Making my first curtains

[Nigel]

I am in the process of making my first set of curtians. I have little sewing experience by am good with my hands. I have been restoring my 1840 house in North London for a number of years and have plastered, made joinery and furniture, wallapered and decorated. I figure I should also be able to sew, even if as a 50 year old professional man I "don't fit the demogrphic", as the nice young lady behind the counter of McCullogh & Wallis the haberdashers put it.

My first curtain project is on the ambitious side but I have bought the materials, borrowed by mother's 1970s Bernina, and made a start. There is a picture on:

http://fitzwalter.blogspot.com/2009/...-curtains.html

[Louise]

Re: Making my first curtains

Welcome Nigel.

As for fitting demographics - who cares? If you are interested in curtains, this is the place to be. What a first project to take on - the mock up in lining looks fab, as you say, with fringing/trimming I think you will get the look you are aiming for.

Hopefully you will find all the info or advice you may need here.

[Jackie]

Re: Making my first curtains

Absolutely marvellous darling! Think the whole thing will look wonderful - I'd personally make the swags a bit bigger/deeper if I were you. You're aiming for a luxuriously fulsome treatment I think, and experience tells me that it's always better to start off with too much fabric rather than err on the side of caution and risk it looking a bit mean. (Demographic my eye!)

[Nigel]

Re: Making my first curtains

Thank you for the encouraging words. Your advice about making the swags deeper is helpful. In the mock up the one on the left is deeper than the one on the right and I concluded that the left was better. I have now cut out my material unfortunately so I cant make it bigger still although I did add a bit on to the Merrick and Day pattern I am using. I have also cut out the tails now but I might experiment with folding them in a rather looser way than the pattern recommends.

I have bought a 10 cm bullion fringe (made by Henry Newberry) which, when added will make the swag look bigger. I am also lining and interlining them which should give more fullness.

I am not sure yet how to secure the fringe and have some questions on how best to fix everything to the pole, but will post these questions (and others no doubt) under the swags and tails section.

Re: Making my first curtains

Hi Nigel - impressive work indeed! Personally, I find using specialist glue to attach trimmings to window dressings works best - hand sewn can take ages and is terribly laborious....

[Cat]

Re: Making my first curtains

Hello from me too, Nigel. Goodness, you're not doing things by half for your first sewing project. They will look fabulous when finished,the mock up looks great and the deep fringing will make them look very opulent. You will find lots of helpful people here to give advice you as you progress.

Good luck,

Cat

[Louise]

Re: Making my first curtains

Hi Flamboyant - is there a glue you would recommend? I have just used the Trimfix tape from M&D for the first time and was pleased with it so would be interested to hear what you use.