Curtain question: for anyone who sews

[DebMcDonald]

I feel like I am making this harder than needs to be and I am hoping that there's a short cut to this.

I bought curtains (panels) for our bedroom, two panels per window is really too much so I thought of cutting them in half top to bottom and then resewing them, but would I also have to then pull out the stiching where the pole goes or is there a way to shorten them width wise without pulling out those two rows.

Thanks!

 

[MazdaUK]

How about just using one panel per window? Very trendy! Flatter curtains are fashionable as well so it doesn't matter if you've not got much gathering