Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Play dress up with your shower curtain

Before I get into this DIY, I already know some of you are going to say, "aren't you getting ready to move back home?" And the answer to that is yes. However I purchased the items with the intent to do this quite awhile back and there was no point in packing everything away. Now when I move into a new house (someday), my pretty shower curtain will be waiting patiently to be hung. So let's do it!

The inspiration for this came from these gorgeous shower curtains from Anthropologie. While I can say that I overall LOVE their items, I don't always love their price tags. If my mother, or future husbie for that matter, found out I spent $148 on a shower curtain they might faint. It's actually kinda insane. But they are awfully pretty. Don't ya think?

So I decided to look into making my own. I started with a plain, light gray shower curtain because that's what I already had up. If you want to copy these looks more exact, look for a lightweight white one. I purchased a variety of sizes of doilies from Joann Fabrics but you can find them at any home decor shops. Garage sales are also a great place to find them, if you get lucky. You will also need white thread.

Determine how you want your pattern. I focused mine in the upper left corner and decided to give it a falling effect, where they spill out across the curtain.
a. Stitch around one of the opening at the top of the doily. I wanted mine to be even more textured so instead of stitching at the very top of the scallop, I stitched at the base. This way, the scallops can flop around a bit.

b. Hang your curtain up and determine where the rest of the stitches will fall. I pinned mine in three places around to keep it where I wanted it. Take it back down and add the tacks all around the circle. I was able to skip every other scallop and it still laid nicely.

c. Lastly, hang your curtain and pin out the rest of the doilies. For the most texture, consider layering small doilies directly inside larger ones. The result will be a pretty flower effect. In this image I show the direction of the "spill". I ended up using twelve doilies on mine. To achieve a look more like the Anthropologie ones, go for a zig-zag pattern straight across the upper third of the curtain.

What do you think? Would you try this on your shower curtain?