DIY Tweed Back Tab Curtains for the Bedroom

After listening to me ramble on about tweed, let me just show you the new bedroom curtains!
(Spoiler alert: they're tweed!):

With my new wide angle lens, you can see our glass sliding closet doors and the new green curtains!  Learning to handle my DSLR and wide angle lens is still a slow process, but I love that I can show you so much more of a room in one photo!  (Ignore the blank canvases - a DIY art project I'm currently working on).  

I was quite smitten with the last set of DIY back tab curtains my Mom and I made but, after I switched around the vintage Hungarian posters, the teal pattern no longer worked in the room. 

This green tweed is utterly perfect - the exact shade of green I wanted, shot with aqua.  When we moved to the lakehouse, I was on a mission to add more colour but I've realized that colour + pattern aren't necessarily what I want.  I think that colour + texture or a low contrast pattern (and smaller doses of pattern), look best in the space.  Then our beautiful artwork can take centre stage.

The fabric I chose is called Dapp Peacock and I purchased it from U-Fab, before they dropped their e-commerce site (you can still order by phone/email).

I'm so impressed by the sheen and weight of this fabric; it has a luxurious feel.  The tweed relaxed a bit after we hung them up so they break a bit more than planned.  We might re-hem them, but I'm waiting to see if the fabric relaxes more. 

Head over to Hello Yellow for the how-to, including some tips for working with this tweed - which was a bit trickier than the outdoor fabric we used for the last set of drapes.

I still have a bolt of the same tweed in aqua, calling my name from where it's propped up in the corner of my office.  I hope my Mom and I can carve out some time soon(ishly) to whip up some turquoise tweed curtains for the office, which will create a really nice cohesiveness and flow between the two bedrooms.

A Great Source for Colourful, Mid-Century Inspired Tweed Fabric

If you follow me on Instagram, or caught the recent post about my new poster purchase, then you might already know that I'm swapping the teal DIY back tab bedroom curtains...

...for an absolutely perfect green tweed! 

From Instagram

I know that some of you are Team Teal, but the tweed has won some hearts too.  Before I show off the new drapes (they're gorgeous, but a little too long - oops!), I wanted to explain my reasoning - and how I suddenly became totally obsessed with tweed.

Finding the teal patterned fabric in the bedroom was so tricky!  I was committed to more colourful textiles in the lakehouse, and I really pushed myself out of my comfort zone of sheers, sheers, and more sheers.  It helped that Hubs wanted "real curtains" that would block light and offer privacy.  I searched for a long time, but couldn't find a shade of green/teal that worked with the posters.  Eventually I found a teal print that had a modern feel and looked nice with the posters, although it complemented the middle poster best.  I thought (and still think) these curtains were gorgeous.  Trying something different (for me) really paid off! 

When I moved the middle poster out of the room, all of a sudden my beloved curtains looked wrong.  I casually started the search anew and was looking for curtain fabric for the office at the same time.  I had a contender in mind for the office, but I really wanted the curtains in both rooms to have a similarly scaled pattern for some continuity.  I corralled all of the viable options in a Pinterest board to show my Mom and she ended up finding this photo I had pinned a long time ago, from the show house Young House Love did:

 
I was really smitten with those luxurious aqua tweed drapes, but because they didn't suit the bedroom I didn't think twice about them.  Huddled over my Mom's tiny tablet, we clicked over to U-Fab.  I was positively giddy when I found not only a bevy of gorgeous tweeds (Hubs would like me to say a "gaggle of gorgeous tweeds), but also what looked like the perfect shade of green for the bedroom - shot with teal, like it was made for me!  I immediately ordered a bunch of samples, trying not to swoon at my $15 bill (one reason I've stuck to buying fabric locally for so long).  The folks at U-Fab were so sweet, and generously sent over some freebie samples, which was a lot of fun.  What is it about getting something free that makes people so happy? 

I taped some of the contenders up on the wall and spent a few days and nights contemplating - I like to see fabric or paint swatches under different lighting.  This was my original short list for the bedroom (clockwise from the top, Dapp Cloud, Dapp Peacock, and Dapp Elephant):



"Elephant" was too dark, but the silvery, creamy "Cloud" looked SO good, especially with the bed skirt and the off-white background of the posters.  It definitely harkened back to the townhouse, where creamy sheers and mushroom-hued silk curtains were de rigeur.  In the end, the green "Peacock" was too perfect to ignore.  In the office, there were no other contenders because the Dapp Aqua (which YHL used) looked amazing.

