking the bank. The living room photo below from my last post has drapery panels on an iron rod with rings. The panels are pinch pleated, a style generally associated with custom made window treatments.
My money saving idea was to sew pinch pleats onto store bought panels. I really like the custom look of pinch pleats. The panels stay evenly spaced so they never look messy like gathered panels often do. I didn’t want to make anything too complicated, because I can barely sew a straight line. I chose a single stitch cartridge style pleat. It would be the simplest style and I like the clean look.
I decided how wide I wanted the panel to finish, then backed into the pleating, figuring how many pleats I needed and to how deep I wanted them. At 2″ deep, each pleat used 4″ of fabric. Five pleats across took up 20″ of fabric, so my 48″ panels became 28″ each side. This worked perfectly for my 50″ window, considering overlaps, etc.
The drapery pin slides into the pleat from the back side, then hooks in through the bottom loop of the drapery ring.
I must say I’m happy with the results, and nobody will ever know my sewing isn’t perfectly straight! And if you are unable to sew, fabric glue or fusable webbing can work just as well.