By far the best part of the new apartment is having a guest/sewing room. The old place was very small so I sewed at the kitchen table, ate at the coffee table, and lived with a mess. I'm especially stoked about how the curtains turned out (marathoned 6 sets in a weekend), but I won't talk about the bedroom curtains, which had a 2in difference b/w the left and right side. (Oops.)
Technique: I marked each curtain where it hit the floor, then added 1 1/2in to give a 3/4in seam (turned twice). Then I cut, pinned, and pressed the seam before sewing.
Lessons: Pro tip from my mom: use a longer running stitch when sewing with thicker fabrics to avoid puckering.
Ikea sells blackout curtains, which you can easily hang behind cute patterned curtains (hooks included).
If you're going for floor-length curtains, aim to have the bottom to be within 1/2in of the floor to avoid a weird cropped look. (Remember that bedroom curtain?)
What I'd do differently: Don't measure a curtain on the bed instead of a firm surface. Ugh. My mom—her wisdom is infinite—suggested reattaching the cut edge and making a box pleat to tidy it up so I'll give that a shot.