Dining room curtains

[Me!]

Help please, I am completely useless at choosing curtains!

We have an old (c.1580) Suffolk farmhouse. Our dining room has a pamment floor, large redbrick fireplace on one wall, magnolia walls, low white ceiling with dark brown beams, and small white framed windows. Whenever I look at pictures of curtains, they are usually shown as long, flowing, floor to ceiling, endless drapes of textiles! I have small, short windows with modern steel panel radiators immediately below each of them, and not at all like the the ones I see.

So, what do other people have for curtains in old farmhouse / cottage type dining rooms please?

 

[MikeG]

Aaaaaaaaaaaaah! Soft furnishings..........!!!!!!!!!

I feel faint.

 

[JoceAndChris]

I don't! I feel excited! I'll have a think and post back! What colours and patterns do you like?

 

[JoceAndChris]

Id go for black wrought iron poles and shepherds crook finials - no top treatment ( swags and tails) and goblet pleats!

Fabric to give a nod to the period :

https://www.fabricsandpapers.com/item/view/8700-Arden-Fabric-Red?ae8d165566f1e006a9f574cf0ccb4cc3043713cd

 

[JoceAndChris]

Or something like

https://www.fabricsandpapers.com/item/view/4776-jacobean-embroidered-linen-fabric/category/embroidered-fabrics

Or

http://www.marvictextiles.co.uk/jacaranda-wine_2/

Or anything that resembles a "lampas" fabric or a damask. And if you want to go contemporary, Jim Lawrence offer a nice range, and the black finials and poles.

Here are some I made for a little window with goblet pleats :

They should be hand sewn and interlined. They're so much warmer and hang so much better than ready mades. Any good curtain maker should be able to do them!

 

[Me!]

Wow Joce, many thanks indeed!

So, my dining room currently has one south facing window -


one tiny east facing window -


a fireplace -



(more to follow as I think I've hit a file limit with this post)

 

[Me!]

Oak table and chairs (currently with red cushions being the only real colour in the room) -


Sitting room curtains that we chose years ago, but still like -


Sitting room curtain fabric -


(more to follow)

 

[Me!]

I certainly like the idea of a black iron pole rather than a plastic rail, but I had assumed I wouldn't be able to do that on the south window because there is so little gap between the top of the window and the bottom of that very large beam above it.
Where I have a pole in another room, the curtain hangs down from it like this -


But, your photos look like the curtains are hanging on poles, but somehow higher up than mine in the photo above. Are they still hanging on rings around the pole and on ruflette tape? Or is it something to do with the goblet pleats that make them hang higher up like that?

I'm certainly trying to avoid chintz in this room and when I Google Lampas Fabric, they look a bit too floral for me.

I do still like our sitting room curtains that I think were called jacquard when we bought them, and your suggestion of Damask certainly looks like it has possibilities.

The ones in your link here look good -
http://www.marvictextiles.co.uk/jacaranda-wine_2/

Or perhaps like this but in red? -
https://www.fabricsandpapers.com/it...red-linen-fabric/category/embroidered-fabrics

These do look very dramatic, but I think they are a bit more Baronial-Castle than I could get away with
https://www.fabricsandpapers.com/it...-Red?ae8d165566f1e006a9f574cf0ccb4cc3043713cd

Do you have any further ideas please now that you have seen the room?

Many thanks.

 

[JoceAndChris]

Hi there Me! Lovely room you have there, and I like your sitting room curtains very much indeed. No need for you to have chintzes if you dislike them- big shiny florals on glazed cottons ! Too Victorian anway! Damasks and jacquards are very appropriate, and really a plain red wool would be rather lovely for a country feel. Small patterns may appeal more, the fabrics and papers site has a number.

Some other ideas

http://www.kingdominteriors.co.uk/catalogue/GPJBaker/fabric/GardenBasket/13755

http://www.kingdominteriors.co.uk/catalogue/Mulberry/fabric/HuttonLin/118675

http://www.kingdominteriors.co.uk/catalogue/Camengo/fabric/Tarascon/37938

The kingdom site is quite useful with its search filters.

I suggest you go to a good interior shop and look through, Zoffany and Sanderson, Marvic and GP&J Baker, all make fabulous and sumptuous fabrics that you can't really see properly online. The room is crying out for some really nice curtains in my opinion!

The beam is a bit in the way but you'll just have to mount the pole lower down. Get the skinnier of the poles for that reason. In an ideal world hanging curtains makes good use of the space above the window and to the side (so your curtains stack back - maximising light - but it isn't always possible.

Rufflette tape are dirty words! A proper curtain is made forming the pleats by hand and stitching each one. Stiffening - - a fusible buckram - is built into the top of the curtain so that the pleats hang well. The curtain hooks stab into the back of the lining and through the buckram. The buckram is usually around 5 inches deep, and it's up to you where you stab your hooks. I stab them in towards the bottom so that the top of the pleats covers the pole and eliminates drafts. I dislike seeing the curtain pole above the curtains really.

Your windows will certainly take curtains such as the ones in my pictures.

Hand sewn interlined curtains run into the hundreds for that size - it is a luxury - but the warmth and superior weight of them are a must in a period property in my opinion! I had so many to make I sent myself on a course with Merrick and Day and it was one of the best things I've done!

 

[Feltwell]

Aaaaaaaaaaaaah! Soft furnishings..........!!!!!!!!!

Some subjects are best dealt with by men just saying "Yes, that looks great" and trying to look slightly interested (but not too interested - in case you provoke further discussion :wink: ). Problem I've got is that Mrs F is about as interested in soft furnishings as I am!

