Sheets Turned Into No Sew Window Panels

         Ok, so when we bought our house, one of the first things we had to do was get blinds for all of the windows.  We purposefully didn't get any kind of window treatment for the sliding glass doors in our kitchen at that time, because I didn't want the sliding blinds that we had in our last house (I don't really care for them even though I understand their practicality).  That meant that if we were in our kitchen at night and the lights were on, all of our neighbors could see directly into our kitchen, so I had to come up with a solution.  I knew I wanted window panels, but they couldn't be regular panels.  We use the sliding glass door to take the dog out all the time, so the panels needed to be beautiful but practical.

        Then, I had an idea.  I had two sets of identical queen size sheets that I used when I lived in my apartment.  They were the right color for my kitchen, and I thought that I might be able to sew them into window panels.  After pulling them out, I realized that I didn't need to sew them at all, because they already had perfectly good hem lines.  I could fold them in half and use a no sew adhesive to create a window panel.  That solved half of my problem.

        The other half of the problem was the practicality part, but then I found drapery clip rings at Target.  Problem solved!  The clips slide across a curtain rod with ease, making it extremely practical for our sliding glass door!  

       Now no one can see in our house at night when the lights are on, and I don’t have to look at ugly sliding blinds!  Here’s how I did it……

I bought this product at my local craft store for $2.69.  The heat adhesive strips that can be ironed onto fabric would work just as well as this product.  The strips are a little more expensive than the glue, and since the sheets already had a perfectly good hem, I chose to purchase the glue. 

I got these at Target.  I spent $4-$6 for each package...I think.  I'm not sure of the exact price, because I bought them a few weeks ago with this project in mind.  There are seven clips in each pack, and they can be found in just about any department store.

These are two sets of queen size sheets I used in my apartment before I got married....and they haven't been used since I've been married.  That meant I either needed to get rid of them or find a different use for them.  I chose to find a different use, and I'm pretty happy with the outcome.  For this project, I used the queen size flat sheet from each set.  

The first thing you need to do is iron your sheet.  This was the longest part of this entire project.  My sheets had been stored for awhile, and they had lots of stubborn wrinkles.

Once you get the wrinkles out, fold your sheet in half.  It is important that you take the time to make sure you have folded the sheet in half perfectly.  Once you fold it in half, begin ironing the fold, so that the fold is nice and crisp. 

The rest of the project is super easy.  Just take your glue and begin gluing along the fold line to create a glued hem line.  Then glue the existing hem lines together on the remaining three sides of your sheet.  This will make one panel curtain.  You shouldn't need to use a curtain liner for this project.  The folded fabric should be thick enough to keep the light out. 

Just make sure to only glue a little bit at a time.  Once you've glued, pinch the hem lines together for a few seconds; just so you know it's going to hold.....and that's it!  Once you've glued the sides of the folded sheet, you've successfully made one panel!  Now take your other sheet, and do it all over again to make your second panel:)

Once both panels are complete, clip on your drapery clip rings to the top of your curtains.

Then, hang up your curtains, take a step back and look at what you've created without doing any sewing! I have four matching pillow cases, and I'm thinking about making a no sew valance to go above my kitchen sink....but we'll see....not sure if I will or not.



This isn't the best picture, because of the way the sun was coming in the kitchen.....but it's the best I could do.  Here's my finished product.  I'm pretty happy with it, and by using some things that I already had, this whole project cost me around $10!  Now that's definitely something to be happy about ;)