Making Curtains and Hangings

The General Principles of Exposure, Locality and Architecture Uniformity Outdoors and Indoors General Wear

We come to the treatment of windows with more enthusiasm than to any other part of house furnishing. The background carefully decided upon, the question of the sturdy-legged table passed, we arrive at the delectable affairs of curtaining.

There are several general principles to be observed: exposure, style of architecture, and locality, i.e., in town or country houses.

For windows with a southern exposure it were best to use against the glass a semitransparent material as the full glare is unpleasant and this fabric distributes the light more evenly over the room. The quality of the material must be durable since the sun not only fades it but tends to rot as well.

Curtains of thin material placed against the glass are called outside or sash curtains,

the heavier curtains are called inside hangings or over-draperies.

The semi-transparent material protects the real window drapery, acting as a buffer against glare and heat. It were also well to line curtains put at a southern exposure, as this is a further protection, and the lining may be easily renewed, thereby adding years of service to the drapery. Soft mellow tones may be selected as the sunlight itself adds brilliancy.

Within the past few years there have been put on the market many sunfast materials which give satisfaction and service. The fabric is cotton and comes in various weights and textures. Dyers have not been able to produce a sunfast silk, a quality in silk not taking to sunfast dye. However, many of the cotton fabrics are so cleverly mercerized that they both look and feel like silk. There is something about foreign dyed materials that will withstand the sun far better than domestic goods. In selecting materials, choose an imported cotton or linen fabric, for though the initial expense may be greater, the durability as to color and texture, to say frothing of the superior design, is well worth the outlay.

For the northern exposure warm tones of yellow, orange and brown are the best choice. We must counteract the full blast of our bleak northern skies. We must obliterate any sense of gloom, and light filtering through a warm-toned curtain may work miracles in the darkest corner. We covet this effect of cheeriness. In the northern exposure we do not have to consider the problem of fading, but, curiously enough, the most fadable color violet

is the last color we should choose for a northern exposure.

For the east and west windows we may run the gamut as to color and fabric. In the country house, freshness is the requisite for curtaining. Linen or ere tonne hangings are most appropriate, as they can be easily laundered and therefore kept fresh. They bring indoors their gay flowers and gayer birds and act as a transition between the outside garden and the indoor rooms. Fresh muslin is attractive for the upstairs rooms. They are a little too fussy and lack a certain dignified formality that one looks for in the rooms downstairs. For, however simple one's mode of living, there should be a feeling of reserve and formality in the rooms where the formal affairs of life are carried on. The design and color of curtains to be used in the country home may be startling, ultra-modern and most vivid.

The brilliancy of everything about helps to carry out successfully a striking hanging. They enliven and refresh us, and in some cases, especially, with the designs and colors of the new Austrian and French materials, they most surely amuse us. They are grotesque, but with a naïveté that saves them from the ridiculous. The colors are wonderfully though fearfully blended; they are never muggy or confused; one color is simply and directly laid to the next.