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Making window quilts

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  • lostinrates
    lostinrates Posts: 55,283 Forumite
    I've been Money Tipped!
    Seakay wrote: »
    I don't think that I can achieve airtight with my window quilt when i make it, but I think that I can do better than a lined curtain. Does anyone know if a mylar blanket is washable? If not I will use washable shower curtain material for a vapour barrier. I know that mylar blankets are cheap but once they are sewn in it would be a shame if they disintegrated or something!
    Interesting to hear about the causes of condensation though. My bedroom is unheated but every morning the windows are streaming. Obviously I heat up a room well even if I am hiding under a duvet with only a small portion of my head poking out! (sometimes that has a hat on, but still condensation on the windows!)
    We have had two almost heating free winters, and the condensation freezes inside the windows, so we can't be that great heaters! (fwiw, our loo has also frozen solid and bottles of water at the bedside etc so, again, we are not great heaters!
  • Picasso7
    Picasso7 Posts: 4,038 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    sandieb wrote: »
    I've just made a window quilt and am part way through the second one.

    I used blackout lining material bought at my local shop and then I bought a couple of quilted mattress protectors from Wilkinsons. I already had some patterned cotton material for the fronts.

    Fiddly to sew together but got there! I've used tension rods to hold them as they are temporary fixtures. I sewed on webbing to use as ties when I roll them up.

    Just checked on temperatures .. 12 degrees on the window side of the quilt and 18 on the inside.

    Do they crease when you roll them up? I need a blind for my glass back door. The old door used to have as a roll-up blind one of those rattan beach mats and it worked really well. There is more glass in the new door so that won't work. So I was going to make a Roman blind. A roll-up one would be so much easier. It's going to be plain white but will it get horribly creased if I rolled it up each morning please?
  • Picasso7
    Picasso7 Posts: 4,038 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    chipp wrote: »
    Does anyone have any advice regarding magnetic strip? I thought one mag strip was much like another, but it seems not, there are different widths, thicknesses and materials which presumably all have different degrees of magnetism. I'm considering using the mag strip/steel strip combination used for secondary glazing, because it's white faced so will be less obtrusive when the blinds are removed in summer, but unsure whether the magnetism will be strong enough through a layer of fabric. Also will a mylar (space blanket) interlining interfere with the magnetism?

    I'm sure someone on this board has the answers!

    I was wondering about magnetic strips too, to hold the bottom at least of a Roman blind to the window frame. I found a company on the web and phoned them for advice. They were very helpful and told me which magnetic strips were best. I have not bought yet as I am not quite sure it will work for me.
  • Picasso7
    Picasso7 Posts: 4,038 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    Don't forget charity shops are a good source of material. I found a couple of old fashioned quilted bedspreads which I am hoping will be helpful and someone has reported that Tesco's value sleeping bags, SEL £7.98, are going through the tills at £1.90. Apparently they are not winter-weight but I thought they might be worth a look. I gather you've got to make sure that the stuffing isn't the sort which will be affected by gravity or else it will clump.
  • Seakay
    Seakay Posts: 4,267 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    We have had two almost heating free winters, and the condensation freezes inside the windows, so we can't be that great heaters! (fwiw, our loo has also frozen solid and bottles of water at the bedside etc so, again, we are not great heaters!

    But you must be creating heat or there would be no condensation to freeze (or have I misunderstood the concept?). Once it starts getting really cold then i get ice on the inside of the windows as well.
    I am trying not to put on the heating this year as I really can't afford it - have a wood burning stove so one warm room in the evening. Haven't cracked yet but worried by the idea of a frozen loo - how did you deal with that one?
    I'm going to experiment with air filled plastic wrapping (like bubble wrap but bigger air pockets) on the bathroom window glass instead of a window quilt, or possibly as well as, as it could stay up all the time without losing daylight. The room has three outside walls and no cavity walls so very cold.
  • lostinrates
    lostinrates Posts: 55,283 Forumite
    I've been Money Tipped!
    Seakay wrote: »
    But you must be creating heat or there would be no condensation to freeze (or have I misunderstood the concept?). Once it starts getting really cold then i get ice on the inside of the windows as well.
    I am trying not to put on the heating this year as I really can't afford it - have a wood burning stove so one warm room in the evening. Haven't cracked yet but worried by the idea of a frozen loo - how did you deal with that one?
    I'm going to experiment with air filled plastic wrapping (like bubble wrap but bigger air pockets) on the bathroom window glass instead of a window quilt, or possibly as well as, as it could stay up all the time without losing daylight. The room has three outside walls and no cavity walls so very cold.

