Easy No Sew Window Panels
Hey guys!
I made my girls some window panels for their room today. These are so easy to make, and can go in pretty much any room of the house. If you can handle a hot glue gun, you can master these. I added some stripes to the girls’, but you can totally skip that part for a neutral panel.
Here is how theirs turned out!
For the fabric I use this drop cloth from Lowe’s.
This is a long drop cloth that is already hemmed on all the edges. One drop cloth will make 2 long valance… Cheap!
I always start by cutting the drop cloth in half which leaves me with 2 pieces that are about 4′ x 7.5′.
For those of you that want to add some stripes… Here is where I did it. If you don’t, just skip to the next part!
I used blue painter’s tape to section off a few stripes at the hemmed end of both pieces.
Next I used acrylic paint and foam brushes to fill in my lines… Easy!
That’s it for the lines! Let the paint dry and you are ready to finish them off!
Now I added my top hot glue hem. I cut my panels 2″ longer than the finished length I wanted them.
Next, I folded that end 1″ and ironed it.
Then I folded it again and ironed the fold.
Here is where “Old Trusty” comes in…
I used my hot glue gun to hold down that fold. This is my hot glue gun. Don’t judge… It’s been very loved.
I bought this one at Walmart and it is my very favorite hot glue gun. And it’s $6. Best power tool a mom can buy.
That’s it! Once you glue that hem down the panel is finished!
This is what I did for the hardware. I love wood drapery hardware, but it costs a pretty penny. So… I made my own for my bathroom a while back and decided to do the same here!
Here is what you will need…
Wood pole from Home Depot or Lowe’s. You can have them cut it to the length you need it.
I use these rod brackets from Lowe’s. They are in the wood section by dowels.
I also use these finials found in the same section at Lowe’s.
I cut the wood pole to the size I needed and gave everything a coat of my NEW fav…
You can find Rust-Oleum Ultimate Wood Stain at Lowe’s as well. Loving the Kona color…
I attached the wood brackets to the wall with screws and hung everything up. To attach the finials you just screw them into both ends of the pole.
For my drapery rings I used these that I found at Lowe’s. You can also find these at Hobby Lobby.
Just clip your panels up and that’s it!
How easy are those? They can be easily customized, or just left plain and simple. And the best part… No sew baby! Here are the girls’ all finished!
Hope you like them! These really can be used in every room of the house. You can customize them so easily and they can be made in no time at all!
If you like them, I would so appreciate some pins and shares below! Hope you have a great Friday night!
Thanks so much!!
~Whitney
I am always so impressed with the both of you. I have been building and remodeling houses all of my life ( long long time ) not much on the decorating side I absolutely love your ideas. I think your site is my favorite on the web. Thanks and keep it up!
Want to make some for my R V thinking if just fringing them like I used to do with my Blue Jean’s no hemming or glue needed what do u think?
If you have a have a Harbor Freight located in your area check the price of their drop cloths
Does anyone know if there is a problem with the paint bleeding under the tape and giving it a blurry/ smeared appearance?
Omg i reallyyyy looooove your idea
My sister and I use these drop cloths to make pillows. The fabric is sturdy and washable and dryable. Please wash this drop cloth before you make anything from it. They do shrink. They make nice curtains for screened rooms to keep the sun off at certain times of day. Good ideas!
Did the glue form the glue gun show?
Did the glue form the glue gun show?
Wonderful idea! Can you tell me how well those rings work?as in If small kids were to pull on them would it easily slide out?
OMGOODNESS…love these!!! Do you by chance know the measurements you used for the painted stripes?
Oh heck yes…This WILL be done! Thanks for sharing where to get the gear AND the prices-giddy with excitement!
I am making these for sure!! Love this idea!
What a great idea !!!
So do you think you could dye these??? Maybe like a chocolate brown???
You can dye it. They need to be washed and dried because they shrink. Do wash them and dry them before you make anything. Eventually they will need to be washed and they will shrink!
SOOOO glad I found this! I was at hobby lobby looking at fabric today. Of course, the fabric I wanted was $8.99/yd (I was planning to buy 10 yds based on what I’d seen on a different blog). So glad I fought that impulse and decided to do more research. I do think I’m going to end up making drapes for the whole house! eeek!! So excited!!
Thanks for the inspiration!
Love that you used drop cloths! I don’t sew, but I am han
dy with a glue gun. I am going to try stenciling a pattern at the bottom. We shall see…. Thanks!
