Upcycling scrap fabric for closet portière

Apr 21, 2020Create, Sustainable Living

Now that our home office is set up, I wanted to hide all the crap that we moved into our closet. I figured the easiest thing to do was to sew a curtain, but didn’t want to buy new fabric, so I gathered up some scrap fabric from old projects and set out to work.

How I made it

The first step was to choose fabric with colors that sort of matched. For me, most of my projects involve a mix of blue, green, and yellow, so I had lots to choose from.

I measured the width of the closet and multiplied it by 1.5 to give the portière a gathering effect that makes it easier to cover the entire space, and measured the height of the closet plus a few inches for the hanging loop.

Then on the fabric, I cut any funny edges so that each scrap was rectangular, and laid out the scraps on the floor to roughly fit the width of my measurement and added more scrap fabric pieces in areas where the mismatched fabrics didn’t align.

Took each scrap bit by bit and sewed them right sides together with any zig zag stitch–I used the shell tuck stitch–on your sewing machine. It took a little while to get all the pieces sewn up, but once that’s done, you’re almost there! The scrap fabric ‘quilt’ should roughly fit the dimensions of the closet frame.

I left my edges raw, but if you want to have clean edges, fold the edges twice with a half inch seam and sew along the entire curtain.

Next, I folded the top of the nearly completed portière twice and sewed a two inch seam to allow space for the string that would be looped through to hang.

My fiancé screwed two nails inside the closet on either side of the frame, then we looped our string and tied it up real tight.

And voilà–the portière is complete!

It definitely gives me country homemaker vibes, but the color and prints of the fabrics are bold, and overall, does the job of hiding our crap in the closet!

Glad to get finally make use of some scraps I’ve been hoarding for far too long. I hope you enjoyed this badly written tutorial hahah, and have a wonderful day or night, wherever in the world you are!

0 Comments

Leave a Reply

Moments

kind of just want to go home and play in the studio
Lifestyle

Sailing Sea Casa with friends

Hanging out with Connor Jackson (SV Sea Casa) and a few friends this weekend for a day sail on the...
Moments

thank you for loving me the way that you do ✨
Culture Travel

Tui Ofu Well

Not far from the beach is an ancient historic village that's spanned over three millenniums. And there, you'll find the...
Lifestyle

Photo Journal | Surfing Alao

Photo journal snaps from after Meagan and Hideyo’s maternity session on the east side; we head to Alao to watch...
Moments

The day we picked up the charter boat in FP
Photo Diaries

Fam in jammies, a Christmas Eve photo journal

Beyond the lights, the decorations, the music, and the presents, it's FAMILY that makes this day so special to me. Sharing...
Moments

A spring tide inundation in the backyard. June 2018.
Moments

29

The man of my dreams just turned 29 ✨ Love to love you, old man baby boy.
Moments

Fagatogo Iseula O Le Moana III

Moments Photo Diaries

A new segment called the Quarantine Diaries

Home quarantine photos from yesterday 3.15. Ian and I have been taking our days in stride, eating outside on the...
Meet Photography

MEET Amélie

A curious French girl with a passion for the sea, shares her #islandlife experience, and her favorite parts of living...
Photo Diaries

Code Blue activities

American Samoa is still under Code Blue, which means we have 0 confirmed cases of coronavirus. It also means that...
Lifestyle Travel

Guest post: Ian’s trip to Ofu, Manu`a

This is Ian, and I'll be doing my very first guest appearance on Relli's epic blog! Inside look at Toaga...
Moments

Officer and Yodi <3

iPhone snaps from this afternoon when we got home after work; love these cuties. Side note: we put up these...
Moments

Birds in the rain

Pics from watching birds in the backyard with an incoming squall. This is what today feels like.
Lifestyle

24 Years Old and Boat Day on the North Shore

Celebrating my 24th birthday back at home in American Samoa, ocean adventures with the best people I know on the...
Moments

My guys

My dad on tiptoes and my fiancé squatting 😂 Love these manly men! 🥰
Moments

sleepy animals

Lifestyle Photo Diaries

A Sunny Home Tour

The morning sun is up in the sky, streaming through the windows at home. I am always inspired by the...