How to Use Drapery Weights

Sewing your own curtains and drapes is a great way to add color and texture to your house while also adding a personal touch. In this tutorial ZJ Humbach shows you how to use drapery weights to give your drapes a more professional finish and ensure that they hang nice and straight.

Drapery Weights

Before you can use drapery weights, you first need to make your drape. While this tutorial does not show step-by-step how to make one, ZJ shows a small sample drape and explains what the standard hems and finish widths are for the top, bottom and sides. These hem widths are important because they are what will give you enough room to add your drapery weight to the bottom corners of your drapes. Also, while this tutorial is explaining how to use drapery weights on drapes that you have made, you can also install drapery weights onto store bought drapes that either don’t have them already or are just not hanging the way you would like them to.

ZJ then shows what drapery weights look like and shows where they can be inserted into the drape. She explains how to use hand stitching to secure the little pouch in place so that the drapery weight is secure but that no lines of stitching are seen on the right side of the curtain. While ZJ shows how to use drapery weights in the corners of drapes, if you wish to make sure that a long curtain hangs straight in several areas, you can add them in more places along the lower edge hem. Drapes are not the only type of window treatment you can make to add color and personal touches to your home. Watch these additional tutorials to see how to make simple curtains and also how to make a valance.