I really like this. I did something similar. My camper needed new curtains. I decided to make some while we were out camping. So, I had no sewing machine. I had to cut the material which meant seams on all for sides. No electricity so couldn’t use my glue gun. I make greeting cards for my own use and happened to have some double sided tape. Worked great. Still holding a year later. I did use clip hooks because that is what the previous curtains had. Just reused them.
I made these tonight for my living room, but I chose to prewash them to see if I could get the creases out from it being folded in the packaging for so long. I’m going on over 1.5hrs of ironing, trying to get all the new wrinkles out. What did you do to get the creases out from packaging?
I didn’t prewash them. I just ironed them straight out of the package on high heat with steam. Have you tried starch? Hope this helps!
Yep, gonna have to make a trip to get some drop cloth tomorrow. (I’ve been needing a neutral-ish curtain in my living room area, & these are too cute for words!)
So many variations flying thru my head. Paint and stencil myself crazy! Polka dots, shapes, and flowers, oh my……
Woohoo! Happy to help 🙂
Very nice and thrifty too
i’m a good seamstress, and i LOVE these no-sew curtains!
LOVE these!!
I cannot find the rod brackets like this anywhere! Lowes online did not have them and when I went to the store they seemed to be clueless as well :/
i’ve seen these brackets at home depot. they have them on-line as well. these hold one rod, but they also make them that hold a skinnier second rod in back, i think for a sheer curtain.
I love the panels, but what I realllllllly love is the paint color on the wall! Do you happen to know what shade it is??
You are awesome! I love that you did that without sewing bc I SEW can’t! (Sorry, that was bad.) Love it and repinned. Thanks!
What a great tutorial! I’m always looking for cheep answers to my curtain nightmares!
OH and fyi in the bedroom its thick enough to just put a soft glow in the room in the morning!!
DID IT!! Thanks a bunch my new home slider had nothing because curtains that size were $$ pricey $$ couldn’t get myself to pay that much for something I didnt “LOVE” So did the bedroom with out a cute in the middle since I never open and when i do its off to one side. loved it so much did the living room slider also!! Split that one down the middle so they could tay open!! thanks for the tip, the home depot here in california the 10×15 was about $28. but left a bunch to work with on an 8′ door wall.
I have been a curtain maker for 30 years and these are the best no sew curts I’ve ever seen!! I’m going to make some for me ! 🙂
Just stumbled across these pin pintrest… Well try these once we move… Also I love your name 😉
Just LOVE you girls!!! I am looking at my windows, going hmmmmm
Painters Drop Cloth…brilliant…going to make these this weekend. Thanks for the DIY Lesson.
Very well done and thanks for the idea…to the fabric store I go…
just made these for two smaller windows in my bedroom and they turned out great! thanks for the “how to”. 🙂
Found you on Pinterest. LOVE THIS IDEA.
Yes it is Kelly! 😉
I can’t tell you how happy I am that my friend pinned this post today! I’ve been all over the internet and 2 fabric stores trying to find inexpensive canvas that I could use for drapes. This made. my. day. 🙂
Great Marie!! Glad to help! Good luck… I would love to see them when you get them all finished! 🙂
Thanks so much!! Good luck on yours! 🙂
Awesome! a project I might actually finish!
Love these! The hot glue gun trick is ever easier than stitch witchery : )
http://www.kellymarket.com
Those are Fabulous! TFS!
Thanks so much!! 😉
This is awesome! I’m going to make them for my new apartment. Thank you!
these are great! i would like mine to be more “black out”… would you just double up the drop cloth?
maybe do the double rod they sell pre made and put another type of material behind? like a sheer so you can open for more light or a darker material to hold more light out. Also make sure you pole goes far enough past your window so no light creeps in on the sides
Such a cute idea! Thank you for the step by step photos!!
Thanks so much!!!
That is so cool, I am always looking for fun, easy, and cheap ways to make things to decorate my place. I am going to have to do this in my living-room. We currently have those nasty white blinds that are usually in apartment building at all the glass patio doors. I can’t stand them. We have a 1 yr. old son who loves to play with them and if anyone knows if you pull on them the top part that clips in breaks off and you either have to tape it or buy new ones which always break again. They also, bend up easily and snap if bent to hard nasty look. They don’t cost too much but, they do after time when you have to keep replacing them. I can really use these in my living room since they are made of cloth and clip up, if he pulls on them it will just come up clipped, no need to repair or replace! Thanks for the tutorial, you made it look easy. I hope it’s that easy for me.
