What would you do?
#1
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Thread Starter
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Bar Harbor, ME.
Posts: 2,911
What would you do?
My DIL called me and wants to make curtains for the new apartment they are moving into this month. She has I believe 10 + windows that are 84 inches long. She thought buying one bolt of material would make drapes for all these windows but I'm trying to explain that it has always cost me more to make drapes/curtains then to buy them. I do make valances and use about 5 yards for each one to get a nicely gathered look.
What would you advise, should she make these or go on a search for the least expensive drapes she can buy, perhaps just a sheer panel and then make drapes one at a time as they get settled in?
What would you advise, should she make these or go on a search for the least expensive drapes she can buy, perhaps just a sheer panel and then make drapes one at a time as they get settled in?
#2
Power Poster
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: Southern California
Posts: 19,131
I helped a friend of mine look for some simple drapes. There are not that many stores that sell drapes anymore. I would inform her that it will cost more in the long run and to look online at BB&B.
#5
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Join Date: May 2008
Location: MN
Posts: 24,407
If you can - get dimensions of windows - then do the math - and (try to) explain it to DIL -
Plus a little something for your labor if they can afford it!
I made some muslin drapes for our living room (the natural color) and they have done the job - but they are definitely on the "casual" looking side.
Plus a little something for your labor if they can afford it!
I made some muslin drapes for our living room (the natural color) and they have done the job - but they are definitely on the "casual" looking side.
#6
Super Member
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: Illinois
Posts: 9,018
Buying a bolt of fabric for all the windows......means every window in every room will be the same? Shopping day....even try resale shops, if any in your locale...I've seen some lovely custom made window coverings in ones near me.....actually bought one.
#7
Super Member
Join Date: Oct 2012
Posts: 1,132
Do JC Penney's and Sears still put out the big catalogs? It may be worth it to stop in at one of the stores and ask for a copy, then take her time making decisions on window coverings. The hardware alone for hanging drapes is expensive. Until this house, I always made cafe curtains from sheets, patterned or white, but this house already had the hardware and large windows, so I ordered drapes from the catalog. She may also want to consider washable versus dry clean only.
#8
Super Member
Join Date: Jun 2012
Location: Sonoma County, CA
Posts: 4,299
IKEA has some pretty good inexpensive curtains too. A lot of theirs come extra-long, with a strip of heat fusible so you can just trim them to the right length and do a simple folded hem with an iron and the fusible. We have a lot of IKEA curtains in our house - WAY cheaper than sewing my own! (Though I went ahead and sewed the bottom hems on mine.)
#9
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Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Ontario, Canada
Posts: 41,463
Drapes are not my favourite thing to do. I suggest she figure out the yardage required, take that yardage to a fabric store and see just how high the price will be for just the fabric. I think she will change her mind pretty quickly.
#10
when we moved into an apt with sliding door to a terrace that was very wide and I think was 84" long I didn't want to invest a lot into something that I didn't know if I would need when we moved out, unsure of length of time we would be there. I bought plain color queen size, flat sheet(s-don't remember if it was 2 or 3) and drapery tape with little pockets the prongs of drapery hooks fit into, sewed it to the bottom side of sheet, and left the top hem side for the bottom of the drape/curtain. The apt already had a drapery rod. (If it had curtain rods I would have just made a curtain). We were there for a year and 4 months before husband was transferred. After which I took the drapery tape off and used them for top sheets on the bed.
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