Like a lot of people who live in old houses, we have blinds, lace curtains, and the odd swag here and there. Drapes are something that grandma had. Drapes are nasty, dust-catching, pinch-pleated polyester things that shut out light, air, and any sense of style. And, like many people who live in old houses, we are very cold at this time of year! Rather than wearing woolly hats indoors or rushing out to shop for triple-glazed windows, let's plan how to drape our windows in the Victorian manner without sacrificing our sense of style.
If the mere word drapes inspires waves of nausea, there are authentic Victorian ways to insulate and to control light short of hauling out yards of velvet and miles of fringe. The key is layering. Get the bottom layers right, and you may (depending on your climate and your insulation) be able to go easy on the top layers.
Next to the glass, install a plain, opaque roller blind or a Venetian blind. This layer serves two purposes. First, because it forms a relatively solid surface, it creates an insulating layer of air against the glass. Second, it is your primary way to control light and privacy.
If your home has window recesses that are about six inches deep, it may have been designed to have shutters instead of blinds. On tall windows, shutters were usually hung in several sets, one above the other, so that the top sections could be opened for light while the lower sections stayed closed for privacy. Paint or stain shutters to match the woodwork.
The next layer inward from the blind or shutters consists of "glass curtains." These are essentially what we call "sheers" today, although lace may also be used. In the winter, these act as insulation; in the summer, they become your main curtains. (Victorians dressed, or more accurately undressed, their houses for summer, with lighter fabrics and fewer layers.) Winter or summer, the glass curtains can be looped back to admit more light.
The next layer is the curtains themselves. The good news is that you can skip the pinch pleats and traverse rods with a good conscience. According to design historians Roger Moss and Gail Winkler, the fashion throughout most of the century was to fasten rings to the curtains every few inches. The curtains were cut about twice as wide as the window so that, when the rings were slid onto the rods, the curtains fell in pleasing folds. If the window was very tall, a precursor of the traverse rod was installed. Otherwise, use a plain or an ornamental rod depending on whether you intend to hide the curtain top with a valance.
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