Good to get ideas & options from those who are keen & knowledgeable on these things, that's where these forums come in so useful........

 

[JoceAndChris]

Aaaaaaaaaaaaah! Soft furnishings..........!!!!!!!!!

Some subjects are best dealt with by men just saying "Yes, that looks great" and trying to look slightly interested (but not too interested - in case you provoke further discussion :wink: ). Problem I've got is that Mrs F is about as interested in soft furnishings as I am!

Good to get ideas & options from those who are keen & knowledgeable on these things, that's where these forums come in so useful........

Lol, you've got off so lightly with MrsF! Count your lucky stars - my poor husband was forced to help me make this - in fact scrap that, I made the frilly bits but he had to make the whole difficult structural part underlying!

It's a bug best avoided!

 

[Feltwell]

Lol, you've got off so lightly with MrsF!

She doesn't "do" handbags or shoes either. Or expensive perfume. Or makeup. But she can ride a motorbike. And she likes rock music. (*)

Can't think what made me fall for her really.... :wink:


(*) Chocolate is her girly exception though.


Anyway, apologies to Me!, switch the topic back to curtains..........

 

[Me!]

No apology needed Feltwell. Honestly, I'm much closer to my comfort zone with motorbikes and rock music than I am with curtains!

However we still need to cover our dining room windows with something, and so yesterday evening, after ensuring that Mrs. Me! had a nicely topped-up glass of red close to hand, I gently brought up the subject of her having a go at making some goblet pleat curtains. After a bit of initial confusion about how they could be made without resorting to rufflette tape, we had a detailed look at the back of the pinch pleats in our sitting room which are formed in the way Joce mentions using buckram and hand stitched pleats. After seeing that and also having a Google for a few guides on what is required, it seems that we (and when I say we, I do actually obviously mean she) will be having a go at making some!

So, during my lunchbreak today I set off for a curtain shop I'd seen in Bury St Edmunds to see what fabrics they had, ... but they've closed down
I'm sure there must be some decent fabric / curtain shops in Norwich, but I don't know of them. Any recommendations please from any of the East-Anglian locals?

Then, that leaves me free to go and fire-up the forge and see if I can work out how to make shepherds crook finials

 

[Zebra]

She doesn't "do" handbags or shoes either. Or expensive perfume. Or makeup. But she can ride a motorbike.

 

[JoceAndChris]

Blimey, making them is bold but why not have a go? You need a machine for the pleats the rest is hand sewing. There should be plenty of vids.
The hardest thing for me is the maths on the pleats. If your window is one metre wide you will have 2.5m for two and a half fullness. Divided into two, that's 1.25 m for each curtain. Each one will need 5 pinch pleats, or maybe 4 on each for a narrower window. Each pleat takes up 12 cm or 14 cm depending on how generous you want the pleats. 12 is ok on a smaller window. 12 x 5 = 60 so you take that away from the 1.25. Still with me? That leaves you 65cm for your spacing. It goes space, pleat, space, pleat, space, pleat, space, pleat, space , pleat, space. That's 6 spaces. So you need to divide 65 by 6. I make it 10.8. So you measure, mark 10.8 with a pin, then measure, mark 12 with a pin, and continue. Of course you will need to work it out for your own width window. Once marked with pins you draw lines with chalk where you'll seam the pleats. The pleats are triple pinch pleated at the base and fanned into a goblet above. It's rather fiddly but practice makes perfect.

The curtain is made from the bottom up. The height is measured allowing 10 extra at the bottom and 20 at the top. The extra top cloth ends up folded over the interlining, with the lining neatly ironed to conceal those folds and hand stitched. There's a special stitch for both attaching the interlining to top cloth, called hand interlocking, and the special stitch for the hens all round the edge is invisible slip stitch. The buckram gets sandwiched between the top cloth and linings.

Anyway it's best to watch vids rather than read text. Any questions ask.

John Lewis in Norwich is great. They'll even make them for you, but £££

Good luck!

I hate motorbikes and rock music! Each to their own! :lol:

 

[paulc]

I'm sure there must be some decent fabric / curtain shops in Norwich, but I don't know of them. Any recommendations please from any of the East-Anglian locals?

Anglian Fashion Fabrics on Magdalen Street - They have one shop dedicated to furniture & curtain fabrics and another for "fashion" fabrics & "stuff".

There is also a stall on the market that sells end-of-roll materials, some of which might be suitable for curtains.

If you want the expensive end of the market, John Lewis (Bonds as it is known by the old locals), or Laura Ashley - There is also a curtain/fabric shop out on the ring road, but don't know what they are like in terms of stock or prices.

 

[JoceAndChris]

I was tired last night so my workings out are wrong. I omitted the crucial point that each curtain needs to end up about 55 cm for a 1m width window ( as you need a little overlap where they meet). It's that that determines how deep your pleats are.

 

[MikeG]

I was tired last night so my workings out are wrong. I omitted the crucial point that each curtain needs to end up about 55 cm for a 1m width window ( as you need a little overlap where they meet). It's that that determines how deep your pleats are.

That's the gathered width you're talking about, not the flat fabric width.

 

[JoceAndChris]

I was tired last night so my workings out are wrong. I omitted the crucial point that each curtain needs to end up about 55 cm for a 1m width window ( as you need a little overlap where they meet). It's that that determines how deep your pleats are.

That's the gathered width you're talking about, not the flat fabric width.

Yes that's right! The flat fabric width needs to be around 2.5x the width of the window, giving allowance for 5 cm hems to the left and right of each curtain, and also allowance for pattern matching in the middle.