Velvet Drapes: cotton velveteen works very well! (To make them fold as you would like, see my recent tip on lining them with heavy duty aluminum foil).

Alice Zinn-Pt. St. Lucie FL

Velvet Curtains: I too wanted velvet curtains for my Victorian drapes. I needed very specific colors though and ended up purchasing silk velvet for the valances, since I couldn't find the antique gold in the less expensive stuff.

Serena Johnson made my drapes - she also supplied the chocolate brown velvet. I wouldn't shy away from velvet if that is what you really want to use.

Kathy in TX

Shutters: You might try making some out of the sticks they use for Popsicles. They sell them in craft stores. Measure your windows vertically and cut 3 strips in the appropriate size, for each shutter. Then cut two back braces, glue the strips to them and attach the shutters to the side of the house beside each window. You could add a tiny wooden cutout for an accent trim. Naturally, you paint them before attaching them!

Betti from LA

Shutters: They can be made by putting thin strips of wood around "louvers" made from the corrugated cardboard that holds new light bulbs. Paint the whole thing white and there you go!

Alice Zinn- Pt. St. Lucie FL

SHUTTERS: Very nice and easy shutters can be made with common Northeastern sheets of "clapboard siding". The 3/32" or 1/8" clapboard patterns are intended as siding for models in smaller scales. Used on 1" scale houses, the "claps" would represent louvers of 1 1/2" or 2". Make frames with common basswood and insert the "louvers". Small scale clapboard can also represent louvers on attic vents or even mini blinds on "non-windows" in room settings.

Mel Koplin

Shutters for the carpentry challenged: Have you tried using matboard? It's really easy to cut with a craft knife, and it comes in lots of colours. You can paint it, too, and mark " plank lines" on it with a dead ballpoint pen.

Kay in Ottawa

Scale windows: I made the open/close windows for my Newport dh. I went to the hobby store where they have the large cardboard box of different sizes of balsa wood. It is a large tall box with sections. Each section has strips of different sized wood in it. First figure out what sizes you will need and then you can buy the strips at perhaps 3 feet long by 1/16" or 3 feet long by 2/32". Make a jig for cutting the pieces to the exact length each and cut all of them. Then assemble into window frames. I use the Butyrate sheets found at http://www.micromark.com for the "glass

Barbara D

PLASTIC vs GLASS WINDOWS: Certainly a decision with advocates on both sides. Hope I don't rankle feathers (these are OPINIONS and only MY opinions at that). Plastic materials work with most manufactured windows frames/sashes. The plastic is easy and safe to work with. It will dull and probably discolor with time. You must be extremely careful when cleaning these windows to minimize accumulated microscopic scratches which eventually dull/fog the windows. Most plastics become fragile with age and exposure to sunlight. NET ASSESSMENT: Fine for a personal, play dollhouse. Less desirable as a choice for what you hope will become a family heirloom to be kept for generations to come.

Glass windows are harder and glossier, less vulnerable to maintenance damage, discolor only with GREAT age and then to very charming blue and green tints (vs. browns and yellows for plastics). There is a safety concern working with glass but, with care, it is easy to cut, widely available, and inexpensive. You will probably have to make your own frames/sashes but this is not such a terribly difficult project and it gives you a lot more freedom than being limited by "available offerings" of size and style.

There is no need to use specialized (expensive) "thin" glass for windows if the edges are not visible. Blackening the edges of cut glass before assembling into sashes will perfectly hide even the most outlandish thickness from detection. If I ever get a day off to get back to my miniatures, I plan to assemble a booklet for easy to build windows using 1/16" "picture frame" - single strength glass. Until then - here goes for a kwikee verbal on double hung sashes. Cut 1/32" thick stripwood for the vertical portions of the frame. Two (1.32" thick) should be full length (i.e., top to bottom of BOTH the upper and lower sash). These will be the interior frames of the upper sash and exterior frame of lower. Cut and fit horizontal members at top, bottom and middle. Use 1/16 X 1/16 stripwood for the following edging. On one side of the rectangle built so far, consider the face you are looking at as the "exterior". Strip across the top edge of the top horizontal (all the way - extend to also cross top edge of vertical members) Strip across bottom edge of MIDDLE horizontal. Flip your frame over to look at the "interior". Strip across the bottom edge of the bottom horizontal and top edge of middle horizontal.

Now you have a place to set glass between the 1/16 X 1/16 pieces. Cut glass to fit both exterior and interior boundaries (almost all the way out to edges of vertical members). Paint the glass edges with flat black enamel. Set into place and attach with a couple tiny spots of super glue.

Cut and attach 1/32" thick vertical members for external top sash and internal bottom sash. Likewise, cut and attach 4 horizontal members.

This is a very simplified description for a basic double hung sash but I hope it conveys the basic idea. Make a couple "basics" to get familiar with the idea and then start looking at how you can "complicate the issue" with decorative milled edges on the wood and such. These windows are easiest to build in an assembly frame of scrap wood the size and shape of the opening they will fill. I suggest painting the wood inside and out before actually placing the glass. NOTE: Some sources of glass have single strength which is slightly larger than 1/16" thick. Measure closely before buying. Likewise, make sure the 1/16 X 1/16 wood is AT LEAST as thick as the glass and preferably a few 1/000ths thicker.

