craftygal table - Making Ribbon-draped Window Treatments

Try some fray block to avoid having to tack up your ribbon ends. A great find!

Organize your ribbon with this project from HGTV.

Fanciful Ribbons Dance in the Window

by Christy

I’ve heard it said that your front door says a lot about you. You’re supposed to paint your front door your favorite color, but I don’t think a red or orange door would look that fabulous on my periwinkle house, so the white door is fine with me. But I do have a large window in my front door, and what’s dressing the window would be right on if I was a 50+ craftygal who loved lace.

Every time my doorbell rings, just before I open the door, I attempt to peek through this lovely lace curtain to make sure it’s who I think it is. I have one small problem… the craftygal who owned the house before me attached the curtain with two rods (top and bottom), and it’s oh so taut! It’s not an ugly curtain; it’s just really not me! So as soon as I got rid of all the pink rooms (count them: five), I set my eyes on that front door.

This was the perfect project for a blustery March evening. Just imagine beautiful ribbons dancing in the wind of your open window or fluttering as you open the door to that gentleman or gentlewoman caller. This project was quick, and if you hit the bargain bins at your craft stores, can be very economical.

Supplies

Plain wooden dowel the width of your window with fasteners, or a curtain rod with accompanying hardware

Ribbon--we went for sheer solids and prints, wire and non-wire ribbons to achieve a shabby-chic look

Paint, but only if you buy a dowel and want your rod and fasteners to match the color of your walls or door

Fabric tape measure

Scissors

Fray block

Steps

First things first, I unleashed the old curtain. With the window in my door fully exposed (oh my!), I measured the window. I divided the width of the window by 2 inches; assuming that would be the average width of the ribbons I would buy for the new treatment. Then, I multiplied that number by the length of the window and divided it by 36 (36 inches in a yard) to get a feel for the overall yardage of ribbon I was going to need. Finally, I multiplied my yardage by two since I want this to be full and breezy. With that number in mind I headed to the store to find some suitable ribbon. And find I did!!

Supplies, check!

I re-used my rod, but if you bought a new one, now would be a good time to put it up. The project goes rather quickly, and you’ll want to hang it right up when you finish.

Now for the fun! Since my window was 3 feet long, I measured 5-6 foot pieces so I could double the ribbon over and make a nice full treatment. After cutting my pieces, I applied fray block to each end so I don’t have to worry about the ends getting frazzled. Folding the ribbon at the 3-foot mark (so at least one tail covered the full length of my window), I set the rod on top of the ribbon.

With the fold in one hand and the tails in the other, bring your hands together, wrapping the ribbon around the rod. Then open the fold and pull the tails through the loop.

Pull the tails tight, spreading out the ribbon that’s around the rod to cover it fully. Alternate your ribbons randomly or create a pattern. The wire ribbon stayed in place a little better since there is no real knotting in this process. The final step is the take your last yard of ribbon and fashion some kind of finishing detail to cover the rod and the fasteners.

There are several variations on this project! Measure ribbon pieces just a few inches longer than your window length and tie them to the rod with a square knot, leaving a little tuft or ribbon sticking up. You could also weight your ribbon with charms or beads for a different flow.

In the end, regardless of how you tie it all up, it should be a beautiful, flowing window treatment that gets comments galore. You could even get a few different seasonal rods of ribbon, and change your treatment as the seasons change.

Example Formula

Here’s what my numbers worked out to be:

W=24, L=36

24 inches / 2 inches = 12

12 inches * 36 inches = 432

432 inches / 36 inches = 12 yards

12 yards *2 = 24

Since ribbon has a tendency to curl, I ended up needing a little more to achieve the desired fullness. I ended up with about 32 yards, because I also finished it off with a yard of ribbon to dress up the rod and cover the fasteners. Moral: round up a bit!