July, 
1909 
AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 26 
~I 
Curtains for the Summer Home 
By Gertrude M. Walbran 
§ NE of the most difficult problems which 
confronts every housewife at one time or 
another is the curtaining of the windows of 
her home. 
To be sure, if one has a full purse, the 
solution is rendered somewhat easier, but 
even then the task of getting curtains which 
are practical, attractive and harmonious with the other fur- 
nishings is by no means light. 
The gospel of individuality, in both house-building and 
house-furnishing, is being listened to by an ever-widening 
circle of home-makers, and to-day we need not feel obliged 
to have Irish, Arabian or Renaissance lace curtains—as the 
case may be—at our windows, because our neighbor across 
the way considers them correct. 
In choosing materials for summer curtains one should 
avoid any fabric which suggests warmth, either in color or 
weight, turning rather to those materials which are cool and 
restful. 
Many women, seeking something new, overlook the possi- 
bilities which lie in the use of well-known materials, and fail 
to realize that there are any number of pretty and inexpen- 
sive curtains which can be made by any one willing to de- 
vote a little time and thought to the matter. 
First on the list, because of its cheapness, comes scrim. 
This material can be purchased at prices varying from nine- 
teen to sixty cents a yard, and is forty or forty-two inches 
wide. It comes in white, ecru or natural color and in three 
weights, either the fine or medium weight being desirable 
for curtains. 
For very sunny or light rooms one could not choose a more 
suitable fabric, for while sufficiently transparent it is heavy 
enough to subdue the strong light. The two sections of 
scrim curtains shown in the first and second illustrations are 
ED MEL 
|—Lines of hemstitching forming squares, breaks up the plain surface 
of the scrim in pleasing fashion 
delightfully simple, the one showing the open cross-bars en- 
tailing a bit more work than the second design. 
Each curtain has a two-inch hem put in with a row of 
hemstitching, for which three threads are drawn. The cross- 
bar lines form blocks three and one-half inches square, and 
in pulling the threads for these squares it will be found 
helpful to mark the exact size—three and one-half inches— 
on a strip of thin cardboard and use this as a measure. 
Pull one thread at the three-and-one-half-inch line, then skip 
two threads and pull one more, continuing in this way until 
all the threads are drawn. Be very careful that none of the 
threads are pulled beyond the hem, for the latter should be 
plain (see illustration). 
The cross-bar lines are fagoted rather than hemstitched, 
the work being done over the bar of two threads which 
separates each open space. Hold the material right side up 
and, after fastening the thread, pass the needle to the left 
around three threads above the bar, then around three 
threads below, continuing in this way to the end of the line. 
If the windows are narrow the entire width of the scrim 
will not be required, for the curtains are prettier when 
somewhat scant. “The material that is cut off at one side can 
be used to supply the threads for the hemstitching and fagot- 
ing, thus insuring a perfect match. 
The second curtain shows a border inside the hem, formed 
of groups of one-and-three-quarter-inch squares, three in 
each group. The squares are placed one and one-quarter 
inches inside the hemstitching, a one-half-inch space being 
left between each square, and five and one-half inches be- 
tween each group. 
In drawing the threads for the squares, begin with the 
center square in the corner of the curtain, being careful that 
the measurements are correct before cutting the threads. 
Cut a little inside the line, otherwise the threads at the 
2—A simple scrim curtain, having an inner border of small hemstitched 
squares worked in groups of three 
