Japanese panel curtains are modesty combined with laconicism, increased functionality and yet unconventional exoticism. As the name implies, the birthplace of such curtains is Japan. Residents of the Land of the Rising Sun highly value discreet asceticism, which is why the fabric panels decorating windows and doorways in their homes look simple, but perform several tasks at once:
- protect from sunlight;
- decorate the walls;
- zone the premises;
- visually expand the space;
- help create design styles such as minimalism, avant-garde or Japanese.
To fit such an element into the interior, several conditions must be met. First, choose a material that harmoniously combines with other decorative items. Secondly, consider options for placing curtain panels. And thirdly, disassemble the room and rid it of unnecessary furniture.
Installation of curtain panels
Panel curtains are designed quite simply. The main part of them is occupied by fabrics. With their upper part they are attached to simple or multi-layer Japanese cornices.
Cornices are made of plastic or light metal alloys. They can be bent in an arc, but this reduces the power of the electric motor (if the cornice is powered by an electric motor). The canvas is fixed to the cornice using Velcro. Special weighting agents are hidden in the lower part.
Cornice device
If panel curtains are used for zoning, then they are inserted from below into the horizontal bottom guide (this method is not always used).
In appearance, panel curtains resemble roller blinds, but in terms of functionality they are radically different. For example, special curtain rods allow you to move the curtain panel in any direction. They can have from 1 to 5 tracks.
And if the simplest cornices with 1 to 3 tracks are usually used to decorate windows, then more complex designs are used for zoning. They allow you to create very unusual multi-layered visual effects.
Options for “multi-layer” cornices
Conclusion
Do not forget that Japanese panels are also an excellent means for segmenting space. This is especially appropriate in the kitchen, because with the help of screen curtains you can divide one large kitchen into a dining room and a cooking area.
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The ease of installation of the systems allows you to carry out all the work yourself. Curtains installed in the kitchen have to be cleaned and washed more often than curtains in other rooms, so it is better not to use special floor curtain rods. Although they provide the most reliable fixation of the panels, they significantly complicate the process of caring for fabric sheets.
Design features
Design features are something that must be taken into account when installing panel curtains. So, one or two panels in such curtains can be fixedly fixed. They are located closest to the window (in the center or on both sides) and are made of lightweight transparent material. Their task is to disperse sunlight during daylight hours.
If panel curtains are used to zone a room, then static elements are most often located outside as far as possible from the wall.
The standard length of Japanese curtain panels is from floor to ceiling (maximum value is 3.5 m), the width can vary from 0.5 to 1.6 m. But shortened models are also available, they are most often used to decorate windows on the balcony.
Operating principle
Japanese panel curtains are driven in different ways:
- manually . Not the most advantageous option, since the material from which the fabrics are sewn quickly gets dirty with constant contact with your hands. In addition, you need to have sufficiently high physical endurance to constantly move and push apart the panels;
- using cord cords or PVC chains . Such a cornice consists of a tire, a control mechanism and profiles: their number corresponds to the number of tracks. The profiles are attached to carriages that slide in track grooves. The position and length of the cord (chain) is determined individually in accordance with the wishes of the owners of the living space. The canvases in such cornices move in groups of 2-3 pieces. To change their position, you need to pull one edge of the cord (chain).
Installation of cornices on cords (chains)
- using an electric drive . The main thing in such a cornice is the engine and the supporting rail, inside of which the control mechanism is located. The engine is equipped with a small power unit that runs on electricity. The main mechanism is driven by the remote control. After pressing the button, a movable unit attached to a cable and running inside the tire begins to change the location of the blades.
The operating principle of an electric curtain rod for Japanese curtains:
In addition, curtain panels can also be fixed. In this case, they will perform a purely decorative function.
Advantages of panel curtains
- Economical. For an even screen fabric, much less fabric is required than for the traditional option - tulle with gathering.
- Wide choose. Suitable for fabric of any density, texture and color. The guideline is the task they will perform and the style features of the interior.
- Hygiene. Thanks to the ascetic design, dust does not linger on the surface of the fabric. In addition, any washing method will work depending on the fabric chosen.
- Variability. If there are several guide tracks, panels of different densities and colors can be easily swapped by moving them relative to each other. Thus, the atmosphere in the room is transformed in one movement.
- Easy to use. Curtains are easy to remove and install yourself.
- Compactness. The design helps to significantly save space in the room.
Where can I use it?
Japanese panel curtains look good in both small and large rooms. And the more modest the area available, the calmer the colors of such products should be.
But if:
- The room is not only cramped, but also has very small windows;
- the interior is decorated in cozy home styles (Provence, country) or elaborate “expensive” (empire, baroque);
- the room is literally littered with furniture, it is difficult to “breathe” in it, then in these cases it is better to refuse Japanese panel curtains. They simply won't fit into the interior.
Such fabric panels are appropriate everywhere: in the kitchen, living room, loggia and bedroom. For example, in the living room they can be used both as curtains, draping windows with them, and as doors, decorating the doorway with similar products.
In both cases, the color of the curtain panels is matched to the main shade of the interior, which allows you to visually expand the boundaries of the room.
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In the kitchen, panel curtains are indispensable, especially if the windows face the sunny side. High-tech, loft or minimalism - all these styles will sparkle in a new way if they are complemented by these functional products.
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Panel curtains are also necessary in the bedroom, because they so organically refract the color of the sun. As a result, the room is immersed in a pleasant twilight, which is diluted with minor splashes of color.
