I love a good floor to ceiling drape, it has such a beautiful effect opening up your space and making your room feel more grand. Our family room has three large windows and I knew from the moment we decided to build the house that I wanted to do a soft white floor to ceiling drape on all three windows. Once I had my extra long drapes hung they slightly puddled on the floor under each window which is a look I do like because I feel like it has a nice, romantic, feminine feel to it.
Fast forward 8 months and with two little boys constantly playing on the floor and trying to “tuck in toys” under the blankets by the window my 3 years old would say, I found myself wanting to get the drapes hemmed up so they just skimmed the floor. However, I was feeling like I wasn’t ready to fully commit to cutting the fabric and hemming it that length just in case I ever changed my ever changing mind. Insert iron on Heat Bond hemming tape. I picked up a couple packages of this a few months back at my local Fabricville and just hadn’t gotten around to trying it.
The first thing you want to do is determine the length you want to your drape to be by marking the spot, I hooked a bobby pin on mine because alas I couldn’t find the sewing pins and I wasn’t too precise. Then take your drapes down and give them a good iron to get all the wrinkles out. After that I folded my fabric where I wanted the hem and applied the hem tape. Now after you get the bottom adhered and you peel the paper layer off once it’s cooled, the top is ready for you to fold the fabric over to make your hem. Now a piece of advice I would give is to really push your iron down on the the seal but don’t hold it too long, just do the same spot a couple times. It tells you to hold for 6 seconds but where my fabric was such a thick cotton I found it wasn’t adhering so I had the great idea to hold the iron on a few second longer. Bad idea this will damage your fabric and it turned my cotton a lovely shade of yellow in one spot, luckily it was only one part on the back side that isn’t noticeable but lesson learned.
I found once I got rolling and had a good routine going it seemed to get easier with every drape. It took me about two hours to “hem” 6 drapes which I felt was pretty good! Overall I really like this product and the convenience of just ironing your hem where you want it. I love how clean and fresh the drapes look now that they are just skimming the floor and it definitely doesn’t look as appealing for my toddler to “play” in. Plus if I ever change my mind I can just pull the fabric away from the adhesive and its back to the original length.
Kind thoughts,
Lauren Elizabeth