It's Curtains

[LadyG]

I bought a pair of Next lined door curtains, 90 x 72" from Ebay, so pleased I bought another pair, and I have bid for a third pair [similar but not identical]. 

How easy would it be to make curtains for the windows, just an open ended hem for top rail ?

I have access to a sewing machine.

[Nightwatch]

My onboard tailor has just made two sets of curtains. Admittingly she is quite talented in that department. But I find it all a mystery.

 

So,  in answer to your question. I guess it’s achievable.

[LadyG]

11 minutes ago, Nightwatch said:

My onboard tailor has just made two sets of curtains. Admittingly she is quite talented in that department. But I find it all a mystery.

 

So,  in answer to your question. I guess it’s achievable.

Admittedly, it  should be achievable,  but I wondered how many curtains and how to go about it?

I have six windows.

Please ask Mrs Nightwatch .....

Edited December 21, 2019 by LadyG

[haggis]

I am not into such domestic goddess pursuits as making curtains but one thought which occurs is that they will need something to keep them parallel to the boat sides like a bottom hem which you can put a brass rod or wire through or something to stop them hanging straight.

I am sure you had thought of that though.

 

haggis

[LadyG]

48 minutes ago, haggis said:

I am not into such domestic goddess pursuits as making curtains but one thought which occurs is that they will need something to keep them parallel to the boat sides like a bottom hem which you can put a brass rod or wire through or something to stop them hanging straight.

I am sure you had thought of that though.

 

haggis

Yep.  At the moment they are restrained by some para-cord and eyelets, curtain wire is available, unlike 9mm chrome rod, which is desired as I have 9mm chrome end brackets 

Edited December 21, 2019 by LadyG

[Athy]

3 minutes ago, haggis said:

I am not into such domestic goddess pursuits as making curtains but one thought which occurs is that they will need something to keep them parallel to the boat sides like a bottom hem which you can put a brass rod or wire through or something to stop them hanging straight.

I am sure you had thought of that though.

 

haggis

When Mrs. Athy made ours for 'Trojan' she simply made them long enough to tuck behind the bottom rail, which probably saved some time and effort.

[Sea Dog]

We put a bar top and bottom and made curtains with eyelets top and bottom. I did the maths and the plan, the long haired Admiral did the machine work and they look great.  You can buy tape with the eyelets on from places like ebay. Im sure there must be lots of "how to make curtains" videos on YouTube. 

[Nightwatch]

27 minutes ago, LadyG said:

Admittedly, it  should be achievable,  but I wondered how many curtains and how to go about it?

I have six windows.

Please ask Mrs Nightwatch .....

Thanks for the corrections. If you have six windows, then you need twelve curtains. Ours are tucked behind a brass rod stay inline with the tumble home. The bit that took the longest time was choosing the material.

It seems you need linings as well.

[OldGoat]

My Management loves cooking and sewing - thus we have a relatively large kitchen - facilities wise and she did all the curtains,bedspreads, cushions, lounge seats and possibly more...

I digress

I hate visible curtain rails of any sort, thus the top rail is Swish buried in an oak 'frame'. The lower end hangs down behind a brass rail.

We like the boat dark at night and light in the day, thus the generously wide curtains push away from the window in the day and cover said window with plenty of spare material (i.e. the curtains are not tight.

The curtains are lined.

Now definitely dated but still look reasonable.

There may be some ideas here for things to do or mebe not to do. It's not difficult, but time consuming.

 

Nightwatch above shows some of the techniques. Ours are heavy for darkness and heat retention so curtain wire wouldn't work - as well as being more awkward to draw. I haven't got any photos to hand.

 

Edited December 21, 2019 by OldGoat

[Athy]

4 minutes ago, Nightwatch said:

Thanks for the corrections. If you have six windows, then you need twelve curtains.

 

Er, no. Each curtain can simply be slid to one end of the window, so six windows would need six curtains. (We have portholes on 'Trojan', but we had windows on 'Batto' and that the system we used).

6 minutes ago, Nightwatch said:

 

 

It seems you need linings as well.

Yes.

[LadyG]

The windows already have top rails, which were once bottom rails, the curtains are threaded through, I prefer the loose, tucked behind look at the lower end.

[haggis]

On a similar theme...

Make sure your curtains and window blinds are non see through at night when the boat lights are on! I was surprised to see just how "see through" the blinds were on a couple of boats we have been involved with when I was walking the dogs at night :-). Easily solved with curtain linings and good quality blinds.

