HOME IMPROVEMENTS.

Ellesmere Guardian, Volume LVI, Issue 39, 17 May 1935, Page 3

HOME IMPROVEMENTS.

MAKING NEW CURTAINS

It is always a mistake to leave the making of new curtains until just before spring-time and spring-clean-ing. It is far better to take advantage of the long autumn and winter evenings to get all new draperies ready, so that you can hang the new curtains as soon as your rooms are in spotless trim for the warmer weather. Nothing could be easier than to sew straight-hanging, unlined cur-

tains, such as are used at the majority of windows. But simple though the stitching is, to get the * professional-looking draperies which £ hang and wear well, you will need £ to take a little pains with your mea- J suring and hemming. * Treat yourself to a yard-stick, if £ you haven't one already. It is more accurate than a tape-measure (which i is apt to stretch or slip) for such ] long things as curtains; and you will ( find it invaluable for reaching up to ] tall windows without need of a stepladder, when you want to determine ' the length the curtains must be. 1 Most people not used to curtainmaking calculate turnings on much the same basis as for dressmaking, and run woefully short of stuff in consequence. Window draperies need ' relatively deep hems to give enough weight for graceful hanging without blowing about, and you .also have to allow for good turnings or casings (and often headings as well) at the top. So allowances must be really liberal. Measure the finished length the curtains are to be, and then write down this and the width of the curtains at once, for trusting to memory, where figures are concerned, is treacherous. Add to each length measurement, for turnings, the following amounts:—For long curtains, 9in.; for casement, or short curtains, 3 to sin.; for those with a top heading, 4 to 7in. This allowance must, of course, be made on each width of each curtain, if the curtains contain more than one onewidth apiece. You will see that any happy-go-lucky plan of "a quarteryard or so" for turnings will fall short of what is needed in most cases. By long curtains is meant floor-length ones (actually finishing, for cleanliness, an inch or two above the floor); by short curtains, those which reach only to the window-sill. In addition, when making short glass c curtains of net or voile, allow ljin. - to the yard extra, as these fabrics a so often shrink when washed, leav- •- [ ing an ugly bare patch between the

hems and the bottoms of the windows. You can circumvent this either by starting the curtain hanging a little below the sill, or by putting the allowance into extra deep hems, which can be let down when required.