Whole Wall Insulating Quilt

I've been dragging my feet on this project for months. The problems started while doing the quilting; the thread broke almost twice for every vertical row. Not fun to pull all of those threads and secure them so that they will survive the wash. When that was finally finished, it sat for a long time. Now however, with the cold coming off the wall, I got myself in gear [finally].

Nothing seemed to go right. Somehow I had made it 3" too short. Therefore I added a strip to the top. Because this is a sloped ceiling, I did special vertical quilting in the top section so that it would go higher than the support rod. Unfortunately, I did one of those "what was I thinking" things, I attached the top of the hanging strips, before I quilted the top. That made quilting the top really tedious [had to go around those pieces] and the quilting is not very regular. I would go larger or smaller to work around the attachments. But finally it was done.

Done is good!

Day View Drapery Closed

The best news, I ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT! If I had known how much I would like it and how warm it keeps the wall, I think I would have finished it earlier. If you are thinking about making something like this, please persevere. It is definitely worth it.

This winter I quickly put together a support for the drapery over the hot water baseboard heat. Instant supports are made from odd pieces of wood and braced with tea boxes screwed into the sides. I had to either to make something to hold the quilt above the baseboard heat or close the heat at night. Options are nice.  This works GREAT!

This is a west facing window, so I know it will also be a wonderful thing to have this insulation in August.

Night View with Draperies Open

Since the wall is only 8'-6" wide and the windows are over half of the area, covering the whole wall turned out to be a wonderful idea. I'm really happy happy happy with the effect of this insulation on my little sleeping nest- desk area alcove.

Related posts:  http://designerann.blogspot.com/search/label/insulation

http://designerann.blogspot.com/2008/10/keeping-warm.html

top down Roman Shades insulated and quilted

I just finished making insulated Roman shades. I used the existing professionally made Roman shades as a pattern. There are many different types of Roman shades. Because my original shades have the center sway and the side end flips, my insulated shades follow that style.

Original decorative shades in original location.


Original decorative shades moved forward to make room for the insulated shades behind.

Layers of fabric= ironing board fabric with metallic side facing the window, Warm company Insul-Bright, 100% cotton batting, muslin on the room side.

I quilted straight lines where I would put the rings; wavy lines in between. Straight lines down. Rings go where the straight lines intersect. Muslin wrapped around edges. Top shows Velcro fastening. Other half of Velcro is stapled onto the board.

Rings sewn at crossing straight lines.


The original decorative shades had gathers in the Velcro using string woven through. I simplified that process my simply easing the excess fabric to Velcro cut to the correct width.


Pocket made in the bottom of the shade in case I want to insert a weight later.


I used recycled 1x2 to make the shade attachment. Covered the 'show' side with double layers of muslin. Stapled on Velcro to the 'front' to hold the shade.

I used a staple gun and tack hammer to wrap wood with clothe and staple the Velcro to the 'front' of the wood. I hammered in the staples tighter with a tack hammer. I only used the 3 eye-screws shown because of the style I chose. I screwed the wood inside the window framing with 2 long screws.

I used all Warm products: Insul-Bright, cotton batting, metal rings, pull cord and screw eyes. Other brands could be used. These seemed the best available to me.

Photo shows the cording going through the rings [tied off at the bottom ring] and then up through the pulling screw eyes.


Both shades down = very warm

Decorative shade up; insulated shade down.

Both shades up.

Sizing the shade: my window measures 31" x 43"; I cut the insulation fabric 33" x 45"; finished shade measures 32" x 43.5" >>>>>conclusion: width is fine, however, next time I would add more length. Quilting naturally shrinks the size. Extra length would be nice.

Check out this link for a good diagram of rings and stringing method

http://web.archive.org/web/20070211030926/http://www.terrelldesigns.com/plain_shades.htm