Sew Vintage Tea Towel Curtain Panels for Your Kitchen

The white lace curtains in my kitchen looked sad and lonely. They were pretty and they matched the vintage (kinda shabby chic) look of my decor, but they looked sparse. There just wasn't enough panels. Like most of my decor, I had purchased them second-hand and could not get anymore. I decided to add hand-made panels between the existing ones.

A few years ago I had purchased a box of old linen calender tea towels at an auction. Even after using several of them for various craft projects, I still had a pretty full box. The colors and designs were perfect for my kitchen and it's decor. The towels were shorter than the panels hanging at my windows, so I cut, mixed and matched, and pieced them together to make them longer. The end result was a bright, fresh look for my windows and kitchen.

The following instructions are for a cafe length curtain panel, 36-inches or less. Add a 1/2-inch, if additional cuts of the towels are needed and adjust the cuts for your measurements.

Measuring tape
Curtain panel
Cloth calender tea towels
Scissors
Iron
Straight pins
Sewing machine
Liquid fray adhesive

Step 1
Measure from the top edge of your curtain panel to the bottom edge. Add the measurement of the rod casing and header and the fabric folded over at the top of the panel. Add 1 1/4-inches for piecing allowance. The bottom hem will be the original hem on the tea towel.

Step 2
Divide the total length measurement by three. Use the measurement to cut the bottom of one towel across the width, including the hem. This cut will be the bottom of your curtain panel. Cut two more pieces from two other tea towels. Do not include the hem with these cuts. Note: You should be able to get at least two cuts from each calender, but you will want to mix and match the cuts with other panels.

Step 3
Trim the side edges of the cuts so they are all the same width, without side hems.

Step 4
With the hemmed calender piece on the bottom panel, sew the three pieces together using a 1/4-inch seam allowance. The printed design of each piece will be right side up. Iron the connecting seams open. Top stitch the raw seams to the panel on each side of the sewn seam. This will prevent the seams from fraying.

Step 5
Fold the side edges of the panel to the back a 1/4-inch and press. Top stitch the folded edge to hem. Apply an adhesive to prevent fraying along the raw edges of the hem.

Step 6
Fold over the top of the calendar panel a 1/4-inch to the wrong side and press. Measure from the top of the header to the bottom of the rod casing on the original curtain panel. Fold the top of the calender panel to the back using this measurement. Press and pin. Stitch the pinned edge.

Step 7
Measure down from the top of the header on the original curtain to the stitches at the top of the casing. Use this measurement to measure down from the header on the calender panel. Top stitch across the width to create the rod casing.

I made seven calender curtain panels to place on the outside and between each original curtain panel.