Curtain and Drape Lining Options
Thursday, March 14th, 2013There are several options for lining your curtains and drapes, but before we describe each, it is important to understand why lining is even necessary. You can buy curtains online without lining and save a few dollars. We would never recommend any customer consider this short term advantage. The primary reason for curtain and drape lining is to protect the designer fabric from the sun’s damaging UV rays. Direct sunlight is the most harmful, but indirect sunlight will eventually cause the same damage. Adding lining to the curtains and drapes will dramatically cut down or even completely stop the damaging effects.
Standard curtain and drape lining is typically a cotton or a cotton blend fabric. It will do a very good job of blocking the UV rays and protecting the designer fabric. Light will still filter through the curtains and drapes. Many people like the subtle light filtering of standard lining.
Thermal or Premium curtain and drape lining can be a 100% cotton or a blend. It is a thicker and more dense fabric with excellent UV blocking properties. Light will still filter through, but to a lessor degree. This lining also has better thermal properties helping reduce cold drafts in the winter months and the sun’s heat in the summer.
Blackout curtain and drape lining does exactly as the name implies. The lining is a “sandwich” of materials that completely blocks all penetration of sunlight. There is no light filtering. Blackout provides the best protection from the sun.
Drape and curtain interlining is a third layer of fabric that is added between your designer fabric and the lining. Interlining is a technique designers use to give a curtain and drape “extra body”. Although silk fabrics are very expensive, they are very lightweight by nature. Adding interlining to silk drapes gives the finished product a very nice hanging property. Interlining also add another layer to the fabric protection, but its primary purpose it to give the finished product a beautiful appearance.






