Black-out drapes

Last weekend my mom and I made black-out drapes for Parker's bedroom. The sun hits that window during the day so it gets really hot in there and it is too bright in there for naps (well, long ones anyway). I wanted to tell yall how I added the black-outs to Parker's drapes. My mom and I made them when I was pregnant with Parker. I just love these drapes in Parker's room. They make such a statement because they are 12 feet tall and they are so bright, they add a ton of color to his room. It is hard to get a good picture of them because they are so tall. Below is a picture of the drapes with the blackout curtains behind them. Normally I would pull the blackout fabric back with the blue drapes so that you can see the window (it is rounded at the top). I just kept it this way so that yall could see both at the same time.
I didnt want to sew the blackout fabric directly to the drapes because they are already lined. So, I had to figure out another way to get them up. I decided to use a thick curtain rod (needs to be thick to hold so much fabric)and put it behind the very top of the drapes. I didnt want to put the rod on normal curtain rod brackets because it would stick out too far and make the drapes look funny.

You can kinda see the top of the blackout curtains in this picture. The new rod is pretty well hidden and the technique we used unexpectedly made it even darker!!

We used "C" brackets that are used on PVC pipes to hold them in place. The picture didnt turn very good, but below you can kinda see the bracket. We just cut a small hole in the fabric for the screw. It holds the curtain rod flush to the wall. This means that no light comes out the top of the drapes!

These brackets also ended up holding the heavy frabic up better than a normal curtain bracket would have.

All we had to do on these blackout curtains was sew a pocket for the rod and hem them. It was that easy!!! I was just so happy with the outcome. I have spent alot of time thinking about how I could get these curtains up without haveing to mess with the original drapes. I think it ended up working out better and I am so happy with the results!!

Look how I found Parker yesterday drinking his milk!!! What a cutie!