Do-it-yourself French marquise curtain. French curtains. Preparation of tools and materials.

Design and interior 19.08.2018
Design and interior

French curtains or marquise curtains are a decorative detail that will make the decoration of your room truly solemn, elegant and pompous. Their luxurious look will enrich any room, and soft flowing scallops (elements of the curtain composition, represented by arcuate fabric assemblies) will attract the attention of your guests with their smooth curves. Marquis curtains - a constant favorite in the creation classic interior. French curtains are cascade-lifting, not sliding; when assembled, they form beautiful volumetric folds. The length of the French curtains can be adjusted both manually and with the help of a special mechanism built into the cornice.

The corrugated headers have a number of gathers, which creates a soft, folded effect. Choosing for a pleated header gives you more options. French, knife and box pleats classic look that works with almost any decorating style. Butterfly, fan and pleated cups Have a luxurious, romantic look. For a contemporary space, consider euro or pencil folds.

How much fabric to take, so as not to be mistaken

No matter which header style you choose, position your header with an iron or sew. It also allows you to create crisp creases and it provides a stable base for inserting your drape hooks. You can smoke, shirr or squeeze the curtain header by hand, or you can use a special tape that does most of the work for you.

You sew ribbons to the back of the curtain and then pull on a series of thin cords to narrow the heading to the style you want. Make your stock stocks the correct fullness to provide a luxurious, professionally styled look. Do not try to reduce the cost of fabric by reducing the fullness. Instead, choose a cheaper fabric. If you are using a sheer or light fabric, plan to make the total width of both panels a pair three times as wide as. If you are using a medium and heavy fabric, make them 5 times the stem width, unless your header styles require more width.

Some styles, such as pleated pleats and five-finger pleats, look best three times the width in any weight of fabric. If you're not using a clean cloth to filter the light without blocking it, line your curtains. Lining adds weight and body to curtains, which makes them look and hang better. For even more sun protection and privacy, use a spacer between the curtain and the facing material. In addition to adding more body to curtains, padding has thermal qualities.

When the curtains are closed, the brace helps keep your home cool in summer and warm in winter. Use the double folded seams in your stock curtains to hide the raw edges and then hand sew the pleats. Tuck in the corners where the side and bottom seams meet. Add the stiffness of a disc-style drape to the sparse corners and use chain-style weights in the crease of the bottom edge. The weights make the curtains straighten out so you don't have to push them down every time they open or close.

Preparing to sew curtains with your own hands

Marquis curtains are the most delicate curtains that will be a great addition to the design of the hall in classical style. In such a room, you will plunge into the atmosphere of the era of Louis XIV and feel all the luxury of court life. Making French curtains with your own hands is a rather responsible task, but not difficult. Today there are many video tutorials and master classes with which you can easily sew magnificent French curtains for your room.

Hand hemming also looks better from the front and prevents damage to fine fabrics. It is difficult to sew at all with flexible high quality cotton corduroy, but you will get excellent results if you use a few special techniques to prepare, fit, cut and sew the fabric to ensure a smooth, not bulky finish.

A cousin of velvet, it is a fabric that we think of today more in connection with children's "school pants than royal robes". But current fashion designers are starting a new take on this affordable staple, as well as savvy sewers. However, some lightweight corduroys have a smooth, short pile with barely noticeable mustache. The difference between such velvets and velvet is that velvet has a thicker pile formed by loops in the warp threads, while most of the velvet pile is created from additional floats in the weft or fillers, threads.


Photo of French curtains, embodying the true richness of taste.

Fabric choice

When choosing a fabric, the main condition is its lightness, elasticity and softness of texture. Such material will help form flowing, airy folds. Lightweight thin materials with a smooth surface are perfect:

Stretched corduroy has a small amount of spandex to allow the fabric to flex horizontally, vertically, or both. And velvets printed with plaid, floral, paisley or other patterns add even more variety to the wide selection.

Start with high quality fabric. When you buy corduroy, you will see that it varies widely not only in color, pattern, size and weight, but also in quality. Always buy the highest quality corduroy, all cotton you can find - Even excellent corduroy products are inexpensive compared to other fine fabrics. Look for one that has a generous, fluffy pile and superb sheen and drape that will give you a nice, soft, wrinkled look after many washes - something you can never achieve with polyester blends.

  • atlas;
  • organza;
  • silk;
  • batiste;
  • other tulle fabrics.

Some prefer more massive and lush French curtains made of dense materials, which are decorated with bows, braid, frills and lace. Such curtains look very advantageous in combination with thick lambrequins framing the curtains.

When you're evaluating a pile of corduroy, don't forget to inspect reverse side- the fabric should be strong and tightly woven, and the filler yarns with garters at right angles. Wipe the cloth vigorously on the right side and scratch the surface with your fingernail. It's not a good sign if you're loosening fiber bits or creating dusty dust that indicates you're using too much big size, That is general method to hide poor quality.

