Curtains - help!!!

[ukoz71]

We are moving in to a farmhouse and we need to buy curtains - need cheap as chips retailer/or curtain maker/or mum who can whip them up on a sewing machine (but knows how to make curtains obviously!). We will be living in oxfordshire so this area is preferable. They will need to be thick/fully lined as the farm house will get cold!! We have just moved over from Australia so I'm a bit lost... Lol!

Dunlem Mill are pretty cheap and they also sell thermal linings you could to any curtains.

If you want to do it really cheap then check out your local charity shops, anything would do the job for now and you can replace them with your own taste as you decorate each room.

I think if you want cheap as chips, you need to buy off the shelf. And be prepared to make some alterations yourself. You should be able to shorten them yourself, and I expect you can work out how to add a thermal or blackout lining to basic, unlined curtains.

Curtains aren't complicated to make: you can learn it yourself, and anyone who can drive must surely be able to operate a sewing machine! But the large volumes of fabric do make it more difficult, and it takes significant time and patience. Add that to the cost of the fabric, and assuming the person making them pays themself at least the minimum wage (hopefully more, according to their skill!)... It ain't going to be cheap!

Check ebay. Velvet curtains are great.

Elmet curtains - google them- look for nilima duck egg blue, fantastic product at a very reasonable price, get them with blackout lining and they will adjust length to suit you. Good luck.

Check out charity shops too. I've lucked out twice on curtains.

The last pair I bought are amazing. Fully lined and professionally made in a Sanderson fabric. They were only£22. To have similar made would be hundreds of pounds. It cost me £50 to have them drycleaned!

Basic skills with a sewing machine will save you hundreds of pounds! I like choosing my own fabric e.g Birmingham Rag Market and buying black out lining there. Another cheap option is to buy ikea off the peg plain unlined curtains and just add the black out lining yourself. I've done both when needs must and we went over budget on our renovation project.