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Posts by Pete Eastwood

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All sorts: creative inspiration, our thoughts on the industry, style forecasting, FAQs, and whatever else springs to mind when we finally find time to sit down and write. You won’t be bombarded with marketing and sales, and neither will you receive the same thing from month-to-month for the sake of it. That’s not our style.

    Journal Insight #14: Measuring and Installation of curtains and blinds.

    In a previous post I explained the importance of the installation process when hanging curtains to achieve the perfect look. Today I’m going to explain the measures we take in order to be able to quote on curtains and blinds and also set out the guidance we ask homeowners and clients to read before we attend. Let’s start with blinds, as they are far simpler. We measure for the finished…
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    ladder ready to measure and install with white curtains

    Journal Insight #12: Curtain poles and curtain tracks – part 2

    Last time we looked into the world of curtain poles and discovered that as beautiful as they are, they aren’t always suited to the job in hand. I promised you I had a solution, and today I am going to try to argue for it and delve into the world of tracks and tracked poles. I think curtain tracks get a very bad name, and yes I admit they aren’t…
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    Red curtain with dark curtain pole. Dark oak piano

    Journal Insight #11: Curtain Poles – part 1

    I think that on balance, the biggest area of confusion when ordering curtains are the poles and track options they can be hung on, and so in an effort to keep these insights to a few minutes light reading, rather than writing one long-winded essay I am breaking this down into 2 chunks. Next time I will be looking at curtain tracks and (my favourite systems) ‘hybrid’ tracked poles, but…
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    curtain pole ends

    Journal Insight #10: Hand-made curtains vs Machined curtains

    I’ve spent a little time researching the topic of handmade vs machined curtains. It is one of those areas where it seems so obvious to the maker, but explaining why can be far harder – there are quite a few intangibles. Some of what I’m writing about today may be open to debate, with differing opinions even among professional curtain and blind makers. Firstly, what do I mean by handmade…
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    Silver curtain pole with grey curtain

    Journal Insight #9: Eco Solutions for curtains and blinds

    Today’s journal is less about hints and tips and more a reflection on our industry. I’d love to hear from anyone who can point me in the direction of answers to a few of the questions that arise regarding eco solutions for curtains and blinds. I recently turned the wrong side of 50, so I’m not going to claim here that I have the same innate focus on ‘eco’ as…
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    neutral and green art with some cotton

    Journal Insight #8: Hanging and Dressing Curtains

    As ever, if you are an experienced designer you may have this information stored away in your head and what will follow won’t be anything new. But, for those of you with less experience or perhaps those who have never needed to know about hanging and dressing curtains, this journal insight may prove helpful – we hope! It’s amazing how often a customer comments on how we hang and dress…
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    Grey curtain with white detail pattern and white pole

    Journal Insight #7: Embellishments

    You’re a designer, you add value by being creative and coming up with more for your clients. You’re ordering hand-made curtains and blinds and trust me, they really don’t have to be boring or straightforward. To put it simply, if it can be sewn you can probably have it. So, while there are the most beautiful fabrics out there, you can apply your own stamp on top, and we call…
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    grey curtain trimmings

    Journal Insight #6: Calculate Fabric Quantities

    I’ve never fancied myself as a professor, or a teacher of any kind. I never considered a career in torture either, so it’s all the more surprising I’ve elected to share some details on how we calculate the fabric quantities for curtains. Many of you will know this, and so this isn’t really written for you, but for anyone after a reminder or for who it is new… here goes.…
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    Image of fabric being sewn with red cotton

    Journal Insight #5: Fabrics

    How long have you got? We used to own a retail showroom and still have several hundred fabric books. So, trying to distil the topic of Fabrics, is going to be very interesting. I’m guessing that you are all pretty clued up on plains vs patterns and their aesthetics, plus next time I write, we’ll be covering the issues around calculating quantities, so for now let’s focus our attention on…
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    green, red and blue fabrics

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