Curtain rods seem to be quite expensive, and not well made! My husband(he's a genius!)came up with this idea, when we needed curtains in our home. This works well with the curtains that have the tabs.
First, we bought 3 1/2" Hitch rings, you can buy them at Canadian Tire in the Hardware section.Please note that the actual ring itself is 2 1/2" diameter.
Next, we bought a dowel at Home Depot that was 1 1/4" in diameter. 
For our window we needed to buy 6 and 3/4 ft.Remember to allow a little overhang.
For our window we needed to buy 6 and 3/4 ft.Remember to allow a little overhang.The hitch rings are screwed into a hole that was pre drilled in the window header. Then the dowel hangs in the hitch ring!
Total cost...Hitch rings $1.99 each Dowel $1.66/ft
(Curtains were bought at a Buy one get one free sale at Home Outfitters. The curtain backs were in the clearance section.)
