Original Idea

Southland Times, Issue 23047, 14 November 1936, Page 23

Original Idea

PATCHWORK CURTAINS Even more than formerly, carpets and curtains are the making of a room. For now that so many rooms are neutral tinted, or at least have pale colours, and now that woodwork is in vogue and it and furniture are often pale too, the carpet and the curtain provide • that depth of colour which it is often a pity to miss (states an exchange). Something brilliant in jade or magenta is the solution by some people of the room-colouring problem. Most rooms do not, however, begin from scratch, and it is a question of giving point to a miscellany by means of one feature.

Patchwork curtains come in here. These are not as simple as they sound; anything cannot be used up any more than all the dry bread in the pan can be thrust into a bread and butter pudding. But odd colours can be found almost as one could buy or steal paints. The patches should be of a fair size—perhaps six or seven inches by five—and a predominating colour which gives an accent to the rest. It is not necessary to have a background with prominent patches of colour. Rather should orange and dark blue and magenta and yellow be weighed and balanced and then put together according to the harmony they provide. When colours are chosen it is a good plan to cut them to size, which actually may be anything that balances, and then lay them together. By degrees the puzzle will solve itself. If it should not result as hoped, it is always possible to modify or extend it by placing other patches on the top of the first. Charming and unexpected effects are produced in this way. Cotton materials have considerable richness when thus treated, and there is a sense of handiwork about the whole which adds to the intimacy of the room.