Curtains and those little slidey things

[perryg114]

My trailer has the original curtins and I don't know if they will survive the washing process. Even if they do, the little white plastic sliders are breaking and was wondering if there are replacements out there. The curtin system in the back bedroom is rather complicated but it seems to work. I imagine that having a new set of curtins made to fit the OEM sliders would be expensive. There are about a 1000 of those little sliders and the loops that attach them to the curtins.

Perry

[pienjim]

Not sure which sliders you need, but Vintage Airstream Supply and Inland RV carry a couple of types of curtain sliders.

Paula

[overlander64]

Greetings Perry!

Most of the curtain sliders are Kirsch products. There are several places where you might find the correct carriers/sliders:

• Kirsch Catalog -- see page 18 -- probably for older coaches than yours.
• Airstream on-line store.
• Vintage Trailer Supply.
• Inland RV
  • Kirsch Tabs
  • Drape "T" Tabs
  • Drape "G" Tabs
• Out Of Doors Mart -- Curtain Tabs
• Ace Fogdall RV -- Curtain Tabs

Another option is to check with your local decorating center as they often have access to numerous brands of curtain/drape hanging hardware and can obtain the carriers that you need . . . well equipped fabric/sewing notion stores may also be able to assist in your search.

Good luck with your project!

Kevin

[Zittle]

I just redid the curtains in our 77 Argosy Minuet. A previous owner had tried washing an drying the curtains, but because the fabric was the thermal kind with the thermal rubber backing. The dryer hates this stuff and made the rubber stick to itself so that when I tried to pull them apart the rubber continued to stick and pulled off the fabric leaving great scars that showed through when the curtains are hung. Ugly!!!! These curtains were made by Two owners back and were nice but have suffered. The front curtains were way to wide having way to much fabric in them so they "bunched" to much when they were open all the way. The side curtains were strained tight and hard to get complete closed. My front curtains had the snap slides where a snap that is attached to a fabric tape is cut apart and sewn to the top of the curtain between the pleats. The snap is then snapped into the slider. This type will keep the curtain from sagging but will only fit in a track that accepts the "G" slider. I replaced them with the "G" slider and made the curtain 1' shorter than what I was taking off. I finished the curtain completely without the pleats, pinned the the sliders on and slide everything in place on the track. This allowed my to adjust the depth of the pleat and the amount of fabric which is snapped at the outside edge of the window. I made an even amount of pleat every four inches and sewed the pleat all the way from top to bottom. This helps keep the curtain from ballooning or bulging out in the the middle and keeps the curtain straight and taught. I repeated the process with the side curtain but it uses the "T" slides. Pinning the slide in place and put the curtains up allows you to make adjustment in slider placement and pleat depth. I am very pleased with my new curtains and they cost about a $120 material and slides, snaps, and velcro. The velcro keeps the edges together when the curtains are closed as they do not overlap like house curtains do. I used a cotton duck fabric which was thick enough and heavy enough not to need lining, but I can add lining later as finances allow.

[Inland RV Center, In]

Originally Posted by perryg114

My trailer has the original curtins and I don't know if they will survive the washing process. Even if they do, the little white plastic sliders are breaking and was wondering if there are replacements out there. The curtin system in the back bedroom is rather complicated but it seems to work. I imagine that having a new set of curtins made to fit the OEM sliders would be expensive. There are about a 1000 of those little sliders and the loops that attach them to the curtins.

Perry

Perry.

Your drapes use "T" and "G" shaped curtain tabs.

That shape is determined by looking at the side of the tabs.

Usually, but not always the "T" tabs are on top and the "G" tabs are on the bottom.

Andy

[perryg114]

Well you make me some for $120?

Perry

[mcair]

Replaced all of the curtains in our 29' excella. Those slides are 7.75 for 25 of them. I managed to salvage a bunch and only order about 3 packages of new ones. The elastic was bad in all of them so I bought a large roll of 1/2" eleastic from Atlanta Thread and re used as many plastic slides as possible. The only ones that were beyond saving were the ones that were exposed to direct sunlight. Much cheaper than buying all new slides.

[d&p]

Yes, how does one get those " little slidey things?'
And , my trailer needs new curtains!
I would attempt to make them if I had a pattern and those little slidey things- can anyone help??

[perryg114]

Andy in the post above probably has them as well as Vintage Trailer Supply.

Perry

[Zittle]

The kind of slidey thing you need is determined by how the track is mounted. If the track is mounted so the groove is facing out it takes the G-slides. If the track is mounted so the groove is facing up to down you need the T-slide. The slides on the bottom of my front curtains were all broken from sun deterioration. The snaps and slides were still good and I salvaged them for future use. The side slides were all in tact but the elastic was shot. I saved the slides for emergency replacement but felt new slides with new curtains went together.