CURTAIN EQUIPMENT
Curtain weights Regular and pronged hooks, interfacing
WINDOW DRESSING MAKING HEADED CURTAINS
Heading tapes enable you to finish the top of the curtain and draw up the fullness with the minimum of trouble. They may be used on lined or unlined curtains. To simplify the instructions here, a standard 2.5 cm (1 in) wide gathered heading tape is shown on unlined curtains, and a 8 cm(3 in) wide pencil- or pinch-pleated heading tape on lined curtains. You can use whatever combination you need, and other widths and styles of tape are available.
Adjust dimensions and turnings accordingly. Before buying fabric, fit the curtain track or pole and measure up. Decide on a suitable fabric, noting the width, and check how much fullness you will need for the heading tape you have chosen. This will help you to calculate the amount of fabric. Curtains do not take heavy wear but they do suffer from the fading effects of sunlight.
Some colors, such as deep blues and apricots, are especially susceptible and, although not all curtains need to be lined, this is one good reason for doing so. Lining, and interlining with bump or domette, also improves the fall of curtains and controls heat loss through the windows. Sateen lining fabrics are tightly woven in cotton or blended fibers, in white, cream, and other colors. Match the lining fabric to the ground color of a patterned curtain. Brightly colored linings are best kept for deep toned curtains where the color of the lining will not show through.
Co-ordinated furnishing prints or patterned linings are an- other alternatives to plain sateen and follow the nineteenth-century practice of making the exterior view of the windows both consistent and attractive. For standard, unlined curtains, allow 1-2 times the fullness. Divide the total width required for each finished (ungathered) curtain by the width of the fabric, rounding up to the nearest half-width for each of the pairs of curtains. Check that this gives you enough for 4 cm(1! in) hems down each side edge.
Each curtain is made up from one or more drops of fabric, full or half-width. The total length of each drop is the finished length of the curtains, 100 plus 2 cm turning at the top and 10 cm(4 in) for the hem. Include an allowance (the length of the pattern repeat) for pattern matching. Multiply by the number of drops of fabric required. For lined curtains, allow fullness according to the type of tape you are using. Allow 4 cm (1in) side hems when calculating the number of drops of fabric. Include a turning allowance of 8 cm(3 in) – the depth of the heading tape and a hem allowance of 10cm(4 in).
Include any allowance for pattern matching. Since lining fabric is generally slightly narrower than curtain fabric, it is usually fairly simple to calculate the amount needed.
Allow the same amount of fullness for the total width of the curtain, but there is no need to include an allowance for side turnings. No allowance is needed at the top of the curtain, and only 6 cm (2 in) for hems. The amount of curtain tape for each curtain is the same as the finished (un-gathered or un-pleated) width, plus a few centimeters for turning under at each end.