Cost of really thick curtains?

[indiesearcher]

I'd like to have some noise reducing curtains made (inspired by another thread)!

I've already got secondary glazing, but I'm lying here thinking some heavy curtains on top of the shutters on top of the secondary on top of the double glazing might help...!

We stayed in a posh B&B recently that was on a main road and had curtains that felt like they had a thin duvet inside. They were beautiful.

How much do such things cost??

The room is big, bay window and then a second window (would you do both??).

And what about the maintaining on them? Presumably they need cleaning every so often? That must cost a fortune too??

@callingon

I was looking at £550 for one small window 😞 I think I’m going to make my own as I haven’t come across any second hand ones anywhere

That’s crazy expensive. I got ones made for my childrens rooms, windows are about 1.5m wide by about 3m tall and it cost around £200 a pair. They’re blackout/thermal lined.

Previous owners left heavy interlined curtains in 2 rooms of our new house. Ones in north-facing bedroom are pristine, but very 1980’s drippy floral.The ones in the West-facing living room are really badly bleached by the sun - particularly the leading edges - as you’d expect I suppose!

So, just be wary if you’re spending huge amounts that no curtains will be fade-proof in a bright south-facing window.

These are the ones in my daughters room, probably more like 2m wide. These were £205 I think. Made to measure. They’re too tall for off the shelf 😞

Curtains, nice curtains as in lovely fabric, lined and interlined, for a decent size house cost a lot of money. Because I have a 1970's house with panorama (wide) windows, every window is at least 2.5m wide (but not as deep) nothing is standard, every curtain is at least 2 widths of fabric so add in the pattern match and you are looking at about £700 per window. I learned to dislike curtains early so we only have them on the street facing side.

Brittana Rose are fantastic and reasonably priced. I had a door curtain made recently, the fabric cost was £350 plus making up and lining from a local maker.

Britannia Rose made it with a thermal lining for £340.

You need interlining and thermal lining for thickness.

I just had some made with similar measurements (although drop was 230 not 270. 300 round the bay plus a second pair 220 for another window.

I didn't interline them but they were £832 with a thermal lining for both pairs. 6 week order time, first class curtains.

eBay - search "interlined curtains" and there are some real bargains on there. It's the first place I look for curtains because I like good quality curtains but don't have the budget for new ones - the last pair I had made were for a Victorian bay window, full length interlined, and fifteen years ago they were nearly £2,000. They were (and still are) very lovely, but I got a similar pair for this house for £250 and felt very chuffed indeed

Those quoting several hundred pounds for their curtains just have blackout or thermal lining, unless second hand.

It would be 1K absolute minimum to buy a small new interlined (it is a fleecy/bump layer like a soft blanket handstitched between the outer and the lining) curtain and far far more expensive for bigger windows.

The interlining has to be invisible stitched to the outer the length of the curtains several times across each panel of fabric to hold in place - they have to be hand made and are very time consuming and incredibly heavy and bulky to work with.

Places like Britannia Rose are offering a curtain with a blackout or thermal lining (just 2 layers) not a lined curtain with an interlining between the curtain and lining (3 layers).

Nope, you have the choice of adding interlining at Britannia Rose.

Thanks all, this is all super helpful.

Any other opinions on whether interlinked Ines would help to cut noise? That's really the only reason to get them.

I thought Britannia Rose just offered a very thin interlining (160gm2) to prevent thin fabrics being see through rather than a fleecy several times as thick.

I’m sure I’ve seen websites that sell high quality 2nd hand curtains

BR interlining is absolutely fine with their thermal lining = more than 400g which I’d as thick as Merrick’s thickest interlining.

We had our double glazing gaskets replaced recently. The gaskets are the rubber strips you can see around the windows when you open them.

They go hard after a few years.

We did it for warmth as the windows were draughty. But it has helped with noise too.

It cost £250 to do most of a large 2 bed flat.

If you have double glazing it might be worth a try before having new curtains.
There are videos on YouTube which explain.

@indiesearcher - I do think fully interlined - with the bump lining does help with noise - secondary glazing is ( I believe ) the best for noise but really thick interlined curtains pulled across I think will help further. - the shutters won't help with noise IME but curtains over that I think will. But I think you will need a decent overlap to the wall and preferably to floor length. You probably won't be able to cut out all noise but if you can mute it and the room feels cosy - then it may not be so irritating.

Look at this OP - obviously they are trying to sell their product.

Personally I'm not sure they will make a huge difference on top of double glazing. I'd try what Mosaic did first.

I didn't interline my curtains because there's six widths of fabric and a thermal lining round my 3m bay window which is a lot of bulk when drawn back.

That's something else to consider, the bulk. Personally, I would phone this company, they are incredibly helpful and the gods of the curtain making world. I've used them for years for supplies until I decided to use BR for ease.

Sorry 😂, soundproofing reference link.

www.direct-fabrics.co.uk/blog/understanding-acoustic-curtains-absorption-sound-proofing-curtains/

It’s the interlining which is the thing like a duvet inside.it makes them very heavy and sometimes you need stronger specialist tracks to hold them up as normal poles etc can’t cope.

There are often excellent curtains for sale secondhand. You can get them on eBay or often in charity shops, if you’re a bit flexible on pattern.

For a largish room people spend thousands on quality interlinked curtains. Better to get real quality secondhand than a cheap version.

Thanks all.

I'd want to be reasonably picky about the pattern, I've had a look on eBay and I'm not sure the big florals are quite my thing!

I'm more concerned about tracks/poles.

It's a big bay window and an old ceiling. Definitely a bit worried about hanging 20Kg off it!

Thanks for the info on noise 1 I too think they'd add an extra layer of muffle, we have secondary glazing already, and the double glazing was new when we did the place up a few years ago so don't think the mastic has gone hard already but I'll definitely check.

Has anyone seen a subtle striped pattern anywhere? Say an Ivory/natural background with a very dark stripe - sort of ticking stripe I guess? If I wanted a 'beading' can this be added??

These were the curtains I spotted at the fancy b&b that I fell in love with - is this pinch pleats on a track? And is that trim/fringe an additional extra do you think?

I made all my own from fabric on ebay - end of rolls. My full length living room curtains were £50 - lined, beautiful heavy fabric. Everyone asked me where I got them from.

Making up is approx £200 per drop (the number of pieces of fabric that need to be joined and pattern matched). It sounds as though you have at least 7 or 8 drops and will need at least 25 to 30m of fabric.

Add to that the cost of the fabric, interlining and lining £35 - £40 per meter would be modest all in.

Plus the curtain rail/pole if necessary.

I reckon you will be looking at a minimum of £2k. I absolutely agree with the poster above. Something like silk dupion beautifully made and as full as possible will look a gazillion times better than skimped designers guild, not interlined and machine finished.

If you look on just fabrics website or mill shop online you can get ticking for £10-20 pounds per metre. You can also get interlined Roman blinds made which would be much cheaper.

Ooh good idea @Elderflower2016 - I actually prefer Roman blinds to curtains and hadn't thought of having those interlined - can you interline with the same 'bump' stuff??

Would three separate Roman blinds to do the bay look silly?

I made my own blinds Indie, interlined, hand stitched, for a long drop bay. The fabric, interlining, lining, tracks (all from that link) cost me about £1600, having them made was £2,850 because blinds are much more labour intensive. My bays have five blinds. They don't look silly but having an interlined long drop blind would be bulky if you raised them to the top. I leave mine half dropped for that reason.

That was my last sewing project, I can't be bothered anymore after such a mammoth effort, hence having them made these days.

I think interlined roman blinds would be very bulky when pulled up. I don't think they would work.