The office is still unfinished, but I'm letting the art work guide my choices.  The turquoise looks perfect with the art in there (by Bert Weir):

From Instagram

I'm going to be honest and say that it really frosts my cake that it took me two tries to get the curtains in the bedroom "right," because the fabric for the first set, even thought it was on sale, cost about $100 at Fabricland.  Spending money on something twice is such a disappointment and something I try really hard to avoid, but I couldn't have predicted my poster splurge.  I'm really excited about the new curtains and I love that the office and bedroom will have coordinating drapes.  I think that's going to look really chic and polished, and I'm realizing that texture, as opposed to bold pattern, might be a better fit for me in the long run.  I think tweed will have more longevity too.

After the green and aqua tweeds were ordered, I tossed the samples on the dining room table.  And that's when it hit me: these tweeds are upholstery weight!  Hmmmm... would any of them be suitable for recovering our super comfy dining room chairs?  I have kept my eyes peeled for comfortable, more stylish replacements for years, but no chair can hold a candle to these - they are lounge chair comfy, and they encourage us to sit and relax and linger.  I've even dragged my laptop out to the dining room and spent whole days working there, drinking in the view, instead of clacking away in the office which, although it has a lovely mountain view, pales in comparison.  I don't think our butts will ever allow us to part with the chairs, so recovering them might be the way to go.  The "Peacock" actually looks pretty good with the living room, but I think it would be a bit much beside the aqua kitchen - it's a pretty saturated green.  I think that with such bold statements in the living room and kitchen, the dining room chairs don't need to yell quite so loudly - although they do need to be a little peppier than their current brown, because they do seem out of place. 

A creamy beige, shot with pale aqua (Dapp Crystal), caught my eye.  It really picked up the creaminess of the leather sofa and the white stained maple counters, but I think cream dining room chairs might be giving us too much credit.  It would be a disaster on spaghetti night.

 

After a bit more sample shuffling, I found "The Magic Tweed" as we call it (Dapp Blue Jay) - a blue-ish, grey-ish, slightly teal-ish tweed that, at first glance, doesn't seem bright or bold enough to strike my fancy.  It's a chameleon, though, blending in and looking more teal, grey, or blue as required.

It is especially adept at picking up the teal of the velvet chair.  We'd like to build a new living room ottoman, something a bit narrower and longer, with hidden storage, and this teal could work for that too.  Carrying the same fabric from the dining chairs to the ottoman would be lovely - it would connect the two spaces.

I'm going to get some quotes from some local upholsterers to see how feasible it is, and how much I'd need to save up.  In the meantime, now you know how I came to decide that everything must be tweed ;)

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DIY Back Tab Curtain Tutorial

I have previously professed my love of sheer curtains, evidenced by my almost unwavering commitment to their gauzy, airy look in the townhouse.  I still love sheers, but the turquoise polka dot washer/dryer-hiding drapes in the laundry room re-awakened in me a passion for patterned curtains (the last time I had patterned drapes I was in a red and cream toile phase so, suffice it to say, it's been awhile).  When it came time to choose bedroom curtain fabric, I turned my back on sheers and picked this bold fabric: Richloom Solarium Titan Peacock (actually an outdoor fabric, which should prevent sun fading).  I also skipped curtain rings, which have been my go-to since my toile days, and opted for DIY back tab curtains instead.  Stepping out of my comfort zone paid off, because I am absolutely thrilled with the bedroom curtains and how the bedroom is taking shape.

If I'm being honest though, part of my "let's try something new and make back tab curtains" attitude was a result of constrained choices.

Since spotting the white curtain rods in Emily Henderson's makeover of Bri's living room, I've been obsessed with the look.  I had chosen matte black curtain rods for the townhouse and while I liked the contrasting look at the time, I wanted something more subtle in the lakehouse.  With my penchant for white walls, I have no idea why I didn't seek out white curtain rods before!
 

