Wednesday, March 22, 2017

Rivers of Velvet


After 30 years, the local theatre company got a new velvet curtain for their stage downtown at The Grande Theatre.  My husband volunteers building sets for them, so he was in the right place at the right time to claim it for his wife.    They thought about re-using it for something -- but every time they tried to do something with it, it would tear and rip.   Fortunately, one of the things I plan to do with it is rip it into strips for rugs.    Perfect for my purposes!


Today the sun was out, and the driveway was dry enough to pull it out and tear each curtain down into panels.  It was a dusty business, and we have to be careful of the fire retardant, and so we wore dust masks, and washed all our clothes after working with it.



All bailed up and ready for storage.

Next task : Test it to see if it will work for rugs.  How wide to rip the strips -- and it rips beautifully!  This is a task best done outside, however.  Lots of errant pills are produced in this process.

Next task : See how it washes up -- How much dust? How much pillage?  Will is plug up the washer and dryer?

I now have a lifetime supply of red velvet ... and I'm willing to share.  Want some? 

1 comment:

The Idaho Beauty said...

Wow - that's a lot of fabric! I'd suggest a trip to your local laundramat to use one of their big machines for at least the first wash. Who knows? The fabric might disintegrate on you and better in their machine than yours. But beyond that I'd think the tumbling motion and extra room would be gentler and more efficient at removing umpteen years of dirt. and that fire retardent. What a husband btw!