blinds, curtains, lining, interlining - help!

[stoofadoof]

it's 15 years since I last dusted off my sewing machine? we've just moved into a lovely house with massive single glazed sliding sash windows and we're skint? i figure the cheapest way to try and improve thermal insulation is to make roman blinds and curtains for all the windows, re-using a lot of old curtains i've got?. but i've never done interlining before and want to interline the blinds and the curtains (it got down to -20 here last winter :() ?

advice gratefully received!!! what do I need for interlining, and where can I get it from? any other thoughts that might be helpful?!?!

thanks everso!

[nellie02]

I did something similar this winter and it made all the difference. I bought some heavy-ish blackout thermal lining, and simply sewed it onto the curtain fabric. after good lining, the next most important thing is to get the measurements right, make sure the curtains fall below the windowsill (and above any radiator). You can get advice from a curtain fabric shop, and detailed instructions online.

Good luck! I really enjoyed making mine and choosing lovely fabrics, and much warmer as a result!

[sinclair]

can you get to an evening class where you are? There may be a soft furnishings class and you can take advantage of the large tables - this may be an issue with lining out curtains unless you have a big table you can use. here they also sell you linings and tape etc at cost price as they are not supposed to make a profit as it is LA funded - plus you get some company sewing which is nice.

[stoofadoof]

thank you both!

just checked for evening classes cos that's an ace idea, but nowt til september? google here I come! i've got some old chenille curtains i'm wondering about utilising as a lining? hmmm

[newshoes121]

Any local haberdashery shop will be able to sell you linings and interliings quite cheaply. Best of luck!