Curtains

[Heather]

My dining room curtains are nice but lack the vintage look I would like so I'm thinking of taking them out and laying them in the sun for a week. I thought of dyeing them but maybe just "softening" them up would work - what do y'all think?

Also, I need to "Annielinz up" my tassels, eh?

[Zuzu's Garden]

Heather - what kind of fabric is it? Very pretty.

We are adding to the C&B forum dictionary here...

1. Chyna Syndrome - to paint. A lot.

2. Annielinz up - to personalize an item with unique style.

:)
Zu

[ChapterTwo]

What about a tea stain, Heather? I think you have to use a natural fabric, so you'll have to check the label first. I use one teabag for each cup of hot water.
I used Rooibos tea when I was helping a friend "vintage up" her apartment. It gave a nice reddish glow to some doilies she had, but I'm sure that's not what you're going for here.

[annielinz]

Heather - what kind of fabric is it? Very pretty.

We are adding to the C&B forum dictionary here...

1. Chyna Syndrome - to paint. A lot.

2. Annielinz up - to personalize an item with unique style.

:)
Zu

HEHEHE. I'm on the job.:D
Actually you could easily beef those babies up by getting some ribbon and more trim and you'd have a stunning creation of your own.

Heres one from scratch in the bathroom and one that was a beefed up store tassel on steroids :D and one more that was an itsy green tassel that grew.

Your curtains are really nice and the sheen does give it a more formal look, not sure that material will fade in the sun. It never fails when you want something to fade it won't and when you don't want fading....yup it happens.

[RoseMary]

I love the color of your curtains, but the sheen does take away from the vintage 'look'. I'm like C2, I'm not sure you can use tea if it's not all natural material.

I'm wondering if there's something you could 'spray' on them before you set them out in the sun that might make them 'age' faster?

Great tassles, annielinz!

[ChapterTwo]

I'm wondering if there's something you could 'spray' on them before you set them out in the sun that might make them 'age' faster?


Hmmmm, that's a good idea, RoseMary. I wonder if water with a little lemon would do any good?

[yarborough house]

Annielinz, - do you take orders for tassles?

[Heather]

They are 100% polyester - dratts!

Zuzu I think we could have fun with that dictionary - maybe a new thread?
ChapterTwo - I've used tea stains before, and I like the look. I'll give it a try... and I hadn't thought of lemon, thanks!
Annielinz that was just my sneaky way to get you to post more pics of your tassels!!!!! They are just beautiful!

Well, I'll try the tea, the water and lemon, and the sunlight. Those ideas won't cost me any $ as well. I'll let you know how it goes!

[Lynzee]

I love the color of you curtains, but I agree with everyone else about the sheen. I hope you find something that works for you. Please do let us know. I have a ton of fabric I would love to fade.

[vintage girl]

I believe Ritts makes a product that ages fabric. Not sure if it will work on polyester, but worth looking into. Also what does the back-side of your curtains look like. I have turned my curtains inside-out and rehemed them. That will give a "faded" or "aged" look if the curtain is not lined and the pattern shows through. I have also hung sheers over a patterned curtain to get a softer look. I used a double rod, hung the patterned curtain on the back rod and the sheer over the top of it on the front rod. Very pretty look. Here is a link to a website that gives different ways to age fabric, but not sure if it will work on polyester. Good luck:)

http://www.ehow.com/how_4422860_age-fabric.html

[Heather]

Thank you Vintage Girl for the link. I didn't know that about using brown paint...
So, I've got ALL my curtains out on the lawn - I sure wish I had a clothes line!

[chyna]

I like the sheers idea. My idea is of course paint them. :p Maybe a fine mist of spray paint to just sort of knockdown the finish. Inside out would probably be less destructive though. :o

[Heather]

Ok well the sunlight hasn't done a damn thing to the dining room curtains! The kitchen curtains however are fading nicely. I have them stapled to my well house... it looks kinda funny - oh well!

Now back to the dining room curtains. Inside out doesn't work. I tried Rits dye - that didn't work so I don't suppose lemon will work. I tried bleach too in the washing machine. Paint is an interesting idea. I like the spray paint method but unsure how I would get the coverage even. The brown paint in a tub would be good too but the only tub big enough (besides the washing machine) is the kiddy pool and I would be in deep, deep trouble if I used that right now!

Also, Vintage Girl - do you have a pic of your curtains done that way? With the sheers over top?

Thanks all!

[CohenCottage]

Any ideas on fading charcoal gray cotton slipcovers? Ours are too dark but they are $2200 to get new ones. We got white PB dropcloth ones (which I still haven't put on or posted photos of yet) to use for the summer, but I wish the gray ones were just a little bit faded and softer. My worry is that if I treat them with anything, it will fade unevenly and I will end up with a tie-dyed look. So far, I've just been washing them on extra extra hot.

Heather, could you get some milk paint and water it way down and soak your curtains and then let them dry in the sun?

[Heather]

Hey CC I was too chicken to use the paint. My kitchen curtains faded nicely (out in the sun for a week straight and then washed a couple of times with a tad of bleach) and they are cotton. I think it would be hard to let slipcovers sit out in the sun because they wouldn't lay flat. What about the washing machine with bleach or that Rit colour remover? Just make sure you fill the laundry tub first and let it agitate with the bleach or whatever before putting the slipcovers in so you don't get the tie dye.

[CohenCottage]

I think I'm too chicken to try bleaching them right now, but I may try oxygen bleach. We have a front loader, so I may have to get a big bucket or soak them in the tub...

[Heather]

So the hot water washing isn't doing anything?

[CohenCottage]

It is fading them slowly, but I'm a bad combination of impatient and chicken.

[vintage girl]

Heather I don't have any pics, as I change my window coverings on almost a daily basis:rolleyes: I just used very inexpensive sheers which you can buy a Walmart in all sizes and colors for almost nothing. I than put them in a second rod in front of the drapes. I pulled the drapes out a bit and than bought sheers that were longer, and pulled them back in the middle, held them back with twine (for a rustic look), but you can use anything (ribbon, drapery tiebacks, or even put an old doorknob and hook it over that. I like to let curtains pool on the floor also and with this look it looks really nice.

[RoseMary]

I really like the idea of hanging the sheers in front. I'm going to try that myself next winter. I don't like my 'winter' curtains, but have several sets of beigey type lace curtains that are just a little lighter than the curtains. Maybe I'll be more satisfied with that look!

Heather, I do think that hanging sheers in front of yours would 'soften and fade' the look a little. Have you tried anything yet that seems to be working? I also wondered about the non-chlorine type bleach--but I don't know if it would fade anything. Are you 'wetting' them down while they're outside in the sun?