These $7 Clips From Amazon Turn Anything Into Curtains

Photo credit: Hadley Keller
Photo credit: Hadley Keller

From House Beautiful

One of the first things I realized when I moved into my new apartment—a Brooklyn walk-up with blessedly large windows—is that window treatments are EXPENSIVE. And so, for the last few months I've been researching ways to hack them, any tricks to make the process of dressing my windows less costly. A few weeks ago, I experimented with fabric tape. The tape curtains, which were made with a simple pocket, are perfect for my living room, where I rarely close them. But in my bedroom, I wanted something a little more flexible, for easy opening and closing each morning and night. Well, folks, I found the perfect solution—and it cost $7 on Amazon.

Photo credit: Hadley Keller
Photo credit: Hadley Keller

Enter curtain clips. These little pieces of magic are pretty much what they sound like: metal clips that attach to your curtains, and a ring which slides over your curtain rod. Unlike more traditional curtain rings, which have a sort of U-shaped pick that attaches to tape on the back of a finished curtain, the clip-on style can attach to, well, anything. While I'd intended to sew my panels myself, once my sewing machine broke on me I decided to do the next most affordable thing: take them to my dry-cleaner to sew a simple hem. Once I had the hemmed panels, I just attached the clips on top, and strung the rings on my curtain rod. Since the fabric I used isn't stiff, the curtains fall nicely without any sort of pleating.

Though I was using fabric I'd specifically intended for curtains, the project got me thinking. Using curtain clips, you could essentially turn anything into a curtain. An old tablecloth? Clip it up! A light throw blanket? Sure! A sari? A piece of unfinished fabric, if you don't mind a fringe-y hem? Yes and yes! I've already placed another order of clips to make a little bathroom curtain out of whatever fabric scrap I can find. Upcycling has never been so easy.

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