Show me your curtains in your vintage Airstream

[Airstream76]

Originally Posted by Klatawa

These are pics of the curtains/mini blinds that Deb designed, sewed and with a little sheetmetal work we assembled and installed on our 1965 Tradewind.

This is kind of what I had in mind. Would you mind showing me a pic of the inside so I can see how it was sewn?

[Antique Pedaler]

My wife is quite accomplished when it comes to knitting, crocheting, and sewing. She made these lined curtains for our Bambi II, saving $$ over commercial ones or blinds. For those of you who know, she sews on a vintage compact Singer. The valances really set them off!

[Landshark]

Klatawa,

The mounting hardware strip is really interesting: do the blinds mount under/inside the framework that holds the curtains or does the framework mount the blinds as well? That looks like a very efficient and practical system we could use, too.

Thanks!

Vivian

[robandzoe]

Here's a link to the interior of our 1958 Sovereign of the Road... with some inside shots showing some photos with the curtains in them.

http://sweetsovereign.blogspot.com/2...oit-metro.html

[Splitrock]

Originally Posted by webspinner

I used triple pleats in ours.

I'm drape illiterate. What's the difference between triple and single pleats?

Gary

[Klatawa]

Vivian
The mini blinds are blind nutted inside of the original curtain tracks that were in the 1965 Tradewind. I sawed the the original curtain track extrusion out then used blind nuts long enough to extend through the mini blind. The curtain track on the outside lip of the extrusion is from Vintage Trailer supply. We did not have all of the original curtain tracks, so I thought , another story. I made four other curtain assemblies out of .063 aluminum forming them on a brake to the desired angle. I can take more pics if you want.

Dave

[webspinner]

Originally Posted by Splitrock

I'm drape illiterate. What's the difference between triple and single pleats?

Gary

From the top, single pleats look sort of like this:

____()____()____()___()___()___

Triple pleats look sort of like this:

___()()()____()()()____()()()____()()()____

The pleats are made by folding about 3" of fabric over a strip of heavy interfacing, called pleater tape, I think. Each pleat is sewn about 1/2" deep for the height of the pleater tape, so for the top (and bottom in a trailer) 3" of the curtain.

A short horizontal seam is then sewn across the base of each set of pleats at the edge of the pleater tape, binding them all together. This makes triple pleats look sort of like partially open fans at the top. The fabric that went into the pleats opens out in the middle of the curtain for a graceful bulge.

[webspinner]

Originally Posted by Antique Pedaler

The valances really set them off!

Nice!

Are those valances original to the trailer, or did you make them? If you made them, I'd love to see a closer detail. I'm looking for something like that to hide the roll of a roller blind.

[Splitrock]

Originally Posted by webspinner

From the top, single pleats look sort of like this:

____()____()____()___()___()___

Triple pleats look sort of like this:

___()()()____()()()____()()()____()()()____

The pleats are made by folding about 3" of fabric over a strip of heavy interfacing, called pleater tape, I think. Each pleat is sewn about 1/2" deep for the height of the pleater tape, so for the top (and bottom in a trailer) 3" of the curtain.

A short horizontal seam is then sewn across the base of each set of pleats at the edge of the pleater tape, binding them all together. This makes triple pleats look sort of like partially open fans at the top. The fabric that went into the pleats opens out in the middle of the curtain for a graceful bulge.

Thanks! That's a good explanation. I may try to make my own.

[Landshark]

Originally Posted by Klatawa

Vivian
The mini blinds are blind nutted inside of the original curtain tracks that were in the 1965 Tradewind. I sawed the the original curtain track extrusion out then used blind nuts long enough to extend through the mini blind. The curtain track on the outside lip of the extrusion is from Vintage Trailer supply. We did not have all of the original curtain tracks, so I thought , another story. I made four other curtain assemblies out of .063 aluminum forming them on a brake to the desired angle. I can take more pics if you want.

Dave

THANKS, dave,

could you please post more pics? I think I have the idea from your description, but more pics would be great.

