How to DIY No Sew Cafe Curtains | 2 Beautiful Options

If you’re looking to add cottage charm to your home with curtains then this DIY no sew cafe curtain tutorial will be perfect for you!

Lately, I’ve been doing all kinds of things to our main living space to try to give our home a little bit of the change I’ve been craving.

So many of the projects we’ve done over the years have been wonderful, but we still have so many to go.

You can watch the video of me making these curtains on YouTube if you’d like.

My Favorite DIY Projects Over the Years

Pot Rack
Open Shelves
Wooden Peg Rail
Limewash Paint Stone
Lighten Stained Wood

Curtains probably should have been at the top of the list when we moved in, but here we are.

Nearly 6 years after we moved into this house and I’m just now doing this project.

Thus far I’ve been stealing from Peter to pay Paul.

I didn’t want to go buy curtains (they’re so expensive!!) so depending on the day and my mood I would move curtains from the kitchen to the eat in kitchen and vice versa.

Mostly I’d hang them up in the eat-in kitchen when the neighbor dog was outside in his own yard.

Does anyone else have a dog that thinks if they can see the neighbor’s dog they MUST bark??

When the curtain was pulled closed she couldn’t see him haha!

But recently my husband mentioned how much he wanted curtains, so I decided it was time to make curtains so I wouldn’t have to keep moving them.

How to Hang Cafe Curtains?

Curtain Height

The height that you hang your cafe curtains is personal preference.

In general, a cafe curtain covers about half of the window.

But the exact amount doesn’t matter, just make sure you cover the bottom sash.

As long as it meets your needs and fits within the “about half” it’s just fine.

The most important part of the cafe curtain is that the bottom should be just above the window sill.

Curtain Rod

We didn’t want to drill holes into the window trim, so we went with tension rods for both sets of windows.

There were gorgeous curtain rods that mounted but when I saw that I’d be spending $50 on just one mount, I had a quick change of heart.

But that being said our eat in kitchen window is very long.

We had to buy a tension rod that was 75″ long (It was only $12, a BIG difference).

But because it was so long it sagged in the middle.

To solve this problem we found these clear adhesive hooks to stick to the window and not drill any holes!!

Did you even notice it in the first picture?

(I’ll have links to all the supplies below.)

By using a tension rod and these clear hooks we were able to hang beautiful curtains without damaging our windows!

What is a beautiful alternative to curtains?

Depending on the look and function you need these are few alternatives to curtains.

• shades
• valences
• roman shades
• bamboo blinds (we have these in the girls room and LOVE them)
• shutters

What Would I Do Differently?

Before we get into the tutorial I want to share a couple of things that I’d do differently.

Let me be clear, I still love these curtains.

Neither of the mistakes makes me want to just throw the final product away.

But I do think they could be a little bit better.

So this is what I’d do differently.

No Sew Cafe Curtains: Option 2

Double the Width of the Curtain Panels

After I hung the curtains up I felt like there was a little less curtain than I hoped.

I’m not totally sure why I thought curtains that are the exact width of the window was the best idea.

But learn from my mistake.

If you don’t want to double the width of the window for your curtain panel, then at least do 1.5x the width.

It will just give the cafe curtain a more full look.

Buy the Thinner Hem Tape

I was nervous that the hem tape wouldn’t work as good as it actually did.

So I bought the wider option.

There was a 1/4” option but I bought the 3/4” one.

Now that the project is done, I can see that the hem tape worked great and I wish that the hem on the sides was not as wide as it is.

Okay, now that we got that out of the way, let’s get into the details of what I did to make a couple of no sew cafe curtains.

How do you make curtains without sewing?

DIY No-Sew Cafe Curtains: Option 1

I love a casual looking curtain.

So the idea of a tea towel or flour sack for a curtain was so exciting for me.

They have little wrinkles and are so thin and light that they would fit perfect with my cottage style kitchen.

How to Make a Cafe Curtain Out of Tea Towels

Supplies

• tea towels
• iron
• ironing board
• tension rod
• curtain clips

No Sew Cafe Curtains: Step 1

The first thing I did was iron the fold creases out of the tea towels.

I didn’t want to remove all the cute and casual wrinkles that come natural with tea towels so it was a light ironing.

No Sew Cafe Curtains: Step 2

Next, I folded the top of the tea towel over onto itself about 2-3”.

No Sew Cafe Curtains: Step 3

Then I added curtains clips equally spaced across the top.

No Sew Cafe Curtains: Step 4

Then I took the curtain clips and slide them onto the tension rod and hung it up in the window.

DIY No-Sew Cafe Curtains: Option 2

A while back I was thrifting and found this brand-new flat bed sheet, and I loved the pattern.

If I remember correctly, it was $3-$4 and I thought it would be beautiful for curtains, pillow covers, or a new apron.

It’s been nearly 1 year since I bought that sheet and it’s time for me to finally complete a project I bought it for haha!

Upcycling Old Sheets into Stylish Cafe Curtains: A Sustainable Solution

Supplies

• fabric
• scissors
• iron
• ironing board
• measuring tape
• hem tape
• curtain clips
• tension rod
• clear plastic hook (for extra wide windows)

No Sew Cafe Curtains: Step 1

The first thing I did was measure my window.

No Sew Cafe Curtains: Step 2

After I had my measurements I cut the fabric to size.

I measured the length and the width and then I added 3”- 4”.

Ex: The height was 38” so I cut it to 41”.

This is important for the hem.

Again, this is where I would have cut the curtain about 60 inches wide to give it more body.

No Sew Cafe Curtains: Step 3

Now that I had my fabric cut, I folded an edge over onto itself about 1/2”-3/4”.

I eyeballed this.

Then I took my hot iron and began to iron the fold to create a crisp crease.

I did this the full length of the fabric.

No Sew Cafe Curtains: Step 4

Once the first crease was made I went back and did the same thing again.

This time I made sure my fold is wide enough to hide the hem tape.

My hem tape was 3/4” so I folded about 3/4”-1” and then began to iron another crease.

No Sew Cafe Curtains: Step 5

Now that I had the creases of my fabric done I took the hem tape and cut it to the length of the fabric.

After I cut it to length, I slide it between the second crease and the fabric and began to iron it.

The hem tape becomes sticky and adheres the fabric to the folded section.

This it how I hid the rough cut edges.

No Sew Cafe Curtains: Step 6

After I finished one side I rotated the fabric and repeated the steps 3-5 until all the edges were “hemmed”.

No Sew Cafe Curtains: Step 7

Now that the edges are all hemmed I folded the top of the curtain over on itself about 3” and then attached the curtain clips.

Originally I just put the clips on the top of the curtain, but it was missing something.

So I started looking at curtains and noticed that the top of most curtains has a larger hem than the sides and the bottom.

For this DIY I followed Erin’s no-sew cafe curtain tutorial and think it was a great resource for helping me with this project.

It was super easy and in my opinion, it turned out great!

Now I’m just debating between leaving them as they are or adding a few pinch pleats haha.

You guys, it never ends with me.

Last week we went on vacation, and while I was there I noticed the curtains in our room were pleated.

I thought “It couldn’t be that hard to add some pleats.” haha!

I very nearly did it the moment I got home, but refrained and decided to live with the curtains like this for a while first.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Have a great weekend!

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Have a great week! XoXo

Open Your Doors,
Aliya

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