A No-Sew way to Make Short Drapes Floor Length

About a month ago I bought these drapes from Target for our Breakfast nook makeover. Did you see them in my reveal a couple weeks ago?

They’re pretty, right. Well here’s what they looked like when I first hung them up.

Not quite the look I was going for. 🙂 I knew I wanted the drapes to hang all the way from the ceiling to the floor so I had to come up with a solution for extending the drapes, and that’s what I’m here to share with you today!

Here’s what you need –

• Coordinating fabric (I went with a solid color)
• Ribbon that coordinates with both fabrics
• Peel n’ Stick Fabric Fuse Tape (this is the exact one I used)
• Fabric Scissors
• Iron and Ironing board

Step 1

I never iron my drapes when I hang them up because I’m too lazy, and I hate ironing, but before you add fabric to the bottom you’ll need to make sure both fabrics are wrinkle free, so take a few minutes to iron the bottom of the drape and the new coordinating fabric.

After they are both ironed, lay them out on a flat surface, right side up.

Step 2

Measure how long you want the extended part of the drapes to be. I wanted to add 18 inches but my fabric was 24 inches long so I overlapped it by 6 inches.

Make sure you leave at least an inch on the right and left sides, so you have room for a “hem”. Once your fabric is laid out and you’ve measured the length and the width, you’re ready to attach the fabrics.

Step 3

Flip the bottom of the drape over and attach the fabric fuse tape to the inside of the drape. I placed the tape a few inches from the bottom, you’ll see why in a minute.

Run the fuse tap along the entire width of the drape. Once you’re done pull the paper off.

Once you’ve removed all the paper flip the drape back onto the new fabric and push it down to attach the two fabrics.

Step 4

Get out the ribbon and run the fuse tape all along the backside of the ribbon. It will look like this. I recommend buying the same width fuse tape as your ribbon because it was a pain to cut off all the extra. If you have to cut excess off, don’t use your fabric scissors, use regular scissors because they will get all sticky.

Once you’ve attached the fuse tape to the ribbon, lay the ribbon out over the end of the drape, where the new fabric begins. Basically the ribbon is going to cover the seam and make the two fabrics look like they were always meant to be together. 🙂 Leave at least an inch on each side so you can fold it over to hide the edge, in the next step.

Once the ribbon is where you want it to be placed, slowly pull the paper off with one hand and press it into place with the other hand. You want to make sure the ribbon is attaching to the drape and the new fabric so that it creates a perfect seam. This is the reason why you want to place the fuse tape a few inches up in step 2, because this will be your second run of fuse tape which makes the attachment of the two fabrics, even stronger.

Step 5

Now flip the drape over so the wrong side of the new fabric is facing up. Cut off the excess fabric at the top.

Next run the fuse tape along the wrong side edge of the new fabric. Run it almost all the way down to the bottom of the fabric, leaving a few inches at the bottom for your bottom hem.

Once you’re finished, remove the paper and fold the fabric over attaching it to itself, creating a seam.

Then fold the end of the ribbon over to hide its edge.

Repeat this on both sides of the drape.

Step 6

I left 4 inches at the bottom of my fabric to create a 2 inch hem at the bottom. Attach the fuse tape where you want your seam to be and then fold your fabric up to attach it, just like you did on the sides.

After folding the fabric up onto the fuse tape, iron the bottom of the fabric so it looks like a nice finished edge.

And that’s it! Now you have a really tall drape that looks like it’s worth a lot more than you paid for it!

Shop this look –

• Drapes
• Dining chairs
• Chevron pillows
• “Life is a Journey” pillow
• Chenille swirls pillow
• Fretwork pillows
• BHG Pumpkin ceramic salt & pepper shaker (in stores only)

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