making a curtain from a bedspread or quilt

I have a quilted bedspread that I'd like to use for a window covering. Has anyone ever done this before? What I'm pondering first is how to attach it to a curtain rod. The options I can think of are either sew a strip of cloth on the back to use as a rod pocket, or sew tabs along the edge and run the rod through these. Any pros or cons to these?

Also, I realize it won't open like a curtain, i.e. the quilt won't gather and drape like curtains do when pulled open. Any suggestions about this and ways to get best light into the room when I need it?

I do this every so often. I would think that tabs vs rod pocket (and also positioning of rod pocket) depends on how heavy the quilt is, how it would drape, and whether you want it to be tight or loose (like if you want to use the quilt as insulation over a cool window you want to avoid gaps, likewise if you want to use it to keep light out). it sounds like you're concerned about it being too dark rather than not dark enough! The ones I have made I wanted to keep light in, so I used tabs, but the fabric was light enough that i didn't have to worry about crazy sagging.

The blankets I use for window covering are held up by the pinch type clips like this:



or by metal loops that I put safety pins in the blanket to hold them up.
The metal rings make the blankets slide very easily, and lets me control the bunching better.  I gave up on using tabs due to inability to slide them.

There are modern clip types, like this:



They tend to be wussy though, and not hold weight well. If it's light curtain I might use them, but not a heavy one, unless I use a LOT of them.

I'm a thrift store shopper, and buy curtain rings of types I like whenever I see them, so when I need them I have a good selection of them. I don't like most of the modern ones.
And I don't like tabs because I can't slide them.

I don't know that I've ever seen the first kind of clip that Pearl shows, but that second kind sucks in my experience, even with light curtain material. If the first kind work well, that would be the easiest, but having not known that existed, I'd have sewn five (or more?) loops or ties to the quilt's edge-binding.

Tereza Okava wrote:I do this every so often. I would think that tabs vs rod pocket (and also positioning of rod pocket) depends on how heavy the quilt is, how it would drape, and whether you want it to be tight or loose (like if you want to use the quilt as insulation over a cool window you want to avoid gaps, likewise if you want to use it to keep light out). it sounds like you're concerned about it being too dark rather than not dark enough! The ones I have made I wanted to keep light in, so I used tabs, but the fabric was light enough that i didn't have to worry about crazy sagging.

Tereza, you're correct that darkening isn't important; this is a spare room that I'm setting up my large floor loom in. So it will be my weaving room. I will likely want the curtain open for weaving, but closed at night for privacy and insulation. So, good point about fitting the bedspread to the window.

Pearl Sutton wrote:The blankets I use for window covering are held up by the pinch type clips

Pearl, that would certainly be easiest! My concern is that the bedspread is too heavy for them. I did try those clips to use a similar quilt as a room divider, but it kept falling off. On the other hand, I might could sew them on.

I'm a thrift store shopper, and buy curtain rings of types I like whenever I see them, so when I need them I have a good selection of them. I don't like most of the modern ones.
And I don't like tabs because I can't slide them.

Thrift store is a great idea!

Good point about the tabs. It would probably be a similar situation if I I sewed a rod pocket along the back. Plus the quilted bedspread is a fairly thick fabric.

Have you considered adding small rings to the window side, a rod pocket at the bottom, and turning it into a Roman shade? If you put the mounting system several inches above the window frame and wider than the window frame, you will keep the window fairly warm, and also be able to pull the string and get the whole thing to slide up to mostly uncover the window when you want light. This "pleats" upward, instead of sideways, but so long as you do the pleats wide enough, I think it would work.

I have a fairly bulky window covering which I added pleater tape to and then used rings that had a tiny eye hook on them that the drapery hook went through. However, I'm not sure that a quilt would fold enough for that system.

That said, Hubby got some pinch clips on rings that look like Pearl's, and they are definitely *not* wimpy. I can barely push them wide. That said if you can only get the wimpy ones, a trick would be to sew a cord along the top edge that the clips could go over, but would catch them when they tried to slide off. Does that make sense?

Christopher: "I don't know that I've ever seen the first kind of clip that Pearl shows"  They are an old style, I haven't seen new ones for at least 15 years.

Leigh:  "My concern is that the bedspread is too heavy for them."  I have several heavy ones held up with safety pins, I can make them very sturdy and then put other hooks on them. You can put them down different lengths too, to add to the support.

Jay's idea of a roman shade is interesting, if it's a heavy blanket though, I'd pull it up diagonally, not square. It would have less bulk to pile up for the amount of window you can uncover.
Jay: "Hubby got some pinch clips on rings that look like Pearl's, and they are definitely *not* wimpy."  That they are not. I have small channel locks with me when I work with them. Saves a lot of wear and tear on the fingers when you lose the pinch before it's in place.

A hybrid idea of all this: Make something akin to a rod pocket on top, heavy cloth that bends well, use clips or pins to hook loops on it, so it will stay up and move at least a bit easily, and also put a diagonal reinforcement across it with some sort of loops, and use that to do a diagonal pull to move it back and up for light.

:D

Lots of good ideas here. I'm going to have to think it all through and decide how complicated I want to get!

Leigh Tate wrote:Lots of good ideas here. I'm going to have to think it all through and decide how complicated I want to get!

My bold! I totally hear you Leigh! So many factors, so many costs/benefits to be weighed.

I have learned about myself that I need to sleep on it, if it isn't "critical". The truth will out if I give it time. Sometimes "simple" ends up being the elegant solution, but sometimes accepting that you will need to put extra time and do a more complicated fix will give you pleasure for years. Sometimes complications will stall a project and nothing will ever happen. It's a fine line - good luck!

This is a little old, but I'll add my 2c. I use the clips in the 2nd photo to hang a full-size (maybe slightly smaller) quilt over my front doors. The regular curtains have back tabs, and I added the rings in between the tabs. I leave the rings on the rod permanently, so I don't have to worry about removing the regular curtains when I want to add the quilt in the winter. They work great.

Pearl Sutton wrote:The blankets I use for window covering are held up by the pinch type clips like this:

(source)

or by metal loops that I put safety pins in the blanket to hold them up.
The metal rings make the blankets slide very easily, and lets me control the bunching better.  I gave up on using tabs due to inability to slide them.

There are modern clip types, like this:

(source)

They tend to be wussy though, and not hold weight well. If it's light curtain I might use them, but not a heavy one, unless I use a LOT of them.

I'm a thrift store shopper, and buy curtain rings of types I like whenever I see them, so when I need them I have a good selection of them. I don't like most of the modern ones.
And I don't like tabs because I can't slide them.

Laura, firstly, welcome to Permies! We strive for perennial discussions here, so posting good information to an old thread is great.

I ended up using the first clips because I already had them. It took a ton of them because of the weight of the bedspread. I hadn't even looked for the kind in the second photo, but after reading your comment, I'm thinking they would likely slide on the rod easier.

Great idea about covering the front door with them!

I realize too, that I never shared photos of how this turned out. So, here they are now.