Curtain opening mechanisms?

[Stephen Tashiro]

Are there mechanisms that let a person open and close curtains by pulling on a cord, similar to the way that draperies are manipulated ?

I suppose you could hang curtains from a drapery "rod" by sticking drapery hanging pins into the curtain or by use some sort of clips that hold the curtain to the tabs on the drapery mechanism. Would that look awful?


.

[Bob Vavricka]

Got a picture of what you are talking about?
I use curtains and draperies interchangeably so I'm having a hard time understanding your question.
I used to sell and hang draperies/curtains so I may be able to point you in the right direction.

[Stephen Tashiro]

I use curtains and draperies interchangeably so I'm having a hard time understanding your question.
.

Curtains have a chennel sewn along the top that a curtain rod goes through. Drapes don't have this. They have a width of stiff pleated fabric at the top. You stick drapery pins along the top. The pins have hooks that go into the sliding tabs on a drapey rod - I suppose the mechanism that hold drapes is called a drapery "rod" but it's a more complicated mechanism that a simple solid rod.

Generally speaking, curtains are cheaper than drapes. Curtains can be washed. Many drapes can only be dry cleaned. If a drape is washable, you have to worry about taking the drapery pins out and putting them back.

[Jim Matthews]

Is what you're after a Traverse curtain rod?

http://www.designerdraperyhardware.com/vp/curtain-rods/kirsch-empire-traverse-single-and-double-cord-draw-rods-66-120-inch-traverse-curtain-rod-split-draw-11074/

294152

[Bob Vavricka]

Ok, I understand your distinction between curtains and drapes. The curtains you are talking about have a rod pocket at the top and are shirred on to a rod. I am not aware of any kind of rod made to open and close them with a cord like a pinch pleated drapery. Generally, they are pretty tight on the rod and not easily opened and closed even by hand unless the pocket is considerably bigger than the rod and the curtains are not too full--a 2 to 1 or greater fullness is not unusual meaning that the width of the fabric is twice the width of the opening being covered. You might want to consider a tie-back, tie-back hook, or hold back for this time of curtain. Your idea of using drapery pins to hold the curtain would not look very good, but you could use a valance to cover the rod and top of the curtain so that it would not be real apparent. On drapes, there is a heavy drapery header tape sewed in the top with the pleats, this tape is usually creased in the center between the pleats so it folds to the front, away from the rod as the drapes are pulled open. A curtain with a rod pocket would probably not have a way to do this and would probably just bunch up between the drapery hook as it is opened, but could be hidden with some type of valance.

[Bob Vavricka]

Just remembered that there used to be a system called beuti-pleat that had a spring steel pleat form that threaded into a rod pocket and would fit on a rod with clips so it could be opened and closed. I think they may have been bought out by another company. I did find a website with something similar that you may want to look at. As I remember they systems weren't cheap, but did make a very nice looking curtain with uniform pleats. Here is a link to the website I found. http://www.springcrestpdx.com/products.htm