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Yay, it’s time for another round of projects in the series, Knock Out Knock-Offs! I teamed up with 5 super creative and amazing bloggers to bring you a fun summer series, where we share a knock off inspired DIY project from May-August, and this month’s inspiration comes from Anthropologie!

This is such a neat and fun idea! Take a look at how you can easily make lace curtains using upcycled table runners! MontainModernLife.com

I don’t know about you but I could live in that store! It’s also one of my favorite shops to browse online, but unfortunately, most of the home decor items are a bit out of our price range, but then that’s the beauty of DIY, right?  You can be inspired by something you see in a shop, but are unable to afford and then can create your own version. This is why today I am sharing my Anthropologie Inspired DIY Lace Curtains!

This is such a neat and fun idea! Take a look at how you can easily make lace curtains using upcycled table runners! MontainModernLife.com

DIY Lace Curtains

We recently started working on our master bedroom makeover and I have been on the hunt for the perfect curtains. As soon as I saw the Ombre Lace Curtains from Anthropologie I was in LOVE! The $188 per panel price tag . . . not so much. That makes them nearly $400 for both panels, yikes!

This is such a neat and fun idea! Take a look at how you can easily make lace curtains using upcycled table runners! MontainModernLife.com

Ombre Curtains from Anthropologie 

I have a bunch of doilies but unfortunately not enough to add to two 95″ panels, so I started to price out some doily style trim instead. I quickly realized that could get pricey {or at least more than I wanted to spend} and hit a roadblock. Then I had an idea… I still had some lace runners leftover from our wedding reception last October {which you can check out here}. I had left more than half of them at the venue for future brides to use but was hoping I may have enough for the curtains.

This is such a neat and fun idea! Take a look at how you can easily make lace curtains using upcycled table runners! MontainModernLife.com

I only had 4 runners but I laid them out flat to measure how long they were all together. I knew I would basically have double the length because I could cut them in half. Luckily, I had JUST enough, yay! Of course, I didn’t have any curtains to add the lace too, but I did have a Bed Bath and Beyond gift card with about $25 left on it so I headed there to see what I could find. Normally I don’t have much luck finding the 95″ curtain panels there in the style AND price that I want, but this must have been my lucky day. I found what I thought was perfect AND they were on sale for $40 for BOTH panels, woo-hoo! So after my gift card and 20% off coupon, I was able to pick up 2 panels and only spent $20 out of pocket. Score!

This is such a neat and fun idea! Take a look at how you can easily make lace curtains using upcycled table runners! MontainModernLife.com

I wanted my lace runners to be a dark navy blue color to match our navy and copper dresser but didn’t necessarily care to have them be ombre like the ones at Anthropologie. I liked the ombre style but when I first looked at the photo I didn’t even notice it, the dark blue and romantic/vintage style is what caught my eye. I decided to keep the lace all one color instead, which also made it easier.

First I mixed up some custom navy paint with some fabric medium in an old plastic bin {just make sure to follow the directions on the back} and then threw the lace runners in there because I was too impatient to test it out. Go big or go home, right? I had never used fabric medium before and purchased it back when I planned to paint a west elm inspired rug but wound up using a sharpie instead.

This is such a neat and fun idea! Take a look at how you can easily make lace curtains using upcycled table runners! MontainModernLife.com

I’ve gotta admit, that stuff is amazing! It’s water-based so that thinned out the paint a bit and I just stirred the lace around in the paint every 5-10 minutes or so for about 40 minutes. I wore gloves and used my hands to stir them around because that easier, but you could just use a paint stick if you wanted. Afterward, I squeezed all the excess paint out and laid them out flat on old towels in the garage to dry. It was 2 am and rainy so I couldn’t leave them outside to air dry. The color looked great and I couldn’t wait to see what they would look like the next day!

I didn’t take a photo of this process, but afterward, I had covered the bin with foil so I could possibly use more of the “dye” on other projects. Here is a photo of the paint the next day:

This is such a neat and fun idea! Take a look at how you can easily make lace curtains using upcycled table runners! MontainModernLife.com

And yes, it did work on other items {which I will share soon} and now I am in <3 with this process!

You are supposed to let the fabric dry for 24 hours, but I was impatient and after 12 hours they seemed completely dry to me, so I went ahead and ironed them out. This also heat sets the fabric medium and allows you to be able to wash them later on without losing the color. {I’ll have to jeep you posted on that}. I kept an eye out to make sure the paint didn’t get on the iron, and it was all good. Once I added more water to the iron and turned up the heat it started to get sticky so I just lowered the temperature and let out some of the water.

This is such a neat and fun idea! Take a look at how you can easily make lace curtains using upcycled table runners! MontainModernLife.com

Once the runners were dyed, dried and ironed I used a chalk pencil to make a line halfway down and then cut each runner in half.

This is such a neat and fun idea! Take a look at how you can easily make lace curtains using upcycled table runners! MontainModernLife.com

I’ve gotta admit that I originally planned on just using the glue gun {or liquid stitch} to attach the lace to the panels to save on time and because the last time I used a sewing machine {despite having one in our house} was during Home Ec in high school, a loooong time ago. Ha. My mom nearly had a heart attack when she heard about me using the glue gun though so she convinced me that we should sew them, and she could show me how to use the sewing machine again.

