Large curtain eyelets??

[Abi]

where is the best place to get large curtain eyelets from?? an do you have to put a stiffener along the top of the curtain??

[sparkysdad]

I think the fabric mill behind our house does them, I can go ask if you like, as it's less than a minute walk! they will post out orders, but don't have a website. If you want to call them, the number is 01282 414950 Dan or Chris should be able to help.

[Aileen]

You can get them online too. There are 2 types - with tape and without. You can get them from Ebay, curtain makers suppliers like merrick-day.com, collybrook.co.uk, prettyfrills.co.uk or maybe from your local sewing shop if you are lucky enough to have one!

Which you choose may depend on price and what colour you want.

[sharon]

eyelets

You should be able to get them from stores such as John Lewis or Dunelm Mill, or by post from Merrick & Day. (Dunelm & JL may even do an on-line service). They are about £1 each

You can buy them incorporated in a heading tape which means you don't have to work out spacings.

Alternatively if you feel competent to do an eyelet heading more professionally then use an interfacing & separate eyelets which clip together. (eyelets come in 2 parts - front & back, the fabric/lining going between them). You will have to work out spacings though, which can be time consuming if you're not into calculations.

Either way you must have an EVEN number of eyelets in each curtain in order for them to hang correctly on your pole.

[Dovetail]

Eyelet curtains

Need to use buckram self adhesive heading tape if you are not using the Rufflette heading tape. I teach curtain making and general rule of thumb is 8 eyelets per width so if you have two widths then you will be using 16.

There are hole punch eyelet tools which make the job fast and accurate.

It might be worth making up the curtain with the buckram and then asking a soft furnishing shop to punch they holes for you. Obviously they will charge for this but it is certainly a very fast way of making a professional pair of curtains.

[cdubu]

Have you tried here for idolum for curtain eyeleting (idolumdesignresource.co.uk)?
Hope it helps...

[Wildwytch]

I got mine from Collybrook.

They sell different colours, sizes and the stiffening tape.

They did advise me to buy a hole punch aswell, but I found that cutting it myself was cheaper.

[jycegrcia]

I got it mine from Indiamart and there curtain eyelet are available in all colours and sizes which can meet your requirements. They have got curtain eyelet for every purpose. I think you should try over there.

[clarecrafts]

yeah, i used to work in a curtain shop and was given the task of eyeletting all the curtains (yawn). If youve got a standard width fabric made up and a normal projection pole ie 3 1/4" or above......just measure out your curtain, pin in from the outside edge the projection of your pole (measure from what will be the wall to the centre of the pole)...pin a nice sized final inward fold on whatll be the centre side of the curtain ie 2 1/2 inch or so....and divide the rest by 7 (for a one width curtain). If this is LESS than the pole projection thisll work nice. Basically you dont want your backfolds being deeper than your pole projection or when curtains are open theyll crunch against the wall! on some odd poles ie short brackets of 2 3/4 inch this would never work out right, so id either have to put 10 per width or space all the backfolds the size of the bracket and filter the remaining into the front folds....phew. Sounds complicated, but its actually really not. Once you picture it in your head youll never forget it. Ive never used the tape as always preferred spacing them out properly. I prefer to insert 4" non fusible buckram into the top - the heat fusible stuff that sticks when ironed makes your fabric go crinkly and horrible when you form your folds. Nasty...! Sorry it was confusing but hope it helped somewhat!!!!


ie say if your finished one width wide curtain winds up at 49" wide and you measure your pole bracket and you get 3 1/2"....take 49" and knock the 3 1/2" off, and knock off whatll be your centre inward fold where your curtains meet eg 2 1/2 leaves you with 43" to work your 8 eyelets into. 43 divided by 7 SPACINGS = 6.14" which hoorah is less than your pole projection of 3 1/2" (times two as when theyre open this space halves) so you know your back folds wont crease on the walls when you open the curtains. Set your pins down 1 /2", draw round the inside of your eyelets and start to chop.....

[clarecrafts]

agree apart from i cant stand the self adh buckram for reasons in my main post, once youve got youre eyelets in it holds on them - til then though happy stabbing yourself on a lot of pins (!) I never used a punch tools, just a mega sharp pair of tiny scissors (dont do a me and shove them through and slice the edge of your finger thus ending up with red curtains) My boss showed me once how to do the eyeletting.....and she mucked up as she drew the hole with a pen and skidded off marking them (haha!) so always use pencil! But am proud to say I never marked out and cut a pair wrong (the fear of it!!!) so is a good addage , measure twice (or 10 times!) and cut once! it isnt like unpicking when you realised youve turned the wrong faces together!!!! xx

[cazh]

Hi Clare,
been reading this thread with great interest. I am confident at making lined pencil pleat curtains but have never tried eyelet curtains.

