How to Make Drop Cloth Curtains – Three Daughters Home

If you’ve shopped for curtains, you know they ain’t cheap. Because we have so many windows (5 in our sitting room and dining room alone), I decided to jump on the drop cloth curtain band wagon. Not only are they super affordable, but they give such a dreamy, farmhouse vibe! Having made many of these now, I have found what I believe to be the best drop cloth. And the best part? If you have standard size windows, these drop cloth curtains should cost you about $20 TOTAL, for both panels! I’ll share how I make them and the different variations I’ve made throughout my house.

What You’ll Need:

• Drop cloth (I used one 9 x 12′ cloth to create two panels)
• Curtain rings ( gold curtain rings I used; black curtain rings I used)
• Tape measure
• Scissors
• Optional: decorative edging (I got mine at Hobby Lobby, but there’s lots on Amazon as well)
• Optional: fabric glue

How To:

Prep work: You’ll want to measure your window to make sure you get the right size cloth. You want it to be quite a bit longer than your window, both length-wise and width-wise.

Step 1: First, I would recommend washing your drop cloth(s). It will take out any ‘packaging’ smell and avoid shrinking after you’ve done all your measurements (learn from my mistakes, lol). That being said, I would also either air dry or partially machine dry them so they don’t shrink too much. The drop cloths I purchased at Home Depot (or Lowes – I can’t remember which) shrunk dramatically, and I didn’t realize it until after I had them hung up. I did not have that issue with the Amazon ones I have linked and found the quality to be much better. I also prefer the lighter texture of these and they are much easier to bleach (if you go that route).

Step 2: The drop cloth curtains in my twins’ nursery I bleached. If you plan to use them as is, you can skip this step. Otherwise, I filled my jacuzzi tub up with boiling water and let those suckers soak in bleach for an entire day, lol. Some top-loading washing machines have a setting to do pretty much the same thing, but I didn’t have that luxury soo… into the tub they went. They definitely got a smidge lighter, but didn’t turn out white — more of an ivory.

Step 3: Once dry, lay out your drop cloth with the longer 12′ side going across. Unless you have a super wide window, you can get two panels out of one 9 x 12′ cloth. Start cutting in the middle and then you should just be able to rip the cloth the rest of the way in a straight line to get two 9 x 6′ pieces.

Step 4: Measure from about an inch under your curtain rod to the bottom of the floor. I like my curtains to cascade onto the floor a little, so I added a few inches to mine. Once you have your length, fold the top of your cloth to reach that length. Measure at both ends, down to the bottom, as well as in the middle to make sure it’s even.

Step 5: Take your curtain rings and you’re gonna place one on each end over top of your folded cloth panel. I measured about 1.5″ from the edge on either end. From there, measure from clip to clip and find the middle. Place another curtain ring. You should have three curtain rings clipped. Now, just add however many are needed in between trying to space them accordingly. It doesn’t have to be perfect because once they are hung, you won’t be able to tell.

Step 6: To hang them, you can either have the folded cloth facing outward or towards the back. I have both ways in my house just to switch it up! If you want to jazz them up even further, glue a decorative edging! I did this to the curtains in my girls’ nursery and I am obsessed!

+ PRO TIP: Buy more trim than you think you need! (Again, learn from my mistakes.) Once done, just slide the rings onto your curtain rod and boom! Drop cloth curtains 🙂 **Curtain rings are linked on my original blog post on threedaughtershome.com.

*If making curtains isn’t your thing, I also have these beautiful linen curtains in our master bedroom. They are an incredible price for the quality and have a pretty woven texture to them! They do slide right onto a curtain rod, but I like to hang them the same way I hang my drop cloth curtains with rings — plus, I can customize the length that way!