Curtains Again

The Old Fashioned Way.....

I Hope you will not mind, Dear Readers, if I take you back to the Parlor of the Willowcrest, even though I have made almost No progress with the Branches over the Mantlepiece. I had decided that the trees on the walls needed to be a darker shade of gray than the sculpey trees. I have painted at least two different coats of gray and still am a long way from satisfied. I am also trying to decide whether to paint the sculpey portions or to leave them as is. I think they look more realistic as trees when unpainted. But that is not the subject of this Post, so we will leave it for another day. What I really wanted to show you was the Wide and Gracefully arching doorway from the parlor into the entry hall. I was almost at the point of gluing the outer wall in place and thus making access to this hallway impossible, when I realized that those lovely wide doorways needed Curtains. Portieres, to be specific. And even though I am a long way from the "decorating" stage of this house, I have realized that the hallway has to be completed now while access is possible. And I had a scrap of fabric I had been saving for Ages and Ages that I thought would be the Perfect material, so I dug it out.

It is a lovely piece of Dark Plum colored antique velvet.

And I really only could find a small scrap remaining in my stash.

Very wrinkled too.

But isn't it a Divine color?

And doesn't it go just Perfectly with the walls?

But then I found another scrap of velvet that might work too...

It is a newer, slightly more wine colored velvet with a 

pattern of glittery roses strewn across it!

How to decide?

Well, I noticed that the antique velvet was a bit thin 

and light would show through unless it was lined....

So I decided to use the glittery fabric as the lining!

I also found a scrap of antique bead work trim 

to use on the bottom edge of the curtains. 

Here you can see me testing it in place.

And here you can see the glittery side of the curtain 

looking into the hallway from the kitchen side.

And here we have both curtains being tested....

the back wall to the stairs is still removed in this picture.

And another view from the kitchen with the hallway light lit

and both curtains pinned in place for testing.

It was quite a challenge to get the length right!

I also added a narrow gold braid trim 

to the open edge of both curtains.

Here you can see them, still just pinned in place.

The real trick was going to be getting them on a curtain rod...

and attaching that to the wall above the doorway!

I know you are going to think I am silly, Dear Readers,

but I wanted my curtains to be able to slide open and closed!

So I sewed rings to the top of the front of the curtains

(they were going to hang from the hallway side of the wall,

 so this is hidden from view).

And I made a curtain rod from a piece of wire hanger

run through three eyelet screws 

which were screwed into a strip of wood trim 

just shorter than the width of the hallway.

Once this was assembled and glued in place, 

there would be no way to adjust anything!

Here you can see both curtains with their rings attached,

the right one is still not on the rod.

And a close-up of the beautiful old bead trim.

It reminds me of the full moons in the hallway...!

But, Oh the challenge of gluing this in place Dear Readers!

I had to turn the house on its side, 

and hold the hallway lamp out of the way with a bit of wire...

And hold the curtains themselves off to the side 

so they would not pull downward with their weight

and distort the placement while the glue was drying...

Not to mention that I was reaching into a tiny space I could barely reach....

I spread half the glue on one end of the wooden rod framework,

and the other half on the wall above the doorway 

where I could reach from this end...

I used E6000 glue.

I let it dry for quite a while,

Hoping that my "measurements" were right...

So that they would hang right to the floor when the house was righted.

I think they are just about right!

So I have to test them with the still unfinished fireplace....

Here the curtains are open....

 

And here they are closed!

So while the temperature plummets, Dear Readers,

And the snow continues to pile ever higher outside,

We will pull the curtains across that drafty old doorway...

and try to keep warm inside by the fire.

Please Do come on in!

But be sure to pull those curtains closed!

So now you can see, Dear Readers, 

just why I had to make my Curtains 

the Old Fashioned way!