This is such a neat and fun idea! Take a look at how you can easily make lace curtains using upcycled table runners! MontainModernLife.com

By the way, I actually did use the glue gun on my pom pom curtains and they turned out great, but because lace is delicate I figured sewing would be a better option and make them easier to wash later on. {My pom pom curtains are not posted yet but you can see a sneak peek here}.

If you don’t have a sewing machine I would definitely recommend trying out liquid stitch, that stuff is AMAZING! I’ve used it on several placemat pillows and it has held up really well.

It’s funny because learning how to use the sewing machine has been on my never-ending to-do list, but I have never been so motivated to actually do it! Guess these curtains really did inspire me. So with my mom’s help and the direction we pinned all of the lace down to the sides and then sewed them on.  We also cut off a section where the lace overlapped to get the pattern to look consistent and I later hand sewed that small section together.  I was so excited to see how they were coming along and that the sewing machine isn’t as scary as I thought. Plus I LOVE our new DIY lace curtains!

This is such a neat and fun idea! Take a look at how you can easily make lace curtains using upcycled table runners! MontainModernLife.com

This is such a neat and fun idea! Take a look at how you can easily make lace curtains using upcycled table runners! MontainModernLife.com

This is such a neat and fun idea! Take a look at how you can easily make lace curtains using upcycled table runners! MontainModernLife.com

This is such a neat and fun idea! Take a look at how you can easily make lace curtains using upcycled table runners! MontainModernLife.com

I know they don’t look exactly like the Anthropologie lace curtains, but I love the contrast in navy and white and how romantic and vintage they look and feel. They are exactly what I wanted and only cost me $20 out of pocket, whaaaaa?! Not to mention that we were able to use something from our wedding day which makes our DIY Lace Curtains even more special.

What’s funny is the lace runners never made it to the tables during our reception anyway {well aside from one on the sweetheart table}, because the gazebo didn’t get finished in time and we had to improvise. Guess they were never meant to be table runners to begin with 🙂

So what do you think of our DIY Lace Curtains? Do you like to make your own curtains or buy them?

This is such a neat and fun idea! Take a look at how you can easily make lace curtains using upcycled table runners! MontainModernLife.com

mint-border-mountainmodernlife.com

Don’t forget to check out my friend’s Anthropologie Inspired Projects below!

This is such a neat and fun idea! Take a look at how you can easily make lace curtains using upcycled table runners! MontainModernLife.com

1.  Gold Duck Tape Necklace – Delineate Your Dwelling

2. Me!

3.  Metallic Dotted Glasses – Designer Trapped In A Lawyer’s Body

4.  Lotus Mirror – Bigger Than The Three Of Us

5.  Wooden Makeup Brush Holder – Brave New Home

6.  Giraffe Trinkett Dish – The Gathered Home

You can check out all of the #knockoutknockoff projects HERE.

28 Comments

  1. Ah! So lovely and romantic. Way to go on the sewing machine skills, too! I’m a mad whiz at straight line sewing projects, ha. Great knock off!

    1. Haha, yeah straight lines I’m cool with but it may take a while before I start whipping up anything crazy. I’m setting up a permanent space for my sewing machine so hopefully that will encourage me to work on more projects 🙂

  2. Oh my goodness….These came out great! I am very impressed and just wishing I could sew! Thank you for sharing this great post…..Leticia

    1. Thanks Leticia. I would check out Liquid Stitch – that stuff is AMAZING! I used it on a few throw pillows and it worked great! If my mom hadn’t been there to convince me to sew them, I would have gone that route 🙂

  3. You mentioned a fabric medium. I’m not familiar with that product. What is it called and where can I find it?

    1. You can generally find Fabric Medium near the small acrylic paint bottles in the craft store and there will likely be a few brands available. I just added a stock photo to my post because I realized there wasn’t one included. Hope that helps 🙂

  4. well I absolutely love this !!! I have lace over sheers in my bedroom but its all white. I need some color in there. question is….I don’t understand how you put the lace onto the curtain . you have to be a little detailed with me lol . another question …. I would like to put some sheer curtains with a ruffle on the insides of the 2 panels so that when you pull them back on each side the ruffle is to the inside and all you see is the curtains parted in the middle and the ruffles in the middle too. make sense ? like the Priscilla curtains were. this is for my kitchen window and I cant find them that size either . HELP !!!!! wonder why you cant find them short like that .

  5. Thanks Linda! My mom had helped me with this project since I’m not so handy with the sewing machine, but we basically just cut the lace table runners in half and then sewed the cut edge onto the inner edge of the curtains. I’m not too sure I understand what you’re trying to do, but then again I’m no seamstress so I’m probably not the person to ask, haha. You may find better luck googling “DIY lace curtains” “diy ruffle curtains”, “diy boho curtains” or something like that? Sorry I couldn’t be of more help but I’d love to see what you create when you’re finished!

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