Welcome back to the craft room and today’s How to Make a Curtain Fold Card post. Are you looking for a creative way to step up your handmade cards? The Curtain Fold technique is a beautiful way to add dimension and visual interest, plus it’s the perfect opportunity to showcase your favorite double-sided patterned paper. In this step-by-step tutorial, I’ll guide you through creating this striking fold—and at the end, I’ll share two fun variations to inspire even more cardmaking ideas. Whether you’re crafting for Mother’s Day or any special occasion, this fold is sure to impress!
The Curtain Fold
Cut and Score Guide
Let’s start with our curtain. Grab your favorite double-sided patterned paper and cut it down to 4″ x 11 1/2″. I am using a piece from the Die Cuts With a View Silver Foil Paper pad. As mentioned earlier, this fold is ideal for showcasing both sides of your patterned paper. It works best when the two sides have a strong contrast—think different colors, or like in my example today, a busy pattern on one side and a more subtle design on the other.
Next, let’s create the score lines. With the 11 1/2″ side at the top, score at 3″, 4″, 6″, 7″, 9″, and 10″. If your patterned paper is on the thinner side, go gently with your scoring tool to avoid tearing or creasing too deeply.
Before we make the angled cut for our curtain, we need to add a quick tick mark. Rotate your patterned paper to the left so that the right-hand edge is now at the top. Then, make a small tick mark at 1 1/4″ using a pencil or your scoring tool. If you’d like to reveal more—or less—of the pattern on the back, feel free to adjust this mark up or down to suit your style.
Angle Cut and Folding
Now it’s time to cut the angle. For this type of cut, I like to use my Fiskars 12″ paper trimmer with the wire guide—it makes lining things up much easier. Place the pencil mark at the top of your trimmer, then rotate the paper so the bottom left-hand corner lines up with the cutting track. To get a clean cut, either position your blade at the top of the paper or place it in the center and cut both up and down. Starting right at the point can sometimes wrinkle the paper or leave a jagged edge. And here’s a little tip: if you prefer, you can make this angled cut before scoring. That way, your leftover piece is more likely to be a usable scrap for another project!
Now let’s start folding our curtain. Begin on the left-hand side and make a valley fold by bringing the paper from the right over to the left, as shown below. Be sure to line up the top edge of your paper before burnishing the fold with your Teflon bone folder for a crisp finish.
Next, fold your paper to the right at the following score line to create a mountain fold. As before, make sure the top edge stays aligned before burnishing the fold with your Teflon bone folder.
Continue folding in this pattern, alternating between valley and mountain folds along the score lines. Once you’ve completed all the folds, your curtain should look like the image below.
Apply the adhesive of your choice in 1″ columns along both the front and back sides of your curtain. There are a couple of different approaches here—some creators prefer to only glue the top portion of the curtain, leaving the bottom free for a more open and dimensional look. While that style can be beautiful, I personally prefer to adhere the entire length of the curtain for a more secure and polished finish.
As it is, this curtain fits perfectly on a standard A2 card base measuring 4 1/4″ x 5 1/2″. If you’re using a colored card base or prefer the clean look of white, this might be the perfect time to skip ahead and start decorating your card. However, I’ll be adding a card mat to mine today—so if you’d like to do the same, follow along with the next steps.
The Card Front
For my card mat, I’m using a piece of pink Bazzill Basics cardstock from my stash, cut to 4″ x 5 1/4″. Since I’m adding this mat, I need to trim my curtain down slightly. This is the perfect time to square up the sides or top if needed. In this case, I did a pretty good job of matching the top edge, so I only had to trim 1/4″ off the right-hand side. To adhere the curtain to the mat, I used a combination of Scor-Tape and Art Glitter Glue. For a precise fit, I placed the mat in my Mini Misti before attaching the curtain.
Decorating the Curtain
For most Curtain Fold Cards I’ve seen over the years, ribbon is the decoration of choice. Today, I decided to switch things up a bit and reached for my Heartfelt Creations Regal Borders and Pockets die set. Using one of the scalloped border dies, I lined it up along the bottom edge of a scrap piece of 110lb Recollections White Cardstock. After securing the die in place with Spellbinders Best Ever Craft Tape, I ran it through my Sizzix Big Shot.
To position the scalloped border on my card front, I used my Club Scrap centering ruler to find the center of the die, then marked 2 5/8″ on either side. After trimming it to size with my Tim Holtz Mini Guillotine paper trimmer, I cut it down to 3/4″ wide. Using a combination of Scor-Tape and Art Glitter Glue, I adhered the border to the top of my card panel, aligning it carefully in my Mini Misti for precision.
The Sentiment
There are so many sentiment options I could have chosen, but I decided to go with my favorite from the Kaiser Craft Occasions stamp set. The “Happy Mother’s Day” stamp has such a beautiful, curly font that’s still easy to read! I stamped it onto a scrap piece of Recollections 110lb white cardstock using GinaK Designs Amalgam Ink in Obsidian Black. To give the sentiment a little extra flair, I cut it out using the Spellbinders Sentiment Labels die set.
To finish off the sentiment, I added two shiny silver mini brads to the ends of the sentiment strip. Using my Tim Holtz pokey tool and a foam mat, I made small starter holes on the card front. I then enlarged the holes slightly before lining up the sentiment strip and securing the brads. To ensure the brads were as flat as possible, I placed the card front onto my work surface and pressed down gently with my finger. For an even flatter finish, I used my small acrylic block to apply extra pressure.
The Finished Curtain Fold Card
I just love how this card turned out! While ribbon is a classic choice for the top of curtain fold cards, this scalloped “valance” really takes it to the next level for me!
Curtain Fold Variations
As promised, I’d like to share two different variations of the curtain fold with you. The first is called the Double Curtain Fold. It’s a stepped-up version of the original fold, but still just as easy to create. For this card, the patterned paper comes from the Die Cuts With a View Rose Quartz paper pad, and the cardstock is another piece from Bazzill Basics. I used a different die from the Heartfelt Creations die set for the valance, and the sentiment was cut using the Spellbinders Labels Four die set.
The next variation is called the Double Pleated Fold. My example below is made with a scrap piece of patterned paper from the Silver Leaf DCWV paper pad, so it’s not as tall as it should be for this design. The sentiment comes from the Stampabilities Card Phrases stamp set, stamped with Amalgam ink. For the card mat, I used a dark blue cardstock from my local stationery store.
Thank you for joining me for today’s How to Make a Curtain Fold Card post! Have you ever made a Curtain Fold card before? I’d love to hear about your experience in the comments below! As a special treat, I’m offering free downloadable cutting and scoring templates for all three fold variations featured in this tutorial. You can grab your templates HERE to make your cardmaking process even easier! I’ll see you next time with more creative ideas and fun projects—happy crafting!
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