Housework - Main Bedroom - Blue silk curtains

The theme for my house is blue. In each room there is a contrast toning colour, but the main colour is a lovely navy blue.

I decided on silk for the main bedroom because I wanted some luxury and nothing is more luxurious than silk, in my opinion. The fabric when it arrived was this colour, which while lovely was not the navy blue that I wanted.

The fabric was also a little too shiny, as I knew it would be. I wanted restfully elegant, not nightclubesque sparkle. I decided to risk all and dye it knowing that washing dupion silk will take of some of the shine and hoping that using professional dye marked for silk would to the job. It did, though I was a little less than happy with the immovable creasing that resulted. It also weakened the fabric a little and the fibres now come apart much easier. Fusing light weight but stable knit interfacing to the silk panels before cutting them dealt with the problem mostly but near the edges I had a couple of small holes that needed a little creative darning.

The curtain rail is black powdered metal with rings and after a little experimentation I found that I had to change the rings for the tape and hooks to work.

We also had another wee problem with the railing which we had to fix. When I first put the rail up it was anchored with one bracket screwed into wood the remaining two were set into the fibre board with fibre board clips. This was not sufficient and as soon as the curtains went up the rail came down. That made me smile I can tell you. A gritting my teeth until my gums bled kind of smile. So we screwed up painted skirting wood and then screwed the rail brackets to the wood. It's taking the weight so far. Remind me not to swing off it though.

The curtain has four layers to it; the fabric, the knit interfacing I used to strengthen the silk a little, the black-out thermal backing which I used as underlining, and the lining.

I wanted my room to be black at night, and that is what I am getting! For this shot I closed the curtains, and shut the door after I had set the camera for lowest light conditions that it could do. OoooOOOooo blackness.

I like the look of plain pleated curtains, I know you can get all sorts of fancy tapes now which pull the fabric into pleats and tucks and ruffles, but I decided on simplicity thinking the fabric was exciting enough.

I did, however, my usual perfectionist compulsive thing of hand tacking each pleat to hold it. I really do think it is worth it though because of the lovely even pleats and fall of the curtain. What's a couple of hours of my life compared to that?

I hemmed the curtain the same way I did the nets with a hemming band. It is a bit fiddly in the execution but when it comes to any repairs it is so much easier. I hand finished the band on the right side including pick stitching along the edge for extra strength.

I also pick stitched down the sides of the curtain to hold the pulled back edges. Looking good.

I love the serenity in this room now, with the outside awning, the nets and the curtains it is a lovely shady, cool room. It is on the sunny side of the house in the late afternoon and anyone who has a north facing house knows what that can do to a room. Oven! Though again this isn't the best picture because of all that light coming in the window.

This gives you a slightly better idea. Do you agree that the reduced sheen is better in the curtains? And with them up I cannot even see the creasing which I know must have occurred by being washed in the washing machine. Salutary lesson, if I do this kind of thing again I will try doing it in a large pail.

The room looks more glamorous already. Silk is a wonderful fabric.