One problem, though.  Do you know how hard it was for me to find white curtain rods that don't have a shabby chic, country feel?  I'm sure the search was made more difficult because of my finickiness and far-flung locale.  I finally found modern-looking West Elm dead stock on eBay (Ikea was my second choice, but their white finials didn't match their white rods well).  With curtain rods on order, I realized I couldn't find the matching white curtain rings.  My Mom told me to abandon the search after she found an excellent video tutorial for back tab curtains from the Online Fabric Store.  We watched it together, enraptured - chic, DIY back tab curtains seemed totally easy to make! 

The video tutorial is top-notch and I highly recommend you watch it, but I've written my own DIY back tab curtain tutorial - chock full of photos - below, in case you prefer step-by-step instructions you can print or pin.  One quick note: in the video, Claire lined her fabric to protect it from sun and moisture but I opted to keep mine unlined.  Hubby and I have conflicting attitudes toward the use of curtains.  I like to keep them open at night and wake up to the sunlight (hence my love of sheers), while Hubby prefers a total blackout curtain.  The fabric I chose is fairly opaque and lined it would have been very opaque.  Keeping it unlined lets a tiny bit of sunshine filter through in the morning, so I don't feel like I'm waking up in a coffin, but Hubby gets enough of what he calls "actual curtain-curtains".

How to sew back tab curtains:

To get started, we just hemmed the sides and bottom of the curtain panels as usual.  For the tabs, we cut out 4.5" x 6" rectangles of fabric, which were sewn into tubes (right side facing), flipped right side out and then ironed flat with the seam in the middle.  The finished tabs are approximately 2" wide.  Once the tubes were turned into flat tabs, we folded and ironed each end of the tabs under.  These tabs were then hooked under, pinned onto and sewn into the top seam, which is around 5" wide.

Claire recommends 6" between the tabs.  Each of my finished panels are about 53" wide and we did a total of 7 tabs per panel.  In case anyone is curious, the curtain rod has an overall length of 8 feet.  Ultimately, we could have done as many as we like; more tabs would have created a fuller, more pleated look.

Here is a close up of one of the tabs:

With the tabs affixed, we just slid the curtain rod through the tabs.  I worried back tab curtains would stick and not open smoothly, but my fears were unfounded.  These curtains actually function better than curtains on rings, plus they look more polished.  The tabs result in soft pleats which control the drape of the fabric.  I used to spend forever fussing with the office curtains in the townhouse, which Hubby would close nightly and fling open with wild abandon every morning.  I would then adjust the drape, pulling and fluffing the top so it would drape just so. When Hubby flings these open they fall perfectly.  I wonder how many hours I'll save annually, thanks to these curtains.  It's embarrassing to think about it.

How to control the style and drape of back tab curtains

There are different tutorials for back tab curtains, some of which propose a different construction or placement of the tabs.  Little changes in the construction will change the drape and look of back tab curtains, so here's a brief explanation of what we did.  First, we sewed the tabs very close to the top of the curtain, which creates a cleaner, more modern look than when the tabs are placed lower, which creates a soft ruffling at the top - the choice is up to you entirely.  As mentioned, the number of tabs is optional and will control the number of pleats.  Other folks use ribbon for the tabs, but using this fabric created a stiffer back tab, which holds its shape really well - I recommend taking the time to make tabs.

I think the white and teal fabric looks great against the white walls, and the white curtain rod does a good job of letting the curtain steal the show - without being too skimpy.

In these photos the vintage Hungarian posters and silk pillows look really green and the fabric looks really blue.  I definitely think it's time for a new camera, but for now you'll have to trust me that the curtain fabric is really a good colour match for the posters - it's very nearly identical to the background of the middle poster (the gal in the orange dress).  It's more green/teal than what is depicted here and the difference in the colours of the art, the pillows and drapes is far more subtle in real life.  The green pillows look positively neon - I blame the sheen of the silk.

Despite the fabulous curtains, the room still needs some tweaking.  I just tossed our former accent pillows on the bed, we're still using a borrowed, too-small, too-light dresser - and don't even ask about closet doors!



I did swap out the minty chair for the black one from the living room because the mint pattern was dulled beside this bolder teal, but a chair is a placeholder for the pair of dressers I'd like.  In addition to big-ticket items like closet doors and dressers, I have some smaller changes in mind.  The room could use some additional art and more thoughtful accessorizing.

I'll keep you posted on the changes I make.  I still can't get over what a difference these drapes make!
 

Before

 And here is the before-before, just for fun:

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