Spiral Staircase problem

[Julie Evans]

My client wants a heavy curtain fitted halfway up an ancient stone spiral staircase to stop the cold air. I have fitted a brass pole on the wooden lintel but the projection of the brackets means that there is a 10cm gap between the pole& lintel. When you look up at the curtain this gap is very obvious, and it means that the cold air can still get through. What I need is a header of some sort that will sit between the lintel and the pole and fill the gap between the back of the pole and the lintel. The curtain front will be seen as you come up the staircase and so I am effectively hanging the curtain backwards on the pole. The back of the curtain will also be seen when you come down the stairs so I want to avoid undightly header tape & hooks I will consider having the brackets made shorter to pull the pole nearer the lintel, but wondered if anyone had any other ideas. The curtain is being re-made from ancient, holey wool!! and is going to be virtually flat. I am going to interline it and line in matching coloured lining.

Julie

[Louise]

Re: Spiral Staircase problem

Could you contruct a sort of backwards hard pelmet then it would fill the gap and hide the back of the curtain as you come down the stairs?

[rjd]

Re: Spiral Staircase problem

Could you do a sort of double stand up heading, possibly stiffened with vilene if necessary ( or slightly stuffed with wadding), with the hooks sewn in between the two headings to hook onto the rings? Then the stand-up would go either side of the pole. Just a thought - haven't tried anything like it, but was thinking about it as I set about sewing 5 pairs of interlined curtains in the same fabric.
Regards
Rosannagh

[janie]

Re: Spiral Staircase problem

Could you rethink the window and put the curtain inside the window recess?
Or you could use a wooden pole split in half through the middle , mounted onto a pelmet board and with a track underneath the pole. My track fitter makes them up, but I have a feeling that Jones also supply them ready made.

[Julie Evans]

Re: Spiral Staircase problem

Many thanks for all your ideas - they have given me a number of options - I could do a double header with a larger header at the front and smaller at the back, or I could do a backwards pelmet so that you could still see the pole from the front.
I am intrigued by the idea of cutting the pole in half - do you mean lengthways & do you have a picture of it? Is it attached to a pelmet board with the track on the back?

Julie

[janie]

Re: Spiral Staircase problem

Yes that's right, the pole is split lengthways, you would need probaly a minimum 2" pole and then the track is set underneath so that the runners come just below the pole and you take the curtains around the returns so it makes a nice 'seal'. It looks very good, but unfortunatly I don't have a picture of it.
Janie

[Louise]

Re: Spiral Staircase problem

Do you have the Merrick & Day Encyclopaedia of Curtains? That has a section on p130 on making double-sided door curtains using a hand pleated heading which might help with the curtain being seen from both sides.

[Julie Evans]

Re: Spiral Staircase problem

Dear Janie,

What kind of applications would you use this for - is it to finsh the bottom of a formal pelmet or attached to the edge of a pelmet board & how do you fit the finials? Sounds really interesting.

Julie

[janie]

Re: Spiral Staircase problem

You attach the pole to the top of a pelmet board. We have found it very useful if you want the look of a pole but the pole needs to go right up to the ceiling for some technical reason, or it can give quite a contemporary look,
as for the finials they too can be split and glued on or if it is going onto the ceiling then the pole can be mitred and go around the returns. It can also be used with romans so that they look as though they are hanging from the pole.
Hope that helps
Janie

[Rosie]

Re: Spiral Staircase problem

Hello Janie,

PLEASE post a picture! I really need to see this as I cannot get my brain around what your explaining and I'm desperate to understand....!!!!

[janie]

Re: Spiral Staircase problem

Sorry Rosie, I just haven't got a picture, and I can't draw it as I don't know how to scan on a computer, I think my curtain skills are a bit better than my computer skills, at least I hope so!