HOUSE AND GARDEN 
March, 1910 
10 
7 
made at home by an amateur—as the material lies straight—if 
care is taken in the measurements. Remember to allow for the 
bottom hem and the turn-in at the top to form the casing by 
which the curtain will run on the small rod. 
When the accurate measurements of the windows are secured 
from rod to sill, the requisite number of inches required for hem 
and casing must be added. When the material is laid out for 
cutting, four widths may be carefully basted together, keeping 
the goods perfectly straight by the selvage and mesh, and pinning 
with long needle tacks at three corners. It may then be cut, 
using very sharp shears. All hems should be folded by a card 
measure and basted. Before stitching the curtain it should be 
tried on the rod at the window. One-and-three-quarters the 
width of the window is sufficient allowance for fullness and all 
ordinary windows should have two curtains at each. 
Point d’esprit or small-figured cream or ecru nets make 
attractive curtains, and scrim, white batiste, or colored and 
figured madras and silk grenadine are also successfully used. 
The cost of the Arabian net first mentioned is 90 cents a yard, 
108 inches in width. The point d’esprit is 60 cents for 48 inches 
width, and the other fabrics vary from 25 cents to $2.00 a yard, 
and in width from 36 to 58 inches. 
For the bedrooms, dotted muslin or organdy curtains, ruffled 
or plain, are dainty and suitable. These may be caught back 
about the center of each curtain and tied in place by hemmed 
strips of the material, or with a cotton cord and tassel. In some 
cases it is more effective to allow bedroom curtains to hang 
straight to the sill, but these should not then be ruffled. Where 
no cretonnes or other inside draperies are used, printed muslins 
showing floral and other designs in charming colors are attractive 
and very inexpensive. 
Among the plain fabrics (other than thin silks) suitable for 
window draperies, there are crash and linen effects in coarse and fine 
weave, which come in a full line of colors. There is also a material 
of coarser weave which is sold under the various trade names of 
Craftsman, Arras, and Monk’s Cloth. This textile is like a thick 
burlap; it is 50 inches wide, and for door curtains and over-draper¬ 
ies is particularly well suited to houses designed along craftsmen 
lines. The price is $1.25 a yard. The crash and linen mentioned 
above vary in price from 60 cents to $1.10 for 50-inch widths. 
With plain walls, figured fabrics can be used, or plain curtains 
with or without border may be equally good. But where the wall 
covering is figured, plain or, at most, two-tone materials should 
be always selected; otherwise the effect is chaotic and restless. 
This usual treatment of window covering was adopted to shut 
out an unpleasant prospect 
For rooms in which the wood trim is dark in tone and the 
furniture built on heavy lines, a good choice in figured drapery 
material is some one of the cotton fabric tapestries which repro¬ 
duce in soft dull tones many of the most beautiful old-world 
designs; and if this material is used to cover a davenport and 
wing chair or to make cushions for the window-seats, it adds 
greatly to the effect. 
Very many people must live in rented houses, and, for this 
reason, often live with structural effects that are anything but 
pleasing to them. A frequent fault in the inexpensive house 
built some years ago was the lack of width in windows and doors, 
and the too great height of these. Fortunately this fault can be 
remedied by the arrangement of the curtains. For instance, at a 
narrow window the rod holding the over-draperies may be set 
so that it will extend from two to three inches beyond the trim, 
allowing the curtain to push well back to the end of the rod, thus 
covering the trim entirely. A valance, from eight to ten inches 
deep, can be used to complete this and will be found to take 
decidedly from the apparent height of the window, while the 
width is materially increased. Nothing is taken from the light 
as these heavy curtains practically end where the glass begins. 
A similar method can be followed for door curtains with good 
results. 
{Continued on page xiv) 
Dark blue draperies accent the blue-and-white color scheme and are 
kept narrow so as to insure a sunny dining-room 
One can never go far wrong in choosing fish-net for the living-room 
windows, hung in straight lengths 
