Blackout curtains are useful for darkening rooms and potentially reducing your energy bill. But, these dense curtains aren’t as available in many colors and prints as other curtains, and they can now and again be costly. Because of this, you may wish to create your blackout curtains. But, what are the best fabrics to use?
The finest fabric for blackout curtains will be a dense, tightly woven, and heavy fabric. The blackout curtain fabric is usually made from polyester or a mixture of polyester and cotton. Examples of good materials to use include heavyweight polyester, heavy microfiber, and blackout fabric.
Best Fabric for Blackout Curtains
Blackout curtains are usually made of polyester or a combination of polyester and cotton. But you don’t need just any type of polyester. You want the fabric to be as thick and tough as possible. The reason why these fabrics are valuable is that they are more tightly woven. This helps to preclude light from passing through.
Thin fabrics, including some forms of cotton, aren’t as tightly woven or just made thinner. Even some pure curtains are made from thin and lightweight polyester. But pure curtains especially let a lot of light into a room. That’s why you want blackout curtains made from the heaviest polyester fabric you can find.
Let’s take a look at some of the more specific materials that are good for blackout curtains.
- Heavyweight Polyester
As the name suggests, heavyweight polyester is a thicker and more tightly woven fabric than other polyester materials. This fabric is generally used for stuffing, including sofas, couches, and chairs, in addition to curtains.
Sometimes, polyester fabric is registered as being heavyweight. But other times, it won’t be as clear, so you have to look at the label on the fabric bolt.
In addition to being dense and tightly woven, durable polyester is good for blackout curtains because it is strong and easy to clean. Although you may not be able to wash curtains in the washing machine simply, you can clean them or steam clean them very easily. This fabric is also resilient to fading, so the curtains shouldn’t fade away much due to sunlight.
- Heavy Microfiber
If you want your blackout curtains to have a different look and texture than what you would get with customary polyester, you can choose heavy microfiber fabric. Microfiber is a specific type of polyester fabric that is lax and smooth and has a texture similar to velvet.
Microfiber is another material that is normally used for upholstery in addition to curtains. It is very strong and sturdy, so it can also withstand the weight of being suspended for extended periods. Microfiber is also easy to steam clean and it won’t grip as much dust as some fabrics do.
- Blackout Fabric
There’s also blackout fabric that you can use. Blackout fabric is a specific kind of fabric that is used to make blackout curtains and drapes. But, it isn’t as easy to find or as extensively available as fabrics made out of polyester.
Blackout fabric comes in two diversities: 2-pass and 3-pass. 2-pass fabric means that the fabric has been scattered with a black opaque membrane and a white layer of acrylic foam.
3-pass fabric is thicker and classier. The fabric is scattered with a layer of acrylic foam, followed by a black membrane and an additional layer of acrylic foam.