Thanks so much Ashly!! I hate those blinds too!! Good luck… It really is easy! I would love to see pics when you get them all finished!
These look great! Did you pre-wash the drop cloth? Also, will the hot glue and acrylic paint hold up to washing? I only ask because we have 3 cats & a dog. With all that animal fur flying around I need to be able to throw stuff in the wasing machine. Although I could probably substitute fabrc paint and iron on hem tape. Anyhow, I really love how these turned out and I’m forever greatfu for the curtain rod idea. All these years I’ve been spending $$$ buying curain rods, never knowing I could just make them myself! Thank you!
Thank you!! I don’t prewash, only because it makes for more ironing which drives me bonkers. I have never washed my finished drapes, but I don’t have any animals… Just 5 kiddos! The hem tape is definitely a good option!
The painters cloth has wash instructions on it, since its a reuseable cloth for professional painters
Do you have i instructions for the string& clothespin art pictured on the wall?? That is so cool!
Yes I do! Here it is…
https://www.shanty-2-chic.com/2012/05/shanty-memo-frame.html
Thanks!
Thanks so much for sharing this! I was looking for some way to make long curtains to close off the not so pretty part (the laundry area) in our basement which is only partially finished. These are perfect and won’t break the bank! Can’t wait to make mine soon!
Glad to help Kelly!!! 🙂
clever ideal
Thank you!!
Wondering how I was going to put cheap drapes on front window for 11 years and now I know what to do. many thanks for your idea
Glad you like them and glad to help!! 🙂
Love them! great idea. How long are the curtains when finished?
Saddened! Went to Lowes, HD and neither one sell those wood brackets. (I have been looking everywhere for those!) The drop cloths… $25 each! I could go to sears and buy ready made panels for cheaper. You girls are sooooo lucky to find what you need at great prices!
If you have a Harbor Frieght around you those drop cloths are about $10-12 there. Sometimes you can find them at craft places like Hobby Lobby (which is a good place to get the clip rings too on the half price sale weeks).
Man I didnt even think of looking there!! thanks a bunch!! have more windows!!
These turned out adorable! Found my project for this weekend 🙂 Thanks for sharing!!
Holy cow, I LOVE these! What a great idea. I love that you can customize them any way that you want and they are super inexpensive to make. Thanks for another great project! 🙂
What a great idea! My sewing machine is on the blink, but I could do this. Thanks a bunch! You have been pinned!
Love it! These are so cute – just what I need for my family room odd shaped windows.
FAB-U-LOUS!!! (I SANG THAT!)
I used your idea to the diaper boxes out of drop cloth and loved them, only question is how did you get the creases out for these drapes? I ironed the drop cloth but the creases would still not come out. What did u do? Thank you for this inspiration going to do it in my living room because purchasing drapes is just to expensive and this idea and look fits my need better! Thank you
I was JUST telling my husband about using drop cloths for decorating and he was quite unsure of that . . . will have to show him this post! Love the addition of the stripes. Question – how do you then clean these are are they kind of ‘disposable’?
The painters cloth has wash instructions on it, since its a reuseable cloth for professional painters
They look great and think of the money you saved!
Brillian! I’m going today to get this stuff. My bedroom needs these! Thank you so much!
Love these – pinned you sweetie – such a cute idea!! Thanks for sharing!
Gorgeous. You know, a window seat right there made from prefab cabinets would be so, soooo lovely. 😉
Love the curtains!! Thanks so much for sharing! 🙂
Gorgeous! What is the name of the paint on the walls?
So cute! Drop cloths are one of my favorite thing to use for curtains. Love the finials on the ends too!
Very nice! I wonder how they would do if you used RIT to dye them… Hmmm, options, options =)
You are my hero! A glue gun and drop cloth-doesn’t get better than that, thank you!!
WOW! Very easy! I’ve used heat bond to do the hem but never hot glue. I’m gonna have to try that. Thanks for sharing. Love the painted detail! ~Linda
Found drop clothes back in 1992 when my duaghter got her first apartment to make drapes – been using them every since. I sew, but in my latest project for my daughter in her new home were the drapes in the living room. The same concept was used, but I also sewed a decorator strip of fabric across the drapes about 1 foot from the top. The fabric had a narrow stripes of the same color as the drop cloth drapes, as well as, black, gold, and brown which coordinated with her room. Very classy look .