How To Repurpose Old Bed Sheets Into A Beautiful Tiered Ruffle Shower Curtain

Ruffled linens can immediately give a sense of romance, whimsy, and femininity to any room you see them in, be it on a ruffled duvet, flouncy curtains, or a cute pleated shower curtain. These lovely pieces, however, can sometimes come with a hefty price tag from trendy home retailers like Target and Anthropologie, where they will cost you anywhere from around $30 to over $100 to get the look. YouTube DIYer Rebecca Charlotte, however, may have an ingenious solution to creating similar curtains on a budget. All you need are some basic sewing techniques and two large flat sheets (one full, one king-sized) to use as fabric for the ruffled curtain. 

With the ruffle trend back, this DIY is a great chance to use old sheets that may be lingering in your linen closet or a perfect way to turn a pretty vintage textile find into a one-of-a-kind functional piece for your bathroom on a budget. While part of the charm of this popular curtain style is the well-worn softness of older sheets, you can also make them with newer sheets if you're looking for a custom fabric look.

Begin by creating your base curtain from the full-sized sheet. This will be the part that is visible at the top above the ruffles and will form a solid back to the curtain. Standard dimensions for a shower curtain are usually 72 x 72 inches. You will want to include a few additional inches on each side to do a foldover seam to prevent unraveling wherever you cut. Once all sides are secure, you can begin cutting up the larger king-size sheet in strips. Measure the strips of fabric to the desired size of your ruffles, using the entire horizontal width. (You will need the extra fabric when you pleat and sew the ruffles.) Make sure to fold over and stitch up the sides that you have cut.

Fabric dye your fabric strips and base curtain before sewing. You can even create an ombre effect on the strips moving from darker to lighter in either direction. Once all your pieces are dry, begin sewing strips of fabric at the bottom of the curtain, overlapping them as you go. You will also pleat the fabric as you sew by folding over the fabric as you go to create the ruffled effect. 

When you have attached all your pieces, complete the project by creating buttonholes or adding grommets at the top to insert the hooks on your curtain rod. You could also use clip-on hooks for a faster way to hang it without having to punch grommets through or do a more complicated button stitching. Hang the shower curtain over a plastic liner to prevent damage.

For a flouncier look, you can cover the entire curtain with ruffles, or just use a few on the bottom for a more streamlined look with just a little bit of romance. The options for fabrics for these projects can include upcycling old sheets or bringing in other fabrics like velvet or linen. You can make beautiful ruffled lace curtains by cutting up large vintage tablecloths to create ruffles. These lacier ruffles look particularly beautiful peeking out from underneath a velvet or damask overlay. Or mix your materials for a cool patchwork ruffle look like blogger Erica Deuel (via Instagram).

While this DIY project creates this popular look for a shower curtain, it actually could easily be recreated for other kinds of curtains to add vintage ruffle accents, including longer drapes and small cafe-style curtains using smaller pieces of fabric. For a more complex sewing project, use old sheets to sew a ruffled duvet cover to fit your bed.