MAKE A GROMMET-TOPPED SHOWER CURTAIN

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At the end of June, I asked my facebook fans which of these fabrics they thought would look the best in our upstairs bathroom.  The colors in the center square represent the paint color on our new bathroom wall cabinet and the wall paint itself.  All of the patterns were slightly out of my comfort zone, which was exactly what I wanted.  I wanted the bathroom makeover to have a little bit of punch!  While I got a wide range of responses, more people mentioned liking the bottom right pattern the best.  It is probably the safest choice out of all of the fabrics, but it still had enough wow factor to make a visual impact in the room.

The fabric is Premiere Prints Feathers Canal slub duck from OnlineFabricStore.net.  The fabric is the same weight cotton duck that I used for the window treatment, and it has similar colors.  The turquoise, navy, chartreuse, and grey colors ended up being my color scheme for the whole room, even though the wall paint is none of those colors!

How Much Fabric Do You Need to Make a Shower Curtain?

I was very nervous going into this project, not so much because of the sewing but because of the scale of the project. Normally I am a person who likes to be able to lay my projects out on the floor to visualize what I need to do before I do it.  I ordered 6 yards of the fabric to make a 78” x 80” curtain for the shower.  That’s a lot of fabric.

I was petrified that I would cut the fabric wrong and then the whole thing would be ruined.  I had to piece two sections of the fabric together to make the curtain wide enough.  What if I couldn’t match the patterns?  What if the whole thing ended up crooked?  I actually put the project off for almost a week because I couldn’t work up the nerve to start it.  I found this tutorial on Good Housekeeping that helped walk me through the steps of sewing the curtain itself.

The first thing I did was roll the fabric out and cut 88” off the roll.  Then matched up the patterns at the top of the fabric and rolled the fabric out again, cutting it slightly longer than the first piece.  I wanted to be sure I would be able to match the feather pattern without coming up short at one end or the other.

How Do You Sew a Shower Curtain?

After various pinning strategies and some ironing, I was able to line up the pattern fairly well.  I sewed the two pieces together, ironed the seam open, and then sewed up and down the seam on either side to make sure the curtain was sturdy enough to be yanked open and closed a few times a day.  I measured and cut the fabric 40” from the seam on each side of the curtain, placing the seam in the middle of the curtain.  Then I created a 1” hem on the bottom and sides of the curtain.  Finally, I folded the top of the curtain over 3” and then folded it over 3” again, pinned, and sewed it in place.  This triple thick section would be sturdy enough to drive my grommets through.

How Do You Add Grommets to a Shower Curtain?

This is when I realized that I was going to have to do math if I wanted the grommets on the shower curtain to be evenly spaced.  I even reached out to my facebook friends to help me with the math, and it took lots of smart, college educated people a good 45 minutes to figure out what the heck to do.  So you don’t have to repeat my struggles, here is the formula for spacing your grommets:  (Width of your shower curtain – 2”) / 11

The grommets on either end of the curtain should be spaced 1” from the edges of the curtain (hence the minus 2”).  Shower curtains typically hang from 12 hooks with 11 spaces in between those 12 hooks, so you will divide your “width minus two” amount by 11.  For example, my curtain was 78” wide.  78” – 2” = 76” and  76/11 = slightly less than 7”.  I spaced my grommets slightly less than 7” apart.    Finally, I also made sure that all of my grommets were equally spaced from the top of the curtain (1 1/4” to be specific).

I hate math so much though.

I checked out home improvement stores and big box stores for silver tone grommets, but I found the best selection at a craft store.  Weird thing though:  I found the grommets in the section with the other window treatment supplies (curtain rods, tie backs, etc.)  BUT I found eyelets in the sewing notions aisle.  They are the same size, same materials, same price, just a different name.  Oh, and the eyelets were on sale.  So, I bought those.

Setting grommets is very easy, but you need a grommet kit to do it.  A grommet kit comes with 4 different pieces:  the setter, the anvil, grommets, and washers.  You will need to provide the hammer.

Before I could drive the grommets through the fabric, I needed to create a small slit in the fabric where the grommet would be placed.

First place a piece of scrap wood on the ground or a very sturdy table, then place the anvil on the wood.  The grommet sits on top of the anvil with the small, center tube pointing up.

Slip that center tube through the slit in the fabric and slip the washer down over the tube, pointy parts down.  Hold the setter in the hole of the grommet and give the setter a few good whacks with your hammer.

The grommet should now be fastened together with the fabric in the middle.  Repeat with the other 11 grommet holes.

Hang the curtain and curtain liner on your shower curtain hooks and admire your work.  PS If you don’t use the ball bearing style shower curtain hooks (affiliate link) in your bathroom, get on it.  They are worth the few extra bucks they cost.

Even though there are several other patterns in the space, the shower curtain is the main graphic statement in our bathroom.  I am glad I made the decision to make my own curtain, rather than settle for something that I would not have been 100% happy with!

I’ve gathered links to the materials I used in this tutorial. If you purchase after clicking one of these links, I will receive a small commission. Thanks!

Fiskars 9 Inch Dressmaker Shears Singer Color Ball Head Pins in Flower Box, 360-Count Dritz Extra Large Zinc Eyelet Grommet Kit 7/16

InLinkz.com

You might be interested in these other home decor DIYs:

HOW TO MAKE CURTAIN RODS FROM PVC PIPE

DIY FAUX ROMAN SHADES