Answers
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Drapery Questions
Everyone seems to want to know how to hang flat, store bought drapery panels so that they don’t look like flat, store bought drapery panels!!! I gave you some advice/instructions in previous articles (see category ” Drapery Panel Problems”) and here are some more!
Using Clip Rings on a Decorative Rod
You just bought a very attractive decorative rod and you want to hang the draperies so that the rod shows and the curtain is below the rod. You also want to be able to open and close the curtains and that is not practical with rod pocket panels. The absolutely simplest way is to use clip rings. If you check out the accessories in the curtain rod area, you will find rings in all different sizes and you will notice that most of them have a clip attached to them. Buy these! Buy big rings (2″) for a fat rod and smaller rings (1″ or 1-1/2″) for a narrow rod.You will need about 9 per panel to make them hang nicely. You can clip the rings to the top of pinch pleats or you can clip the rings along the top of a flat panel, either way, your drapes are now hung below the decorator rod, on rings, which will showcase the rod, like you see in decorating magazines. The only issue that I have with these, is that every so often the fabric pulls out of the clip when you are opening/closing the curtains.
- These rings can be expensive, so shop around for the best price and get them on sale if possible. Best bet is at Fabricland (if you are in Canada) The drapery hardware is always 1/2 price if you have a ‘sewing club’ card and is often on sale at 1/2 price for everyone – if you watch the flyers.
You just lay out your curtain panel and attach the rings, evenly spaced, across the top of the panel. Make sure you have one about 2 cm or 1″ from each end. The way you space them is described fully in “Easy Drapery Project for Flat Panels” Then slip the rings on the rod and you are done.
Drapery Measurements
This one seems to confuse people so I will try to shed some light on the subject! This one requires a tape measure. Ready made panels come in 2 lengths to make full length drapes, 96″L and 84″L.
96″ is 8ft – these hang from ceiling to the floor if you have regular height ceilings and will hang nicely below a decorative rod if you have the 9′ceilings that builders are putting in so many of the new homes and condos being built in the last few years.
84″ is 7 ft and used to be the distance from the top of your standard window frame to the floor, but now the windows tend to be higher up the wall than they used to be, which makes this length hard to use. Measure from the floor to the top of the window frame. If it is around 84″, you can buy this panel length. Just install the rod about 1-1/2″ above the window frame and it will work for you (install 2″ above when using 2″ rings on your rod) You can put the rod across the top of the window frame itself when using grommet panels.
If the distance from the floor to the top of the window frame is around 90″, then buy the 95″ length and shorten them. If you don’t sew, shorten them using iron-on fuseable hemming tape. All you need is an iron and ironing board – or a friend that has one!!! You can let them ‘puddle’ but, unless you are good at it, and the fabric itself ’puddles’ nicely, they tend to just look like you couldn’t be bothered shortening them!!!!!
Grommet Draperies
I can see there is some confusion about grommet draperies. You feed the rod through the grommets, you do not hang the grommets from hooks!!! These kind of draperies need to be measured differently than if you were measuring for the kind that you hang below the rod! If your rod is across the top of the window frame, you measure from the floor to about 1″ above the rod, to get the right length. If your rod is 84″ from the floor, your 84″ curtains will hang about 1″ to 1-1/2″ above the floor! You would then need to let the hem down on the panels to get them to the correct length. Unfortunately, most grommet panels ARE 84″ not 96″.
In any case, with ready-made draperies, you will often find that they are too long or too short! You can let out the hem if they are less than 2″ too short or you can shorten them or let them puddle if they are too long. Another trick, if they are too short is to add a band of contrasting fabric to the bottom edge, wide enough to make them the right length.
Pinch Pleated Draperies
Pinch pleated double or triple full ready-made draperies are hard to find. Surf the net or have them custom made. If you shop for your own fabric, you can get it at a good price. Then look up “Drapers” or “Seamstresses” in your area, and you can have them made for a reasonable price! You can make them yourself too – the unlined ones are not hard at all! How to make a two fold pleat is described in “Turn Rod Pocket Panels into Real Pinch Pleates” . Also, using pleating tape is described in “More about Converting Rod Pocket Panels”
Cushions and Men
January 6, 2012 by Leslie Bailey
Why are my cushions always on the floor????
There is a real gender thing going on with the decor cushions! Try as I will, my carefully arranged ‘decorator’ cushions always end up on the back of the sofa, on the floor beside the sofa, UNDER the bed, piled in a corner, dropped behind the intended chair, etc. I have noticed that other people’s cushions can be found in places other than the intended ones too. Hmmmmm, do cushions have a secret society in which they rearrange themselves when they are alone? What is going on here anyway?
Guys seem to find cushions really annoying. They remove them as soon as they sit down. I, on the other hand, like a lot of women, am not comfortable without a cushion in the small of my back. I have come to the conclusion it is one of the many ways in which men and women are constructed differently. Men’s and women’s hips are built entirely differently so they sit entirely differently, it is the only explanation.
I guess this is why the decorator cushions always end up on the floor. Each to his own, it shouldn’t be a problem. But the next question is, why can’t guys put the cushions back where they came from, when they leave?
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