Decorating the living room after the remodel came pretty naturally. Everything, that is except for the curtains. I had found the perfect ones at World Market, but they had discontinued them and only one was left one display. After that, I couldn't find anything I liked. As I was putting away some pictures that the boys had drawn for me, I got a great idea. What if I could take those pictures and somehow put them on curtains? After some thought, I devised a plan for DIY curtains. Below you will find a DIY memory curtain tutorial that you can use to create your own one-of-a-kind curtains for your home and show off those memories that your children have made over the years.


Materials:

Pictures your kids have drawn. You could also use photos.
Transfer paper. I used a generic brand from Target.
An iron
Curtains either cotton or cotton-poly blend
100% cotton pillow case or sheet
Long flat surface

Step 1.

Scan your children's artwork. You then need to change your printer settings to reflect that you are using transfer paper and that you want a mirror image. These are basic settings that most printers have now. Under paper type, you would choose "transfer paper" and then under additional options, you would check the box to print a mirror image.

Step 2.

Gather your scanned images that have been printed on transfer paper and start thinking about how you would like to arrange them. I chose to go with a less cluttered look, so I only placed 6 pictures on each curtain and staggered them.

Step 3.

Prepare your curtain on a long flat surface and create a layout of where you want your pictures to go. I used the dining room table and chose to leave the creases that were folded into the curtain so that I could use them as a guide when placing the pictures.

Step 4.

Place your iron on the hottest cotton setting possible, but make sure you turn the steam function completely off.

Step 5.

Put a 100% cotton sheet or pillow case underneath the curtain where the first picture will be placed. You do not want to use an ironing board and do not want to do this without something between the curtain and surface you have chosen.

Step 6.

Lay the transfer face down on the curtain where you want it to go, with the picture facing the curtain itself. Place the iron on the transfer, making sure to hold the transfer in place. Slowly move the iron back and forth, putting a little pressure on the transfer as you go along. Keep ironing until the entire transfer seems to be adheared to the curtain. This could take close to 5 minutes per picture, be sure all the edges are done completely.

Step 7.

Let the transfer cool completely and then gently lift up one corner and slowly peel off the transfer backing. This should leave you with your picture perfectly placed on the curtain.

Step 8.

Repeat the above steps until all pictures are on the curtains and then hang them up. Do not iron the pictures themselves after they are on the curtains, this will cause a huge mess and destroy them. Hand wash as needed in cold water and lay flat to dry.