Blackout curtains - finishing

So, the saga of the blackout curtains continues ...

The main part of the all three curtains are finished with hems and the special blackout lining. Now I have to make the upper band that will have the tabs hidden along the back. I measure the width of the finished panel to make sure I make the upper band the exact same size.

The upper band needs interfacing for support.  I have a roll of proper, genuine drapery interfacing, but I think it will be too stiff.  I want my son to be able to push these curtain completely off to one side so he can see the great view out his windows.  And these are the only windows in his entire apartment. So I decide to use some medium weight non-woven/sew-in interfacing for the back of the upper band that will have the tabs sewn to and a lightweight fusible interfacing for the front piece.

too stiff drapery interfacing

medium weight non woven interfacing

I've said earlier that I've made the main part of these curtains a bit longer that needed so any unevenness could be trimmed off at the same time they are cut to the correct length.

I have decided to make the upper band 5" finished and to make the tabs open to accept the curtain rod 3" above the seam that will join the band to the rest of the curtain. Since the curtains need to be 72" long from the top of the curtain rod and 3" of that will be in the upper band, the lower part of the curtain needs to be 69" long plus 1/2" for a seam allowance.

Like a carpenter I measure twice, so I can cut correctly once 69 1/2", from the hem up on both sides of all three curtains, draw a line from side to side and trim off the top.

Now it's time to make the upper band.

First the tabs off the old curtain need to be pressed flat and pinned at equal intervals along the back side of the band which has the non-woven interfacing sewn to it. Tabs should be about 7" apart.

Each tab gets sewn up to the 3" mark (actually 3 1/2" allowing for a seam).  I stitch 3 times at the top to reinforce the tab where it will be sitting on the curtain rod.

See where the curtain rod will fit.  This way 2" of the band will stick up above the curtain rod to help block out more light.

Then the front and back of the band are stitched together, trimmed, turned, pressed and the band is ready to be sewn to the rest of the curtain.

The front side of the band gets pinned and stitched to the main part of the curtain.

I secure the back of the band by first pinning and then "stitching in the ditch" (catching the back fabric while stitching in the crack of the seam line from the front)

Here is what the front and back of the band look like finished.

And on my table is one finished curtain and on my couch are all three ready to be hung tomorrow.