Armed with this information, you can go back and buy the amount you need - or continue your search. Vertical hives become design elements. The strong vertical wales of Cordura give it a distinctive visual appeal that allows it to hold its own with many other fabrics such as silk, suede and crisp jerseys. You'll also find that by mixing contrasting weights of corduroy, you can create an outfit with interesting texture. And don't miss the opportunity to create irresistible contrast and texture in corduroy clothing by cutting one or more elements at the crossroads for horizontal edges or at the offset for diagonal lines.

However, the disadvantage of such curtains is their bulkiness, which will be extremely inappropriate in a small room, so it is better to opt for a light, translucent curtain made of thin, flying materials, possibly complemented by some elegant lambrequins. As a rule, lambrequins for French curtains are decorated with tassels, ruffles, fringe. The material for lambrequins and curtains framing the tulle part of the curtain composition is selected more dense. Lambrequins can be made of velvet, wool or velor.

Photos of French curtains

Generally speaking, corduroy is not a fluid, draped fabric and is therefore best suited for designs that fit fairly close to the body. Outerwear is an exception, as many styles look great with more volume that heavier weight can accommodate.

Methods for fastening French curtains

Try templates with simple lines. Like any fabric with a lot of surface interest, it's best to choose a pattern with simple lines. This allows the underlying structure of the fabric - its pulses - to balance the design of the pattern. Soft, thin-walled velvets work well with dresses, vests, blouses, and softer skirts.


Photo of luxurious French curtains with lambrequins.

Color selection

It is very important to decide on the color of the material that will help you sew incredibly beautiful curtains. Curtains of all colors of pastel colors look the most harmonious:

  • Pale pink;
  • Peach;
  • Vanilla;
  • pistachio;
  • Jasmine;
  • Tea rose;
  • Sand;
  • Creme brulee;
  • Milk chocolate;

Absolutely inappropriate in the design of French curtains are bright flashy tones, these curtains already look quite pretentious and attract everyone's attention with their lush assemblies. Therefore, in a rich design, they can look tasteless and clumsy, which can significantly spoil the overall design of the room.

And for coats and other outerwear, large or wide corduroys are great. Since corduroy is a tree fabric that has a pile that looks different when viewed from different positions - you'll need extra fabric to follow the layout overlay, with all shapes lying in the same direction, as explained below.

Prepare corduroy before cutting If you plan to wash your garment after sewing, always pre-wet the fabric before cutting. If you're planning on drying a clean, finished garment, you can still pre-wash the uncut fabric for a softer, softer texture.

Photo of the most delicate French curtains in pastel colors

Mounting types

In order to securely fasten your elegant French blinds, you can resort to one of two types of fasteners to choose from:

  1. Using standard window cornices on which, with the help of hooks, clips or eyelets, the curtain fabric is attached. Sometimes the curtain is mounted on a rod through a special braid sewn along the edge of the curtain.
  2. With the help of special cornices, equipped with a mechanism for adjusting the length of the curtains. The curtain is attached to such a cornice with a self-adhesive tape. The mechanism is usually controlled by a remote control. remote control. This type of fastener is great for window openings of various shapes and sizes.

Distinguish French curtains

Plan for a good fit. If a corduroy garment is tied or too tight, the fabric will show stress wrinkles, often in the upper sleeve, through upper part back and around the front buttonholes. Avoid premature wear by adjusting the fit of the pattern, adding just enough lightness to wear to prevent binding.

Set grainy lines. Before cutting out the pattern, check the grain of the fabric by pulling the cross thread and cutting along the created line. Place the fabric on a large table or cutting mat. If the transverse and longitudinal grains are not at right angles, attach the hem and cut edge, then rub the fabric with a hot iron held over it, gently inviting wrinkles in the fabric to smooth out. This works quickly to straighten most cords.

The choice of fastening largely depends on the desired final look of the curtains.

Calculation of the number of scallops

In order for our curtains to have a three-dimensional look, and the folds to have an airy texture, it is necessary to spend quite a lot of material on the product. As a rule, when creating French curtains, their width is dictated by the width of the window space. It is also necessary to take into account the length of the cornice to which the future curtain will be attached. Do not forget to leave allowances at the edges of the product.

Use only "ineffective" pressing. If you are "preparing fabric for cutting or maintaining finished garments, press corduroy as little as possible." Satisfying the weight of an iron so that it rests on stuffed cloth can crush it forever. Wrinkles if left to hang for a day or two, or you can float right above the surface.

While building a garment, try a few "low-hit" techniques to keep you awake. First, apply only the tip of the iron where needed by raising and lowering the iron in an up and down motion. To sew the seams after sewing the line, place the seam on a thick towel and heat lightly with steam along the seam line so that the tip of the iron barely covers the stitches and the body of the iron lies in the seam allowance. To open an open seam, apply it over the towel on the shaped surface and touch only the tip of the iron to the stitch line.

An important nuance in creating French curtains with your own hands is the final length of the curtain, multiplying which by two and adding allowances, we get the amount of material needed for tailoring.

The size of the scallops is largely determined by the width of the windows; wide folds are more appropriate on a large window opening.