I would like to make some eyelet curtains with a top contrasting border.. I nearly gave up on the idea after thinking that cutting the eyelet holes with scissors through a few layers of fabric and bucram would be too tricky - and that buying an eyelet punch is too expesive. Reading your thread it seems using a mega sharp pair of scissors will do the trick, very encouraging. Do you know of any good books/online guides about sewing borders on curtains and eyeltting them? it would be good to read more before committing expensive material to this project - andI really want to do more than just pencil pleats..
Many thanks

[clarecrafts]

Hi Clare,
been reading this thread with great interest. I am confident at making lined pencil pleat curtains but have never tried eyelet curtains.

I would like to make some eyelet curtains with a top contrasting border.. I nearly gave up on the idea after thinking that cutting the eyelet holes with scissors through a few layers of fabric and bucram would be too tricky - and that buying an eyelet punch is too expesive. Reading your thread it seems using a mega sharp pair of scissors will do the trick, very encouraging. Do you know of any good books/online guides about sewing borders on curtains and eyeltting them? it would be good to read more before committing expensive material to this project - andI really want to do more than just pencil pleats..
Many thanks

Hello! Im not sure about good books, the other lady who replied who teaches may know better. I worked at a curtain shop for 2 years and just did a lot of ironing and finishing off as the workroom did all the eyelet curtain prep, then i worked out the spaces and eyeletted them. I just learned on the job, and have made three sets of curtains (theyre massive though, about 255cm long only 1 1/2 widths in each tho) fully baglined, just recently and had to sit and scratch my head a hell of a lot to get through it! Im so pleased with the finish though! Ive also worked out how to do the roman blinds too and made one bump interlined with a "waterfall" effect to how it folds when its open which again took some real pondering! I would imagine though that after cutting out the face fabric and your contrast top youd probably be best turning the hems up and then attaching a contrast top band...checking the drop again....then do your side seams attaching them to your pre turned up lining...then you do the tops last. Your linings should end up about 1" above the hem of your face so when its made up it doesnt pull down and show below it (am sure you know this!) and leave almost like a hem at the top on your lining. You want to allow a double 4" turn down at the top of your lining to put a piece of 4" buckram in. Cut your buckram the size of the finished curtain. I think what i did was lay out the curtain with the lining uppermost and stand at the top end of it on the table. Iron your "hem" for your buckram and slot it in. Fold it over once and leave it sticking up so you can stitch across the top into your face fabric to finish the top of your curtain. Flop the "hem" down so its laying where it belongs below the stitch line and pin it in place to temporarily hold it against the lining fabric only. Turn curty inside out and press top seam. Then comes the stabbing your fingers on pins bit. Repin through all fabrics just enough to hold it all together then reach up between the fabrics and try and remove the inside pins you put in before so you dont forget about them. Clean any blood off your curtains. Then proceed to mark up and cut your holes in as we mentioned before. NB We used to use at the shop what we named a Whacker Board, which is a cloth covered bit of wood, about 1" by 4 - 5" you put under your curtain to help you press them on with! My boss was a bit tough and could press the tops down by hand but I was a bit weak so I improved this by adding a "wedgie board" to proceedings. This is another bit of wood covered in fabric about 1" x 3" that you can lay on the eyelet and rock back and forth thus wedgying the eyelet on! The shop eyelets were Hallis ones but the curtains i just did at home were individual Rufflette ones and they snapped on really easy. Wedgie board is redundant. Anyway whatever you do just think the process through v carefully first! And measure a zillion times and cut once!

Just wanted to add, if youve got more than one width per curtain and are lining them, if youre really clever you can stagger your seams so you dont hit both seams with one eyelet which can be hard to pop on. I tried to do this but it didnt work but still managed to get the eyelet on! If you end up chopping into a seam do a bit of surgical hand sewing through the tiny hole and just hand sew either end of the cut to make sure the seam stays shut! XXX

[cazh]

Hi there Clare,
Sorry its been a while! Thank you so much for such a detailed reply and its great to her from someone who knows their stuff! I havent actually done the deed yet and put in eyelets (I chickened out with the bedroom curtains and resorted to pencil leat). But now the time has come.. I have some gorgeous harlequin material for the lounge with a big pattern which I think would definately look better with eyelets so now is the time to try jupiter rings.... only reservation (which wont stop me) is what to do when the curtains need dry cleaning... I read somewhere that the rings should be taken out but am concerned that the fabric might fray... if anyone has experience on this then would love to know. In meantime will post back to say how I got on with the eyelets.. wish me luck!

[Keith Banthorpe]

Hi Can anybody recommend a somewhere to get a punch for the eylets I have seen the machines at £200 but that is a bit much for my home curtains, if not I will have to cut them by hand.

thanks
Keith

[southportgirl]

hi, daughter wants me to make eyelet curtains for her. now i have made them before with the heading tape that has the holes already in it but hated the faffing about cutting out the holes in the fabric by hand. i have looked up the eyelet punch on ebay but the seller doesn't know if it works with the ready cut heading tape. can anyone advise me please before i buy it.