In recent times, either due to the financial turbulence, or a renaissance in handy-crafts, it has again become fashionable to sew your own curtains. Pastimes that would previously have been non grata with the post baby-boomer generation, such as knitting and sewing, are now gathering appreciation. This can be seen in the cult-like status that has been given to the Women’s Institute, formerly dismissed as staid and obsolete.
Ever ready to jump-on-the-band-wagon, television has sought to capitalise from this return to the homemade ethic with a plethora of savvy ‘grow your own,’ ‘craft your own,’ programs. But where to start for the uninitiated lacking recourse to a ‘granny of knowledge,’ but wanting to sew their own curtains?
Perversely, the Internet can prove a good place to begin. Many sites, including those by major soft furnishing retailers, offer a basic breakdown of the different curtain types on offer, so if you don’t know your ‘tab-top’ from your ‘pencil pleat’, these are worth a look. For a detailed explanation of how to create the designs, it will be necessary to check out more home-spun sites, full of household remedies and instructions on how to create a spa experience from the contents of your fridge!
The fundamental consideration for achieving beautiful curtains is the selection of the fabric. Since the demise of the haberdasher, and a decrease in the number of homeware stores that sell material by the ream, the Internet is sometimes the only way to view the wealth of designs available to the would-be seamstress.
However, selecting a favourite fabric can often be a matter of texture as much as colour or pattern. In this respect, it is hard for the online experience to compete with high street shops and their reams of fabric swatches. There is something exciting in the tangibility of the fabric sampler books. For the true homespun aficionado, I expect the haberdashers will remain the place to be seen but for those prepared to compromise, select a website that will send you free samples of your favoured designs and patterns. Thus you can obtain the best of both worlds, the range of fabric designs that can only be stocked in a virtual store, with the promise of some real-world samples being sent direct to your door.
Buy curtains online!
Tags: Curtains, diy, hobbies, home improvements, sewing