How to shorten lined curtains – 2 different ways

Welcome to a new sewing alterations class, in today’s class, I’m going to teach you how to shorten lined curtains.

When we shorten the curtains, they can be shortened from the top or the bottom and this will depend on the original finish of the curtain.

Shortening a curtain from the top is usually easier than shortening it from the bottom, but this isn’t possible if the finish is metal rings or if there’s a pattern only on the top.

Nowadays, we can find cheap curtains that are unlined and simply finished with a regular stitch. You can learn this in the section on how to sew hems.

Today’s class begins by shortening the curtain at the top where we will add a pencil pleat tape.

We will then shorten the curtain at the bottom, recreating the original finish we found.

This finish is the most common one we will find when working with curtains.

Obviously, when we’re working with curtains, we’ll choose just one of the methods you’ll learn today. We’ll do both so you can learn both ways.

Class

If you’re going to be working with curtains a lot, I recommend purchasing an invisible sewing machine to save time.

As always when I teach a sewing alterations class, I’m going to tell you what I price doing this type of work.

Keep in mind that I worked in a wealthy area of ​​London, so adjust the price depending on where you live.

If you are going to shorten the curtains at the top, I would charge £18 per meter for an unlined curtain and £20 per meter if you are going to shorten a lined curtain at the top.

If you are going to cut a curtain from the bottom like the one we saw in today’s class, I would charge about £25 per meter of curtain.

As always, remember that if you have any questions about today’s class, you can always email me through your student account, in the support section.

Send your exercises

You already know that the best way to learn is by practising, so for today’s class, I’m going to ask you to make the same alteration that I did.

I recommend using curtains that you’re going to throw away or second hand ones and practice as many times as necessary.

Practice shortening the curtains at the top and bottom so that no curtain can get in your way.

Please send me photos where the work is clearly visible before and after, with some photos of the process.