SWAGS &
TAILS WINDOW DRESSING LACE & VOILE
The prettiest
and most romantic of fabrics, lace gently filters light into a room whilst
ensuring privacy. Usually light in color, lace has distinctive qualities of
texture and drape, spangling sunlight, creating shadows and fluttering in the
breeze from an open window. Muslin and voile, either plain or sprigged with
flowers and garlands, can be turned into wispy swags or brief draperies to head
a classic window, or they can be reefed up into festoons.
But these fine
fabrics drape gloriously when generous lengths are looped and swathed around
curtain poles and allowed to descend in full-length cascades, or a full curtain
can be knotted halfway- down to flare out again at the hemline. Sheer curtains
can overlap across the full width of a window and then be tied back in graceful
loops, one side set higher than the other and the overlapping edges accentuated
with tassel trimming.
Figured lace
should be used much more sparingly than muslin or voile. Lace curtains need
very little fullness; in fact some panels look most effective when hung flat
against the window using a cased heading or curtain rings and a slender pole.
Lace panels with integral borders running round three sides sometimes have a
lightweight drawstring tape across the top, stitched so that it doubles as a
cased heading. Pelmet (valance) lace is also available and can add a further
layer to a lace window treatment.
When voile or lace curtains are needed for
privacy, sew cased headings and slot the fabric in un-join widths (to avoid
ugly seams) on to rods at both top and bottom, anchored within the window frame
so that they hold the fabric lightly taut across the face of the glass. This method particularly suits French windows
and glazed doors and is essential to hold fabric close to pivot and sloping
windows.
The casings top and bottom are made with two
lines of stitching, forming a (stand' or heading. Simple ties draw the curtains
in at the waist. A plain roller blind screens the top part of the window, and
can be drawn down necessary. RIGHT A pair of lace panels has been fitted over a
slim brass rod to hold these curtains close to the frame oj these generous
bedroom windows. The width of each curtain allows for gentle gathers hut still
shows off the pattern of the lace.
WINDOW DRESSING
MAKING LACE & VOILE CURTAINS
To show off intricate patterns on panels of lace,
whether antique or contemporary, you need very little fullness. Use either a
cased heading or clip-on rings to achieve this effect. Take particular care
when measuring for lace panels: if they are hung by rings from a pole, measure
from just beneath the pole; if they are hung from a plain track or rod, measure
from the top of the fixture. Headings for any type of sheer curtain fabric may
be made in a number of ways, depending on the nature of the fabric and the
effect you want.
A cased heading, which enables you to slot the
fabric onto a curtain rod or wire, is the simplest to make. For more formal
gathers there are special lightweight curtain heading tapes. Because of the
transparent nature of the fabric, seams must be made as invisible as possible
with borders arranged carefully around the edge of the curtains. Allow ample
fullness with fine voile and other fabrics - up to three times.
