Large Floral Print Drapes { Dining Room Update }

I really like our simple white Ikea Vivan Curtains with the Dahlia Fabric I added to the bottom, it added extra color to our otherwise pretty white dining room. After we completed out Dining room head to toe makeover, I wasn't ready to commit to anything to bold, so the bottom pattern  fabric was perfect. I thought about sewing full length Dahlia Curtains but at $ 26 bucks a yard on Sale for 5.5 yards for fabric would be $143 bucks plus shipping. I wasn't feeling the price. I decided if I came across some pretty fabric for under $15 bucks a yard, I'd go for it.

Well months passed and nothing. Enter Home Fabrics, I've heard about them on different blogs and my girl friend Summer (she just started a blog, check it out!) that lives in So Cal shops there all time. Anyways they finally opened a new store in Northern Cali, praise the Lord. So one after noon a few weeks ago Avery and I stopped in to check it out. Within in minutes I was in fabric heaven, they had a ton of fabrics. Originally I was there shopping for Navy Linen fabric for my living room, I mention wanting to change the look a few weeks ago.

I didn't find any navy fabric, I got distracted when I saw the large print floral fabric, I like the shades of aqua and teal mixed with the greys and browns. It was perfect for my dining room, except one minor problem. Hasani wasn't with me and I was afraid he'd nix the fabric because it was floral. We make it a point to agree on major changes and going from pretty much all white to a floral print was a major change! I texted him the picture, and 10 minutes later with no response I went with my gut and purchased 5.5 yards of fabric. Lucky for me he texted back saying he liked the fabric and to go for it. The best thing of all is the fabric was only 5.99 per yard!!! I paid $ 33 smackaroos for 5.5 yards of fabrics which breaks down to 198 inches of material!! Can I get a high five! Woo Hoo!

Before I share the afters, here's how I transformed 198 inches of material into two back tab style drapes for our dining room. Cutting material that long can be a challenge, so first I folded the fabric in half width wise, then folded it in half. I then cut the fabric in half leaving me with two 99 inch pieces of fabric. I decided I wanted my panels to be 93 inches each.

I sewed the sides of each panel first, then I folded the hem over one inch two times. Next I ironed the hem flat and then pinned and sewed each side. For the bottom hem and folded the fabric up two inches pinned and sewed.

I really like the look of back tab drapes, they look clean and almost like pinch pleat drapes without the fuss. It's the same style curtains I had in the dinning room, they can be back tab or you can use the rod pocket. I decided to sew the same style. I folded the top hem down four inches and iron then pinned. Instead of sewing individual tabs, I used ribbon as the tabs. I got this idea from Jenny at Little Green Notebook. I bought two rolls of dollar ribbon from Micheal's and spaced the ribbon five inches apart and pinned the ribbon top and bottom to the fabric. Next I sewed the ribbon onto the fabric.

I really like how the new drapes for the dining room turned out. The pretty large floral drapes bring in so much color into the dining room. The new panels are 93 inches long, 3 inches shorter then our old curtains. Hasani moved the new curtain rod down and the new drapes rest on the floors perfectly. I love for how finished the back tabs make the panels look, so pretty. Here's our new panels. Sewing the panels was super easy, the longest part of the whole process is pinning and iron the panels.

Here's how the fabric looks pulled out, I love the fabric. The fabric is super heavy and like a woven style. I forgot to mention, before I began sewing the panels Hasani and I had decided which way the print would hang. Either the leaves up or down, after much discussion we decided we liked how the leaves looked down.

Sorry for the bad lighting in this pic!

Here's a quick breakdown of how much the new back tab drapes cost to make. I spent $ 33 bucks on fabric and $ 2 bucks on two rolls of ribbon, total $ 35 for a pair of custom back tab drapes. Each panel only $ 17.50 crazy affordable!!

What do you think of our new drapes? Have you sewn drapes for your home?