Mel Koplin, LV

Middle East Room: have seen the HBS arched roombox and also thought instantly of the Middle East -- it's so reminiscent of a wood-paneled room in the Cincinnati Art Museum that I've wanted to move into since the first time I saw it. A room like CAM's would need lots of mini carpets, because except for the door, the walls are completely surrounded by carved, paneled wooden banquettes covered with cushions and pillows upholstered with carpeting material. Then there's a big carpet on the floor. The ceiling and upper walls are also carved, with paneled shutters and abstract stained glass windows, with several stained glass and brass hanging lamps. Somehow the space is very serene despite a riot of color and pattern. I always fantasize that's its ready for occupancy, just need to add a few hanging plants and some handsome serving men to fetch tea and baklava, play soothing background music, and wield a fan! It should actually be fairly easy to replicate a room like that with a whole lotta jewelry filigree, paint, and carpets.

Loretta. Sniarowski

Screen for Porch: Industrial supply houses very fine, copper, filter screening (140/inch) which works well in 1 inch scale. For 1/2" scale, the best I have found is silk screen available through art or graphic art supply shops. It comes in white and paint tends to make the mesh too thick - holes too small. Using wide tip, black marking pen does a nice job of coloring without disrupting the sense of scale.

For a subtle, copper highlight - hit the cosmetics counter.

The nice thing with silk span is that it doesn't sag (unless you make it so) and a little 90 degree rip will drape away very realistically. For a "patched" screen. Cut an additional piece to size and overlay AFTER COLORING and secure with a drop of diluted clear lacquer. A little bit of additional light is needed behind the screen to achieve a "see through factor" equivalent to real screening.

Mel Koplin, Las Vegas

Screens:Michael's Craft Store, among others, which also sells online has screen meant for supporting clay works as an armature, which is very fine and great for mini screen doors! If you can't find it there or online try art stores in your area which carry various forms of artists clay.

Alice Zinn

Screen for Porch: I just saw a beautiful screened in room and they used bridal tulle for the screen. It is very fine net like material. I was very impressed with it. Looked just like screen. I would think you would find it in the bridal department at a fabric store.

Carbomax

Stuff to use for dipping: to all those who are looking for the stuff to dip shaped wires into. Not only Sobo glue works but colorless nail polish. there is also a liquid sold by MicroMark that is used for making "windows" for HO or N scale models which is probably the same as the glue or nail polish. I have been using the Sobo for years. you can dip the wire or "paint" the glue across the wire. it dries clear and can then be painted.

Gracia in California

Curtains: Serena Johnson makes wonderful curtains.

Bonnie Justice

Curtains and Draperies: To increase the sense of space in a room...... Hang your curtains and draperies to the sides of windows, not over the panes themselves. You will almost double the window spaciousness by not covering the actual windows. (Oh, for all you who love words and definitions, the word 'curtains' refers to anything that is a not a full, to the floor window dressing; cafe curtains, the typical window dressing for bathrooms and kitchens. 'Draperies' refers to the fuller window dressings that go to the floor.)

Elizabeth Baxter, Ann Arbor

Pretty Pleater: d.Anne Ruff, who invented and markets the Pretty Pleater you are looking for online, has a website at http://www.danneruff.com

Anne Gerdes

Pleating Drapes: I make my drapes for free. I use cardboard, the thick kind packages arrive in the mail in, and straight pins to make my pleats on the cardboard, then spray them with hair spray, let them dry, and when I remove the pins, the drapes hold their shape.

Sue

Pleating Drapes: Before I broke down and bought the pleater, I pleated many-a-drape, curtain, and vanity skirts using the pin method on graph paper and hair spray. The curtains I did for my "big house" were made over 10 years ago and they are still pleated perfectly. They have been even been hanging upside down while on the rod while the room was upside down being electrified and settled back in shape nicely when right side up. I can say that I like the pleater and have used it a lot since I bought it. I have the 1" and a friend has the smaller one, so we share!

Fay

Pleaters: Read with interest the problems some were having with pleaters.  I too was  having my share of grief until I discovered that those BBQ skewers I planned  to use as curtain rods were the exact size of the spaces in the pleater.  Now  I have a reserve of them for use when pleating,  they fit right in and hold the fabric where it is supposed to stay.  Poof........... problem solved !!!

Barb in PA

Frosted Mylar: The summer issue of Do It Yourself magazine (available on newsstands) has an interesting article titled 3 Ways to Frost Glass. One of them uses a new spray from Krylon that creates a frosted glass finish that dries in 5-10 mins. Although this product is for glass it may be possible to use it on clear mylar...check with RustOleum/Krylon (800-323-3584).

You could also ask if it would take the pencil work that you want it for. The other two products described are Etching Cream and Vinyl Film.

Joann Swanson