Lantern Lane Designs

How To Make Your Curtains Look High End (And Where To Find Inexpensive Fabric)

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This post is brought to you by what I like to call a happy accident. And if you are odd like me this happy accident can make you so flipping excited. So so so excited!! Over fabric. Yes, fabric has made me so happy. But it’s not any old fabric. It’s Sarah Richardson fabric. My first design crush. I stalked her designs like a crazy lady. Every single one of them. I drooled over both of her books (this one and this one). Years ago, I purchased some of her fabric to make pillows. And, guess what? I made these pillows the ol’ fashioned way (ha!). With this weird contraption. I think it’s called a sewing machine. Yes, I can use a sewing machine. I even….wait for it…made my own piping on some of my pillows. Say whaaa??? I was a much more patient person back in those days. Now I just glue them together and tell my kids to not touch them, you know, because they listen so well.  We recently got a new bed and I’m on the hunt for new bedding and new pillows. I had a light bulb moment and thought I should look for some more of Sarah’s fabric and make more pillows to match what I already have. Remember this picture from my board and batten bedroom wall?

How to add board and batten to your walls-the easy way SAVE IT

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That blue pillow is one of Sarah’s fabrics and one that I sewed years ago. Isn’t she pretty? That other gorgeous pillow is from McGee and Co (and not available anymore-sorry).
I started my ninja like stalking on google looking for more fabric when what to my crossed eyes should appear….Fabric Guru.  Did I find the fabric I was looking for? Nope. But I found other fabric. All kinds of beautiful designer fabric for crazy prices.
I seriously had to zoom in a few times to make sure my eyes weren’t playing tricks on me. And then I found this one. Please click on it and just look at that price. SIX DOLLARS!!! For a yard of Sarah Richardson fabric?!?! I was so confused.
I knew this fabric retails for anywhere from $60-80 a yard. There must be a catch and guess what?!? There is. Read the small print “scattered white spots, printed off register”. Didn’t scare me one bit. I ordered three yards. I thought I was going to make pillows for my sunroom (I forgot about my bedroom already at this point).
And I was planning on making all kinds of pillows-scattered white spots and all. And then the fabric came (quickly too-bonus points for Fabric Guru). The second I took it out of the package I knew I couldn’t chop it up and turn it into outdoor pillows. No way. So I got back online and ordered three more yards (this order got to my house even quicker-more bonus points) Those white spots? Barely noticeable. Can’t even see them. Here’s one.
See that itty bitty little white dot? Totally worth the savings. I really had no intentions of making curtains again. I just made 4 no sew curtains for my dining room. But I knew this fabric was destined to be curtains in my kitchen. And dang they look so good in here.
I made these curtains the same exact way  I made my dining room curtains. The only difference this time is that I did not do the faux pleat on these. I wanted the more casual look in here. I also learned of a new trick recently to get your curtains to hang nicer. You need to train them.  I was skeptical about this technique but it worked like a charm. This technique works on all curtains, even good ol target curtains can be trained to look like you spent way more than you did on them. Have you ever really looked closely at and analyzed those beautiful high end curtains you see? Oh, that’s just me. You want your curtains to have pleats in them and they don’t just do that on their own. You need to pretend these are your children and train them to do exactly as you want. Sadly, my curtains listened better than my kids do. I quickly ran my fingers through my curtains naturally trying to create where I wanted my pleats to go and  folded the fabric accordion style. I LOOSELY tied my fabric using extra strips of fabric I had on hand.
Now you need to leave it like this for at least 5 days…some say longer-some say shorter. Just depends on how impatient you are. I did 5 days and it was rough.  Look how well my curtains listened to me though.
I just cannot tell you how happy these curtains make me and I’m so happy that my ninja like stalking skills on google paid off for me. I’ve purchased fabric online before but have never found quite the deal like I did this time.  If you can’t find anything you love on Fabric Guru you can check out some of these other on line stores:

And if you find a deal on already made curtains and they just aren’t doing it for you try training them and see what happens…trust me!

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