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A large, originally designed bathroom is another place that will only benefit from its “neighborhood” with such products. After all, panel curtains do not take up free space and create a comfortable level of privacy.
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Non-standard use
Japanese curtains are universal. They can be used not only in decorating a window opening.
As partitions
Sometimes multifunctional rooms need zoning of space. For example, a kitchen combined with a dining room, or a bathroom combined with a toilet. With the help of Japanese panels, you can easily and conveniently divide such rooms into independent sections.
See more examples of how to effectively use Japanese curtains to divide a room.
The photo shows a living room combined with a kitchen and Japanese panels as partitions.
Instead of cabinet doors
This option is suitable for saving space in small bedrooms. They do not clutter up the room and look weightless.
Master class on making Japanese curtain panels
Even novice craftswomen (craftsmen) can sew Japanese panel curtains. After all, they are a symbiosis of several rectangular-shaped canvases. In the upper part there is Velcro, in the lower part there is a weighting agent. And all you need to do:
- cut the fabric to specific sizes;
- hem allowances;
- attach Velcro (soft part);
- iron the fabric;
- insert weights into it;
- glue the hard part of the Velcro to the profiles;
- hang ready-made curtains.
Let's look at each stage step by step.
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List of required materials
Japanese panel curtains must be mounted on a special cornice. But since its cost is not affordable for everyone, you can use a regular ceiling holder. The maximum number of tracks in such a product is 3. And if there are more panels, then you need to install two ceiling cornices together.
In addition to the cornice, to make such curtains you will need to purchase:
Textile
Threads
Weighting material, such as lead thread
Velcro (or curtain tape and hooks)
After this, you need to decide on the density, color and number of textile fabrics and get to work.
List of required tools
To sew a panel curtain, you need to prepare in advance:
A bar of dry soap or chalk
Long ruler
Large tailor's scissors
Thread and needle
You will also need an iron: you can use it to quickly iron seam allowances.
Calculations
To calculate how much material you need to purchase to sew panel curtains for a specific window, you need to do the following:
- measure the width and height of the window;
- decide how long the future curtain should be;
- determine how wide one panel should be;
- decide how many panels in total will be placed on the cornice.
For example:
- Window width - 3 m, height - 2.50 m.
- The width of one panel is 70 cm, the height is 2.50 m.
- The window will have four panels made of thick fabric and one of thin fabric.
- Fabric consumption: dense material - cut size 320 x 270 cm, thin material - cut size 80 x 270 cm.
- Dimensions are given taking into account allowances (4 cm on both sides, 5 cm on top and 5 cm on the bottom). The allowances can be reduced slightly.
Fabric preparation and processing
If the curtain is made from natural or artificial fabrics that shrink significantly, then before cutting the material it will need to be washed or thoroughly wetted and allowed to dry. Then the fabric will need to be ironed and only after that proceed to further work.
If the material practically does not shrink, it will be enough to iron it from the wrong side.
Short Japanese panel curtains, consisting of two types of materials:
How to sew curtains
Preliminary work:
- The material is spread on the floor or a long wide table.
- The location of the lobe and transverse threads is determined (cutting is done along the lobe thread, otherwise the finished fabric may skew). This is done like this: a piece of fabric is stretched in all directions. And the direction that lends itself to stretching the worst is the location of the lobar threads.
- Using a long ruler and a piece of chalk (soap), markings are made. At this stage, side, top and bottom allowances must be taken into account.
- The fabric is cut into rectangular sheets of the required width (in our example - 70 cm + 8 cm for side allowances).
Main part (steps are repeated sequentially on all canvases):
- The side sections are turned inside out and secured with an iron.
- Allowances are secured by machine stitching or by hand.
- The upper and lower allowances are laid, also secured with an iron and stitched.
- If the curtain panel will hang on the ceiling cornice, a curtain tape is sewn to its top (on the reverse side). If it is attached to a special cornice, then the Velcro is divided into two parts, and the soft one is attached to the top of the product. You can hang a Japanese panel curtain on a pipe-shaped cornice. In this case, the main part of the pipe-shaped crossbar is simply inserted into the upper “pocket” (it was obtained as a result of stitching the seam allowance).
- A weighting agent is inserted into the lower allowance.
- The edges of the allowance are slightly sewn together so that it does not pop out when the curtains move.
That's it, the curtains are ready. All that remains is to hang them on the cornice.
Installation on a cornice
You need to understand that if not a special, but an alternative cornice (in the shape of a pipe) is used to install Japanese panel curtains, then such products will either perform a decorative function or will simply replace ordinary curtains. In this case, you won’t be able to create an unusual overlay effect. When using several ceiling holders that are mounted next to each other, it should be remembered that the space between the canvases will not have the same dimensions. This will also negatively affect the overall visual picture.
To secure the curtain to a special curtain rod, you must:
- glue the hard part of the Velcro to the outside of each profile using a glue gun;
- take the finished canvas and carefully connect the Velcro together;
- the finished part of the curtain is moved to the side, and the next canvas is attached to the next profile.
In this case, each canvas should overlap the adjacent canvas by approximately 5 cm.
Long curtains on the ceiling cornice:
Japanese style curtain rod
The design of the cornice for this type of curtain is a multi-row aluminum profile. Special devices (holders) are inserted into each row for fastening the canvases, which are set in motion by means of a cord.
Today, panels with an electric drive, which ensures the movement of curtains, are very popular.
There are several types of structures:
- Wall-mounted.
- Ceiling.
The type of cornice directly depends on the purpose of the curtains and their role in the design of the room.
