making curtains.. help please!

charliee_3

Hi all, we have a big patio door in our lounge and its getting really cold in here. I cant help feeling it would be warmer if i had some thick curtains up for the winter..

looked in the shop and looked on ebaby but they seem very expensive for heavy ones, so was thinking it may work out cheaper to buy material and get MIL 'women what sews' to knock us up a pair, but how do i work out how much material i need?

ChocClare

1. Measure your window side to side.

2. Measure your window top to bottom.

You need double the width of material to have some fullness to your curtains. Therefore if your window is eg 4 feet wide, EACH curtain will need to be four feet wide, so that when you gather them up, they still fit across the window (hope you're following me here).

You need to add at least four inches top and bottom to the length of the material to allow for turnings.

If your patio door is particularly wide, then each curtain may need more than one width of material.

If your material is patterned, then you will have to allow extra so that the pattern matches up.

It is much simpler than it seems - common sense really! If you tell me the measurements of your window, I will be happy to tell you how much material you need!

If you want your curtains nice and thick, you will also need interlining and lining, all of which can add to the price considerably. If you can find a pair of thin (cheap) curtains which fit, you might be better off ungathering the curtain header so they're flat, and then tacking some interlining (or an unwanted blanket or old quilt) to the back to give them some weight and warmth.

I have to say, I have got thick, interlined curtains on the conservatory and front doors, and I wouldn't be without them - they do make a huge difference. As I say, let me know your measurements, and I'll tell you how much fabric you need, then you can decide for yourself.

maman

Chococlare, I'm interested that you have curtains on your front door because I'm thinking of doing that with mine (half-glazed) ready for winter. I haven't a problem with measuring/making up the curtains but what I wanted to know was how do you hang them (it?) over the front door without it getting in the way when opening it/during the day? Do you have a rail/hooks?? Also, have you made up a proper lined curtain? As I have nothing else to match up with in the hall (other than carpet) I was thinking of maybe adapting a velour type throw or similar. What do you think? Any thoughts welcome.

[Deleted User]

as a `woman what sews`and having made quite a few curtains, I would suggest asking her first. I HATE making curtains and in particular great big curtains. They aren`t just knocked up, they take ages to make properly and she`ll have to be bending on the floor to do these big heavy curtains that you want

Learn to make them yourself perhaps

ktpie

maman wrote: »

Chococlare, I'm interested that you have curtains on your front door because I'm thinking of doing that with mine (half-glazed) ready for winter. I haven't a problem with measuring/making up the curtains but what I wanted to know was how do you hang them (it?) over the front door without it getting in the way when opening it/during the day? Do you have a rail/hooks?? Also, have you made up a proper lined curtain? As I have nothing else to match up with in the hall (other than carpet) I was thinking of maybe adapting a velour type throw or similar. What do you think? Any thoughts welcome.

Our front door has curtains and they have a regular pole which is on the wall above the door and is wider than the door so that during the day we can push the curtains back so that they don't interfere with the door. They would be a bit of a pain if you wanted to come in and out once they were drawn but we tend to all be in the house in the evening so it doesn't bother us.

I just made some curtains for my living room and I used a bargain throw to make them wider, they look great. I added some curtain tape and sewed them onto the sides of the curtains. Only thing with a velour type one is that it might be fairly heavy so you would have to make sure the pole was up to it.

ktpie

charliee wrote: »

Hi all, we have a big patio door in our lounge and its getting really cold in here. I cant help feeling it would be warmer if i had some thick curtains up for the winter..

looked in the shop and looked on ebaby but they seem very expensive for heavy ones, so was thinking it may work out cheaper to buy material and get MIL 'women what sews' to knock us up a pair, but how do i work out how much material i need?

I've recently been pricing up curtains and I agree that they are expensive but be careful that by the time you have bought the material, the lining fabric and the header tape it isn't more expensive than buying them ready made. You may have more success than I did in finding decent cheap heavy material!

