Anthro Copy Cat Curtain: Ruffled Shower Curtain

Anthropologie has some of the most DARLING items! BUT there is ONE downfall to this amazing store- it's EXPENSIVE! A few weeks ago, this shower curtain started surfacing all over my favorite craft blogs. 

I kept waiting for tutorials to pop up on these blogs, but my impatience got the best of me.  I finally found THIS tutorial and fell in LOVE! Since my bathroom is yellow and gray and since I'm obsessed with yellow and gray- yellow and gray my curtain would be!

Supplies:

• Fabric (at least 8 colors for 10 ruffles, plan on 1.5 yd. of fabric per ruffle.  you will have the top color and a middle color repeat so get 3 yds. of those)
• Thread
• Needle
• Scissors
• Plain, white cotton shower curtain 
• plastic shower curtain
• Sewing machine
• Rotary cutting tools (mat, ruler, and rotary blade)

Step ONE:

Wash, dry and iron fabric.  

Step TWO:

Cut fabric.  Ok this is the part that messed me up.  The tutorial I followed said to cut each 1 yd. of fabric for each ruffle 8.5 in. wide (this would make 4 strips).  I disagree with this because by the time I was about half way done I realized, "Oh my freakin' GOSH I'm not going to make it to the top!"So I ran to JoAnn's and got more fabric-adding another color and another ruffle to an existing color.  So I have 12 ruffles hanging instead of ten.  I really do love my curtain the way it is, but ten ruffles would be even better.  

SO- cut at least 10 in. by the length of the material.  (MATH  72 in. divided by 10 ruffles = 7.2 + about .5 inch for the hem + .5 inch to sew the ruffle on and about 1.5 to 2 inch to cover the previous ruffle top. ) ten to 11 in. would be safe to make it to the top.                                                                                              

                                                                                                                Step THREE:

This shows you the hem of the fabric and the strip length

Hem and sew together all the fabric strips.  Hem three sides (leave the "top" raw) of all the strips by folding .25 in. (quarter inch) over and then .25 in. over again (making .50 inch hem).  Pin and sew a zig zag stitch.  When you sew the strips together, sew the SHORT, RIGHT sides together and then open the seams.  Eventually you will have ONE long, hemmed strip.  Repeat for all ruffles.  

Step FOUR:

Run a long, wide stitch to gather the fabric to create the ruffled look.  Make the stitch about 3 in. from the raw edge of the fabric.  (this is so you can pull it out once it is sewn) Repeat for all ruffles.

Step FIVE:

Attach the BOTTOM ruffle to the curtain.  As you can see in the picture, I pinned the RIGHT sides of the curtain and ruffle together as well as pin the raw edge toward to bottom of the curtain. Sew strip on with your machine.  I used a locked, zig zag stitch.  When you lift your curtain the ruffle will fall covering your raw edge with the finished side out.  Repeat for all ruffles.  

When you start layering, just test it out where you want the next ruffle to hang. Pin and sew.  

You will start seeing this look, and you will fall in LOVE!

BUT just wait until you get to this point

Step SIX:

Now you are at the top of the shower curtain and you've spent about $50.00 to $60.00 on supplies and probably 20 hours of work (I LISTENED to A LOT of MOVIES!) and you are thinking will this ever be complete! ----YES it will!

Ok- for the top I wanted my ruffle to look as if it was made that way, so I folded the top 4 in. of the curtain over the top of my ruffle to make it look like the picture (this will hide the raw edge, I didn't do the ruffle flip trick).  I really can't explain how I tucked the ruffle into the top of the curtain while keeping the eyelet portion of the curtain on top.  So just make it look like it is here! 

Then I simply sewed the ruffle and the finished curtain edge together.   On the back you will see about 2 in. of the curtain material, just iron it flat so you dont see the curtain thru the eyelet ( you can see in the pic the top eyelet is open, and the bottom is closed).  Do that! LOL

                                                                     AND.... TA-DA!

        OH ISN'T IT PRETTY! Now to decorate! Girly, Frilly and Pretty-my FAVE! 

Enjoy, please send me pictures of your Anthro Copy Cat Curtain to amandamdillard@gmail.com.  I'll look forward to seeing them.