 

haggis

[LadyG]

2 minutes ago, haggis said:

On a similar theme...

Make sure your curtains and window blinds are non see through at night when the boat lights are on! I was surprised to see just how "see through" the blinds were on a couple of boats we have been involved with when I was walking the dogs at night :-). Easily solved with curtain linings and good quality blinds.

 

haggis

Yep, I think thick curtains and linings essential.

[MtB]

 

Having to dick about making curtains is easily avoided, simply by buying a bote with portholes. 

 

Hope that helps....

 

 

 

[OldGoat]

Sudden extra thought -

You could make roller blinds, though probably awkward to line and that would minimise the amount of sewing. If you're lucky you might be able to find material in an appropriate width to no edges to seal.

 

Mike - portholes are for effect and not for looking out or even getting daylight. We like to engage with our environment. "Chacun"

[LadyG]

6 minutes ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

Having to dick about making curtains is easily avoided, simply by buying a bote with portholes. 

 

Hope that helps....

 

 

 

I have six portholes, they were once curtained, but after sunset I stuff them with square cushions. They still "sweat"

Edited December 21, 2019 by LadyG

[MtB]

4 minutes ago, LadyG said:

I have six portholes, they were once curtained, but after sunset I stuff them with square cushions. They still "sweat"

 

I think I can see the problem here....

 

 

 

[Nightwatch]

When I was in contract cleaning the window cleaning contractor we used sometimes probably used to work in the dockyard on ships. He always missed the corners. 

[MtB]

15 minutes ago, Nightwatch said:

When I was in contract cleaning the window cleaning contractor we used sometimes probably used to work in the dockyard on ships. He always missed the corners. 

 

I bet he had some feeble excuse about there not being any....

 

[Nightwatch]

3 minutes ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

I bet he had some feeble excuse about there not being any....

 

Just didn’t recognise that square windows have corners. Being a good contract manager, I educated him. We lived happily ever after. With clean windows.

[bizzard]

You can get lengths of aluminium curtain track from certain caravan, motor home dealers, and buy packets of little plastic sliders and winkles. The winkles hook into and twiddled round in wee stitched in loops  closely spaced along the lower part of the top hem. The sliders are them slid along the track and the curtain winkles hooked onto the sliders. Easy to sew in the loops with tough twine. Not really loops but just long stitches to hook the winkles into. You can buy curtains with the winkle loops already built in.  Nice bamboo cane is nicer than silly brass for the lower rail between two sockets for the curtains to tuck behind.

[LadyG]

2 hours ago, bizzard said:

You can get lengths of aluminium curtain track from certain caravan, motor home dealers, and buy packets of little plastic sliders and winkles. The winkles hook into and twiddled round in wee stitched in loops  closely spaced along the lower part of the top hem. The sliders are them slid along the track and the curtain winkles hooked onto the sliders. Easy to sew in the loops with tough twine. Not really loops but just long stitches to hook the winkles into. You can buy curtains with the winkle loops already built in.  Nice bamboo cane is nicer than silly brass for the lower rail between two sockets for the curtains to tuck behind.

i'd like a simpler system, I might just find someone who likes sewing.

[Alan de Enfield]

7 minutes ago, LadyG said:

I'd like a simpler system, I might just find someone who likes sewing

 

With your 'luck' at getting suppliers to do anything for you, you may struggle !!

[NewCanalBoy]

Having gone through this recently it's bloody difficult and then very easy.

 

Trying to do it yourself is awkward at best (where do you have a big enough surface to lay them flat to measure/mark/cut/sow,etc ?)

 

After making a mess and having a frustrating time I joined a local Facebook group of where I currently was. Lady answered my add and charged me about 35 quid to alter six curtains.

 

Skip my first step and go straight to the second step. All this sowing stuff ain't as easy as it seems.

[lampini]

12 hours ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

Having to dick about making curtains is easily avoided, simply by buying a bote with portholes. 

 

Hope that helps....

 

 

 

Quite right too!

 

take one of those plastic hula hoops available at most pound shops, split in the obvious place. Make sure plastic is warm (leave inside, near ISH the wood burner or lean against a radiator to maximise flexibility). Fit to inside of porthole. Wrap with fabric of your choice - et voila! For extra thermal quality use the hoop as a template and cut a circle of that silver thermal stuff (pound shop windscreen ice cover stuff I had spare..) I used some mega-big wooden buttons to cover the untidy bit where all the material gathers together in the middle.. rather proud of them!