Chris25

[URL="javascript:CaricaFoto('speccat/portiere820.jpg')"][/URL]

Portiere rods are designed to fix with the long bracket on the door and the shorter bracket on the door jamb. When the door is opened the rod pivots and hinges with the door and is lifted slightly to raise the curtain off the floor to stop it catching and dragging under the door

If you don't have enough space on the wall alongside the door frame to draw back your curtains, a portiere rod might be the answer. They're not cheap but might solve the problem

charliee_3

thanks for the replies, i like the idea of sewing blanket material onto thinner curtains to make them heavier..i suppose another good option might be to buy sheets of wonderweb and thermally bond blanket material to the thin curtains to make it nice and heavyweight (i knew that term at fashion design univeristy would come in handy one day!) and this would mean minimal sewing (i dont have a machine), might work out a lot cheaper than all the lining and interling.. food for thought definitely...

the other option is thermal blackout roller blinds, but we have them in the bedroom and they dont seem to make it feel any warmer, so may be a waste of money..

valk_scot

charliee wrote: »

..i suppose another good option might be to buy sheets of wonderweb and thermally bond blanket material to the thin curtains to make it nice and heavyweight

I don't think that would work too well, because you'd have to keep all three layers absolutely flat and on grain while you pressed it together, and how would you manage that with a domestic iron and ironing board? Anyhow, it's the layers of air trapped between the lining, interlining and curtain fabric that provides the insulation, not the fabric itself. (Possibly why your thermal blinds don't work so well...do you have curtains drawn over them as well?) Bonding the layers together would eliminate the air layers and leave you with one heavy lump of fabric.

If you have a local sewing lady, ask her advice as to measurements, layers and how much material would be required, and get her to quote you a price. Add that to the costs of material...and you'll probably find that as long as you need a stock size or thereabouts, it's probably cheaper to buy ready made ones. It's really only economical to have them made by the lady down the road if the curtains are an unusual size, or if she's not charging the going rate per hour for some reason. Which, if she's a good seeamstress, she should be!

ChocClare

maman wrote: »

Chococlare, I'm interested that you have curtains on your front door because I'm thinking of doing that with mine (half-glazed) ready for winter. I haven't a problem with measuring/making up the curtains but what I wanted to know was how do you hang them (it?) over the front door without it getting in the way when opening it/during the day? Do you have a rail/hooks?? Also, have you made up a proper lined curtain? As I have nothing else to match up with in the hall (other than carpet) I was thinking of maybe adapting a velour type throw or similar. What do you think? Any thoughts welcome.

Hi maman - we have always had a curtain over our front door because we've always lived in Victorian/Edwardian houses (now in one dating from the middle of the 17th century) so not exactly draught-proof. I bought one of those bog standard plastic curtain rails (I got mine from Woolworths, sorry!) which was about one-and-a-half times the width of the front door and then we steamed it with a kettle so that it curved round onto the side wall (hope you're following me here). DH then fixed it to the wall and I made the curtain wide enough to cover the front door and side light, and during the day it pulled round onto the side wall out of the way. We only had it drawn across in the evening, and if anyone was out they just had to ring the bell or go round the back!

FYI and to answer charliee as well, I made the curtain, interlined it and lined it. In our last house we had 27 - count them - 27 windows and I made every single interlined blasted curtain by hand for all of them. My idea of hell is not eternal fire but an eternity making curtains. :rotfl:

I think a velour throw is not a bad idea at all. In our (new) house, I have taken the existing horrible curtains, undone the heading tape so it lies out flat, turned them over and used them as the interlining and lining for new curtains. In other words, I spread my new piece of material flat face down on the floor, laid the old curtains face up flat on top of it, turned over a hem all the way round and then reattached the heading tape. Obviously this will depend on how dodgy the existing curtains are and whether it will lie flat afterwards, but you could always get some cheap but horrible curtains from the charity shop and just add new material over the top. If you can get hold of velvet curtains, they are lovely and thick, so this would probably work very well.

I know there is a faction in the States (not faction, can't think of the word :rolleyes:) who make quilts which they put up at the windows literally velcro'ed to battens which they put on all sides of their windows through the winter. Obviously you take it down during the day, but that's not a bad idea if you want to save money...
ETA just looked for a picture of this and I remembered that some people roll these up during the day and tie them so they sort of look like a sleeping bag thingy...sort of like a roller blind - oh, you get the idea!