I spent some time working on the draperies for my bedsitting room over the weekend. I had chosen a silk fabric for this room and some of you will recognize that it is one of the designs by Susan Bembridge. It is "The Peacock Garden" taken from a 19th century wallpaper in the earlier "chinoiserie" style. I loved the colours in this fabric. I have stitched a punch needle carpet for the sitting room in the same colours and the photo is below. I also thought that Leslie Smith's "Il Bacio" would be wonderful in this room as it a strong painting and many of the colours in the painting work with the colours in the two rooms.
I wanted a soft look for the draperies in this room. I needed to line these to give them a little shape. I used one of Meadowcroft Miniatures drapery rods which come in many lengths along with the supports for the wall and rings although in this case I opted not to use them. I took a few photos as I wanted to show you how I made the curtains.
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| Meadowcroft curtain rod - I didn't use the rings |
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| Two panel widths - iron under bottom of drapes |
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| Lined with factory cotton to stiffen the silk cut for finished width |
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| Stitched edges together |
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| Folded right side up and then I folded top over to make casing |
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| Used my casing tool to pull floss through the casing |
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| Dental floss pulled tight to make gathers after threading on rod |
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| Drapes rather full at this point |
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| Pinned to a grid in "loose" gathers |
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| Steamed to hold shape |
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| Floss pulled top and light stitch at bottom to hold in place |
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| Finished draperies |
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| Painting by Leslie Smith |
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| My punch needle carpet in colours to compliment the fabric |
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| Now - they need some tie backs to finish them! |
