Anna and I are really fortunate that people trust us to coax their personalities out through their home furnishings. Recently a friend of ours commissioned us to design, fabricate and install curtains in his home above the clouds...
Not one to be shy about what he likes he immediately and definitely selected a sheer wool boucle. Yes a sheer wool boucle! Mohair, Alpaca, Linen and Viscose all come together in a harmony of texture and softness. The project posed some rather interesting challenges....
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| The panel on the right has been "dressed" notice the difference in the way they hang. Once a curtain is properly formed and dressed it will hang smooth and smart. |
Size... we were dealing with over 58 linear feet of glass to cover! This translated into over 100 yards of this creamy frothy curtainy goodness. We installed the tracks against the ceiling bringing them into the room off the standard sills. this allowed us to have full length curtains.
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| Look at the web like structure, suspended snowflakes... |
Fabric... being an open weave we had to design seams which not only looked good (there were 30 seams in total) had to be very small and extremely strong so they would not pull apart under the strain of the weight of the curtain. This was achieved by employing some time honored tricks from the sailmaking trade. In sailmaking all seams are sewn with a zig zag stitch, these curtains are the same, this allows flexibility and strength and preserves accuracy.
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| Curtains before hemming. These were hung for several days before we hemmed them. |
Structure... We opted for our very favourite... custom ripplefold! This ripple was over 5" deep amounted to just under 90% fullness and was made with a scant 2" buckram at the head. very technical I know. This was done to minimize the weight at the top of the curtain, reduce bulk and create a visual harmony. It worked... as per usual!
Anna and I installed the tracking at ceiling grade. Here I am adding some lubrication. Notice how the track seems like it belongs. :)
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| Before the curtains were hung. Look at the odd reflection, the harsh glare, the shadows.... |
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| The light has softened, the sharpness disappears, and you can still see the view. |
Making these curtains posed serious challenges. Before we started this project we had no idea how we would approach this due to the size and nature of this install and the unique textile that we used. I am really happy to have had the opportunity and the faith placed upon us to create something remarkable.
In my experience, when you love to do something, when you strive to create beauty and you work with people who appreciate such things then the result cannot help being beautiful...
:)
In my experience, when you love to do something, when you strive to create beauty and you work with people who appreciate such things then the result cannot help being beautiful...
:)