Goodbye Boring Curtains — This Thrift Store Find Is A Cuter Way To Cover Windows

If you side-eye your old drapes every time you walk by the living room window, it might be time to say goodbye to those boring old curtains. But if you've so much as glanced at the current prices of window coverings, you'll know that it can cost up to $500 per window and even more if you want them custom made. That's enough to make anyone second guess their need for new curtains. But there's a better way to transform your window space into a cute, whimsical portal with a thrift store find you've probably walked right by a hundred times before: vintage handkerchiefs.

One unique way to repurpose vintage handkerchiefs around your home, is to sew them together and hang them as curtains. As with most thrift store finds, handkerchiefs are a budgetary steal and can usually be found for just a few dollars for a whole bundle. They come in a variety of designs, sizes, and colors, giving each finished panel a unique look. The older they are, the more worn and sheer they tend to be, making them the privacy curtains that let light in and add style to your home. To make your own vintage handkerchief curtains, you'll need the hankies, along with a needle and thread. A pair of scissors and some pins will be handy as well.

Handkerchiefs can be used to DIY curtains for French doors and picture windows, or smaller windows like the ones in the bathroom or over the kitchen sink. Simply measure the size of the window you want to cover and get enough old hankies to fill the space. If the thought of touching a handkerchief that might have actually been used by someone else gives you the ick, you can wash it, carefully, by hand and lay them out flat to dry.

Before you get overzealous and start sewing the hankies together every which way, take a step back and plan things out. This might look like laying all the handkerchiefs out on a table or across the floor and playing around with how you want them to be arranged based on what designs look good together and what you need the final measurements to be. When you have them positioned the way you want them, keep them together using a sewing pin meant for delicate fabric, like a silk pin.

Now you can get to work sewing them all together. While a sewing machine may be faster, hand-sewing can offer greater control when working with delicate vintage fabrics. The machine isn't quite gentle enough on the delicate material of a vintage handkerchief. When you're ready to hang the finished panel, use curtain clips or sew a loop of fabric along the top to slide the curtain rod through.