    I think you are right( though I think the fact we breath out is more important than how warm we are, but not sure...)

    The loo,
    With difficulty! first we needed to disappear into a copse so we could think about it comfortably.:o

    Because we had on
    Y immersion for hot water we put that on and the heat from pipes, then having an electric heater on for a bath was sufficient to raise temps slowly. Then we got wiser and
    Switched the immersion on late to keep things from freezing, then in the very coldest weather had to resort to electric heaters.

    Our dogs had a (permantly supplied with heat) room and we reposition them and there heating the the main pipe run room.


    We HAVE had heating installed this year but it's proving temperamental. It hasn't been signed off yet after six weeks I think, of being installed. With heating our house mainly seems to sit at 16/ 17 degrees. Which is nice, but we still have to sort out curtains etc.and....anything that relieves the heating and helps the emperature is worth trying to incorporate IMO!
  • sandieb
    sandieb Posts: 728 Forumite
    edited 13 December 2012 at 9:11AM
    Picasso7 wrote: »
    Do they crease when you roll them up? I need a blind for my glass back door. The old door used to have as a roll-up blind one of those rattan beach mats and it worked really well. There is more glass in the new door so that won't work. So I was going to make a Roman blind. A roll-up one would be so much easier. It's going to be plain white but will it get horribly creased if I rolled it up each morning please?

    The creasing will depend on what kind of material you use. Cotton will crease much more. When purchasing your fabric, do the 'scrunch' test with your hand.

    On the other hand if the blind will be down mostly at night, then you will be asleep most of the time and won't see it and you won't be sitting looking at the back door to observe the creasing anyway!

    It might come down to warmth versus looks.
  • Seakay wrote: »
    But you must be creating heat or there would be no condensation to freeze (or have I misunderstood the concept?).
    I think you are right( though I think the fact we breath out is more important than how warm we are, but not sure...)

    . . .

    Our dogs had a (permantly supplied with heat) room and we reposition them and there heating the the main pipe run room.

    Anything that puts moisture into the air can then become condensation. So yes breathing (by humans and animals!) and cooking, boiling the kettle, have a shower/bath. It will all contribute, so it's a problem to manage rather than eliminate. Unless you intend to stop washing, eating and breathing, in which case condensation will be the least of your problems :rotfl:
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  • Picasso7
    Picasso7 Posts: 4,038 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    sandieb wrote: »
    The creasing will depend on what kind of material you use. Cotton will crease much more. When purchasing your fabric, do the 'scrunch' test with your hand.

    On the other hand if the blind will be down mostly at night, then you will be asleep most of the time and won't see it and you won't be sitting looking at the back door to observe the creasing anyway!

    It might come down to warmth versus looks.

    :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:How sensible! You are quite right, I don't spend too much time staring at the back door! Will go looking for a reasonably crease-free old sheet and will stop worrying about creasing. Thank you so much! This will be better than the Roman blind I was thinking I might make.
  • sandieb
    sandieb Posts: 728 Forumite
    A poly cotton sheet might crease less.

    Hope you get on okay with your blind making - last week I made 4 window quilts and they've been very effective during the cold snap we had.

    I used cotton top, padded mattress protector (very lightweight) inner and backed them with black out curtain lining. One of the blinds I made into a 'faux' Roman Blind with 2 tension rods. Of course this is not an option for a door but is an effective window treatment with no permanent fixing. I can take the lot down without a mark when the weather gets (hopefully) warmer in the spring/summer.
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