Adding Ribbon to a Shower Curtain

The kids’ bathroom upstairs has been a work in progress for quite some time.  It started off builder’s grade tan, then I used the same green from the girls’ bedroom to change it up a bit {I had leftover paint}.  I didn’t like it, though, because with black accents it looked a little too much like mint chocolate chip ice cream.  We finally installed beadboard and I painted the upper part of the walls a nice gray shade, and it’s looking much better.

I purchased a white shower curtain sometime last year, knowing that I wanted to dress it up a bit, but not sure how.  While on my trip to PA last month, I found some fabulous ribbon and snatched it up {50 yards for $7!  Anyone need some black and white ribbon?}.  My plain old white shower curtain from Target now has a nice touch of ribbon and I love it!

This is a really easy project, and can be done without a sewing machine!

You will need:

-Shower curtain
-Ribbon
-Stitch Witchery {can be purchased at fabric stores}
-Iron and Ironing board
-Damp rag

*Optional:  coordinating thread and sewing machine

First, make sure to wash and iron your shower curtain.  When you apply the ribbon, you want the curtain to be wrinkle-free.

Determine where your bottom row of ribbon will be placed on the curtain.  I measured up 3 inches from the top of the bottom hem, placing it there.

Leaving a bit of overhang on the edge of the curtain, lay the stitch witchery and ribbon at the edge {stitch witchery should be between the curtain and the ribbon}.  Following the manufacturer’s instructions, apply the stitch witchery to the ribbon.

This is just to show you what it looked like.  You will obviously need to turn this over so the stitch witchery is in between the curtain and ribbon.

Continue to apply the ribbon all the way down the shower curtain to the other end.  Cut the ribbon and stitch witchery, again leaving a bit of an overhang.

Next, determine how far apart you want the rows of ribbon.  Measure along the top of the first row and apply the next row in the same manner as first.  {I kept an inch between rows and did three rows of 1 1/2-inch grossgrain ribbon}.

My stitch witchery was not the same width as my ribbon, so I chose to go back over the ribbon and sew it to the curtain.  This is optional!  If you’d rather skip this step, simply take the overhang of ribbon/stitch witchery on each end, and apply it to the back side of the curtain.  

If you want to sew the ribbon on, as I did, for extra support and because I didn’t use the right size stitch witchery, keep following these instructions:

Turn the curtain over.  Taking the overhang of ribbon on each end, fold the ribbon so that there is a finished edge, pin to the backside of the curtain and sew into place. Stitch a straight seam as close to the folded edge as possible.

After all the overhanging ribbons are sewn in place, top-stitch the ribbon at the top and bottom of each row, about 1/8-inch from the edges, with coordinating thread.

And, you’re done!  You could easily add more or less rows of ribbon.  I love that this shower curtain is still a bit classy, but has a playful-ness, too, since it is in the kids’ bathroom.

I’ll show you some pictures of the whole bathroom soon, but I still need to hang a few things up on the walls and clean a bit more.  It’s coming together, though, and I’m loving it!  We just have a few more projects to knock out in the next few weeks before Baby #4 arrives!

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Inspire Me, Please