Making curtains, need advice

mah_jong

Hi

I am making a pair of HUGE curtains. I have made a couple of pairs before and a lined pair. This is in a totally different league.

They are for a bay window and will be two and a half times the width of the fabric. Where should i put the half bit....in the middle .....or on the oustide edge, where another seam is less likely to be seen.

Also if anyone has any ideas of how to manhandle (are you allowed to say that in this day and age??) umpteem metres of fabric, I would welcome suggestions! Should I 'attach' the lining to the curtain too?? They are three metres long ... took me a long time to pluck up the courage to cut the fabric and I had to move the furniture!!!!

mah

Bennifred

Hi, mah_jong!
Wow, you are brave - it's not easy handling huge volumes of fabric! I find it's harder to pattern-match very long curtains, as the weight seems to pull them out of kilter - is your fabric plain or patterned?
The half-widths go on the outside edges of the curtains.
I think lined curtains hang better if the lining is attached, especially very full ones.
A really useful book to refer to is "The New Fabric Magic" by Melanie Paine - it explains techniques step-by-step in a really easy to understand way, with excellent illustrations - I used it a lot when I first started making curtains, and still refer to it from time to time even now!
Good luck! and take your time.

Pooky

Good luck!!! I always cut the lining 3" narrower than my curtain - turn right sides together and sew down the edge, this forms a huge tube of fabric, which you then turn out and press so that you have a 1.5" reveer on each side. Then I square the bottom hems and hand sew. Then measure exactly where you need the heading tape to go and sew on, this gives you a nice square bottom hem to the curtains. If you're using that much fabric make sure you use a decent header tape and it might be worth weighting the curtains too, especailly if they're not full length.

I used to alter curtains for a large company to fit fussy customers windows, sometimes they used to pay £90 just to have them taken up by half an inch!!!

Mado

Can't read this without feeling guilty.. I'm half way through lining our living-room curtains as they were never lined and looked scruffy (still like the fabic though) and OH threathened to have new ones made (a bit extravagant in my view). So now, I've got to do the lot by hand....

I would attach the lining to the curtains... much easier to deal with from the start.

maryb

I made some curtains for a big set of French windows recently and each one was two and a half widths like yours. it was plain fabric, which helped but what really made the difference was using the blind hem foot on the sewing machine to hem the curtains on all three sides except the top. Then I cut the linings and hemmed those on three sides just with a plain flat seam. Then I did the locked in lining technique which any book from the library will show you how to do. This is worth doing with such big curtains rather than sewing the top fabric and lining together wrong sides together and then turning right sides out as otherwise the lining tends to bag out from the curtain and it is harder to get it to hang in nice neat folds. This was the hardest bit from the point of manhandling the fabric - you need a big table to spread the cutain out on but it's quite easy to do. Then slip stitch the lining to the curtain all the way round, fold over the top and attach the heading tape.

Using the sewing machine as much as possible meant I was able to make the two cutains in a single weekend (though that didn't include the measuring and cutting out - like you I hesitated for ages before doing that bit!!)

ChocClare

I had to do this too with all 27 of my windows (!) - the ones in the sitting room were the biggest pain - they took 18 metres of fabric and I had to clear the sitting room to have a space on the floor anything like wide enough to lay them out!
I interlined mine too (glutton for punishment) as the windows face east and it's FREEZING in the winter. I found the best way to attach the lining (no table big enough I'm afraid) was to lay the main fabric wrong side up on the floor and fold it along its length in concertina folds so that you're left with a very long piece of fabric about half a width of fabric wide. Turn in 3 or 4 inches along the left hand side of the curtain (LHS with wrong side facing you) and press (easier to do this first before laying it on the floor perhaps!). Now take the lining. Lay it down on top of the curtain and sew the left hand edge (right side of lining facing) to the curtain. Leave it unsewn for about six inches top and bottom (you can pin it to hold it in place if you like). Smooth the lining onto the fabric for about half a width of fabric and then fold the lining back on itself. Use the locked in lining technique to attach the lining to the curtain (if it's your half width on the outside, then you can sew it quite loosely to the seam allowance without having to be too careful). Smooth out again another half width and fold over the bit you've just sewn so that the curtain on the floor doesn't get too big - still only a width of fabric wide. GET UP FREQUENTLY BEFORE YOUR LEGS GO TO SLEEP! And best of luck - you've just reminded me that my daughter has one girly purple swirl and beaded fringe curtain and one plain blue check with zigzag valance curtain left over from when it was her brother's room, and I really ought to get down on the floor again and get it finished....BOOO!!!!

emr_2

Interlining - that sounds the biz!

i am moving nxt wk to a house which is a doubleglazing-free zone. what do you use for interlining? thought of getting wool blankets from charity shop?

meadowcat

Is the curtain material very heavy? I just think with so much width and length that the curtains will be extremely heavy to handle if you attach the lining. You could make the linings separate and attach with hooks. This makes it much easier to handle when washing. Also it is easier to recycle the linings if you change the curtains. Just my thoughts.

meadowcat

emr wrote:

Interlining - that sounds the biz!

i am moving nxt wk to a house which is a doubleglazing-free zone. what do you use for interlining? thought of getting wool blankets from charity shop?

You can usually get interlining where you buy your curtain fabric. It is a lovely fleecy fabric, goes between the curtain and lining. It makes the curtains very heavy and full.

monkmorency

Ooh, our new living room curtains are interlined - it's like having a duvet hanging up at the window - perfect for this weather!

I'm ashamed to say I had to get somebody else to make them up though, as my curtain making skills leave a lot to be desired, and it would have taken me months to make a bad job of them, and I'm cold NOW!

There is some really useful advice here though - thanks all :T

Queenie

emr wrote:

Interlining - that sounds the biz!

i am moving nxt wk to a house which is a doubleglazing-free zone. what do you use for interlining? thought of getting wool blankets from charity shop?

When I made interlined curtains (long time ago now) I used 'bump' .... but you'll need to take into consideration the fabric you will be using for the curtain and backing as well.

.... here's some info on curtain interlinings which you may find helpful when making your decision: Cope's - Interlinings