Vivian

[Landshark]

Klatawa-Dave,

Forgot to ask how your curtains are anchored at the bottom?

Vivian

[aceflys]

My 66 Caravel Now





With the orig curtains as found 5 years ago

Ace in PA(heading south this week)

WBCCI 2169
TAC PA-1

[Klatawa]

Vivian & Webspinner
Here are some more pics of the blind/curtain installation. We used snaps at the top and bottom of the curtain on the outside edge.
Some of the valances are the original curtain tracks with the track extrusion saw cut from the extrusion. Some the valances I had to make and used .063 aluminum sheet material and then formed them to the disired width and angle. If you make your own you could make the unit wider to fit an assembly into.
One pic shows the blind nut at the top and just drilled through the blind to attach the nut on the bottom side.
One side note, I cant take credit for the Idea or design that is my wife Debs work

Dave

[Antique Pedaler]

Originally Posted by webspinner

Nice!

Are those valances original to the trailer, or did you make them? If you made them, I'd love to see a closer detail. I'm looking for something like that to hide the roll of a roller blind.

We made the valances. We made cardboard patterns to follow the curve of the walls and get the tops level. They are attached with valance-long
Aluminum angle iron. Where regular angle iron is 90 degrees these are bent at about 100 degrees to get the valances level then riveted to the walls. The easy part was hanging the curtains...simple tension rods.

[cbcnm]

i just completed the first set of drapes for my 57 flying cloud. vintage barkcloth.

[CarrieSue]

I seriously dig that lamp, Ed!

[idroba]

Here are three photos of the curtains I made for my 20' Argosy. I repair sewing machines as a hobby, and decided I needed to learn how to sew too. So, this is my first attempt. This spring I get to do it again for my 22' Argosy. These are single front, single back pleat curtains, very similar to the original ones of that era, and use the original tracks with elastic to stretch them tight, held in by nylon tabs as used in the original. I got the new tabs from Inland RV. There are a whole lot of tabs, one top, one bottom for each pleat.

I found that I could not get self lined curtain material anywhere locally. I wanted full darkening curtains. Wal Mart and other places have pre made curtains which are self lined, that is they have a rubberized backing material which keeps the sun out and protects the fabric. So, it turned out that purchasing pre made curtains and just using the material in them worked out best for me. I got ones in which each panel was wide enough for the new length, and long enough for the new width. The neutral nature of what I chose made the direction of the original irrelevant.

I used what is called pleating tape to stiffen the material for the pleats. You can see how I turned the material over, with the pleating tape inside, in the photo taken from the outside of the glass. I sewed the entire length of the curtains with the pleat tape, top and bottom. Then I sewed a front pleat the vertical height of the pleating tape, every 6", and a back pleat inbetween each front pleat, half way, or 3". Finishing the ends was my week point, and I did not do as good a job as I would have liked there. Sew on Velcro tape was put on to allow closure in the middle. The nylon Tabs with the elastic were sewn on adjacent to each rear pleat (I think, memory issues), top and bottom.

A lot of repetition, and a lot of mindless work. I admit that on my first panel I did not get the top row of pleats in line with the bottom row, and had to rip them out and do them a second time. They are not perfect, but unless you have sewed a lot, most everyone thinks that they look great.

See, men can sew too. Working with stretchy fabric was much more difficult than I ever imagined. I admit that I like working 4 x 8 sheets of plywood better, you can draw a straight line on it with a square. Hats off to anyone who can make cloth do square and straight lines.

[AIR-Quarius]

I'm still thinking about how I will do mine...

[PamCheshire]

Originally Posted by Ed Emerick

This is the front and side windows of our 59 Traveler, all of the windows are treated the same way.

These are awesome!

[MaxAB]

...attached are a few pix of the curtains in the bunk and main areas of our Sovereign. Although the bunk area curtains are patterned, the main area curtain are a chocolate color - both are backed with "blackout" material which has both light reducing and insulative properties.