I don’t know where my mom came up with the idea, but a few years ago she made tab curtains for her living room out of painter’s dropcloth. Thick, heavy, cream-coloured canvas hanging from black iron rods with finials. They reached the floor, and with the weight of the fabric, looked quite professional. The colour of the fabric let in a warm, filtered glow of light during the day, but was thick enough to give privacy even at night.
They looked similar to this, but cream-coloured and touching the floor.
Painter’s dropcloth is dirt cheap compared to canvas at the fabric store, and especially compared to ready-made or custom-made curtains. There is a bit more nubbiness to the fabric than fabric store canvas, but it makes for nice ‘texture’. I usually find it at places like Home Depot in various sizes.
For a 6′ wide window like mine, it would be $20 for enough dropcloth to make two floor-length curtains (to meet in the middle). It’d be about another $15 for a decent-looking curtain rod. You just have to be willing to put in a bit of time to sew the curtains. If you were feeling really adventurous, fabric dye would cost about another $5-10, depending on how saturated you want your colour (be sure to wash the fabric before dying to avoid uneven colour distribution). I do most of my dying the easy way in the washing machine. RIT dye has instructions in the box.
I’ve also used dropcloth to recover a futon mattress and to make an apron. The weight of the canvas works far better and looks much nicer than quilting cottons (or worse, a bedsheet draped over the futon). Canvas tote bags are classic and durable. Dropcloth would make a casual tablecloth (think outdoor dinners in the summer) or sunshades for your deck, diffusing the intensity of the light instead of putting you in the shade. It’s naturally water-repelling, but to prevent mildew I’d use a petroleum-based (not silicone) waterproofing sealant for any outdoor uses.
Canvas is the perfect summer fabric, so get going on all your projects before it’s over!
apples & onions 
Brilliant. Me and Kendra are looking for curtains for our bedroom to block out the evil sunlight during the light summer mornings. This could be awesome. Thanks for the tip!
No. But now i will. Thanks for that.
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