The required number of scallops depends on the width of the finished product. An exact calculation can be carried out using the following table:

Avoid pressing the seam edges into the garment because they leave an impression on the right side. Before you cut your garment, decide how you want the fabric to fit into your thigh. First determine the direction of the flinch by stroking the dream parallel to the edge. The pile feels smooth when you flick in one direction. Like a dream and a chest when you rub into it. When drowsiness runs up to the fabric, corduroy looks darker, from the back it runs down, it looks lighter and wider. Skirts and trousers are better worn with a sleepy run, making seating areas less likely to shine.


Accurate calculation of scallops for tailoring French curtains.

Sewing curtains

Today, you can easily make the necessary curtains that meet all your requirements on an individual order in specialized ateliers. However, what hostess does not dream with her own hands, without resorting to the help of specialists, because a thing created by her own hands has a special warmth and energy. Moreover, today on the Internet there are a lot of training videos and master classes that reveal all the tricks of creating marquis curtains with your own hands. We bring to your attention a master class on sewing curtains using an unpretentious pattern that does not require remarkable preparation and outstanding sewing skills from you. First you need to process the material for curtains, for this, rinse the fabric thoroughly in water at room temperature, trying not to wrinkle or deform its texture. After that, lightly wring out the fabric and let it dry, but do not overdry.

Coats, jackets and blouses look more saturated when sleep runs up. Whichever direction you choose to sleep, cut out the pattern after parting to suck, that is, with the tops of all curly figures towards the same end of the factory. Most widescreen corduroys look best when worked like a striped design and beehive matched. To avoid fabric shifting when cutting wide weight corduroy, place it in one layer, wrong side up. You can cut light to medium weight pails using a lengthwise crease with irregular sides.


  1. Carefully finish the edges of the product. After spreading the fabric, make double folds 1 cm wide along its side edges and sew them.
  2. On the bottom edge, make a double fold 1.5 cm wide and hem the edge.
  3. Make markings for future festoons. Place them at an equal distance from each other across the entire width of the product. As mentioned above, the width of your scallops depends on the width of the curtain itself.
  4. Then, using pre-prepared fabrics, decorate the scallops (drawstrings) of your curtains. Sew these fabrics to the places of your preliminary marking, bending the material on the sides by 2.5 - 3 cm.
  5. Thread special cords into ready-made scallops (it is advisable to pick up a decorative rope, ribbon or beautiful braid, which will harmoniously fit into the design of your curtain composition). With this cord, you can easily adjust the length of your curtain.
  6. You can also create scallops on your curtains using rings that are fastened at a distance of 15 to 20 cm from each other along the entire length of the product, or using a gathering tape sewn in the markings.
  7. The cord should allow you to easily adjust the height of the curtain, forming soft rounded folds of fluffy fabric when pulled together. To top edge curtains must be sewn with a dense braid to fasten the fabric to the rod.
  8. Fixing the curtain on the cornice and on the sides window opening, adjust the length of the finished product. Voila, stylish French curtains are ready! We enjoy the result.


Check your fabric to see if the pins leave marks; If so, attach a pin as a seam or use a scale to secure while cutting. Avoid velveteen markings with a tracer wheel, which can leave a permanent mark. Instead, mark with chalk, temporary markers, tailors, or "tracing".

Cordoire: an inside story. To construct the inner garment of a corduroy garment, you will need a few techniques that are different from what you might choose for other fabrics. Don't use fusible seams as the fusion will crush the corduroy. Instead, use a suture interface that attaches to adjacent sutures.

Add a touch of charm to your room with DIY French Curtains.

For the manufacture of French curtains, both dense and light fabrics are suitable, the main condition is that it drapes well. If you are going to hang only one curtain and it is important that it is dense, you should choose from cotton fabrics, satin, special thick curtain fabrics. If the French curtain should be light, let in light, stop at organza, tulle, thin silk. The fabric can be either plain or with a small pattern.

Calculating the amount of fabric per curtain

You should be guided by the following dimensions - the width of the fabric on the curtain should be equal to the width of the window multiplied by one and a half, the length should be twice the length of the window. If you want a more lush curtain, you can slightly increase the coefficients.

curtain sewing process

First, it is necessary to hem the side sections, bottom, top of the curtain, making a hem about 1.5 cm wide. In order to form beautiful drapery, it is necessary to mark the canvas with vertical lines, the distance between which should be about 45 cm (it can be a little more or less). It is important that the entire width of the curtain is divided into equal segments.

Along each vertical straight line, sew a strip of the same fabric, about 3 cm wide, bending its edges inwards.

Pass thin cords through the stripes and side hem and secure at the top. To the top of the curtain, you must also sew a tape to attach the curtain to the cornice. Pull up the cords and secure them at the bottom. The more assemblies, the shorter the curtain will be.

Decorate your curtains with flounces, tassels, ribbons and bows, beads or beads, focusing on your own taste and the color scheme and pattern of the fabric of the curtains, the entire interior.


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