Summertime has finally arrived, but with it the insect plague. Flies, moths, mosquitoes and the like keep entering our homes and making life difficult for us. So it makes sense to take precautions so as not to let the annoying critters into the house in the first place or at least to reduce them significantly. Mosquito screens are great for windows, and of course, they exist for doors too, but they can get quite annoying on the latter, especially if you’re going in and out a lot (e.g. to take the dishes and food outside). And if you leave the grille open during this time, the house will be full of flying insects again. A good and chic alternative is a thread curtain for the door and today we will show you some ideas with which you can make such a fly curtain yourself.
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Macrame curtain for the door
Macrame curtains are back in fashion, as are all other Boho-style accessories and decorations. That’s why a macrame door curtain is a wonderful idea if you want to protect your home from annoying intruders stylishly and decoratively. This is how you can make the chic fly curtain yourself:
- Curtain rod in the desired length (made of wood, plastic, or metal as you like)
- thin rope
- Brackets for the pole
- white insulating tape
If you want, you can use colored wool threads to practice knotting a little, as in the instructions for the thread curtain for the door, if you have not made macrame before. Or you can start straight away with the rope. The curtain in the example consists of a total of 15 groups of 2 ropes, each with a length of 500 cm. Then lay each rope over the bar so that the center is at the top. Then, in groups of two, tie knots below the pole. Then you can start knotting, as follows:
Macrame curtain – instructions even suitable for beginners
If you want to make the fly curtain yourself, divide the four strands per group. Leaving the middle two in the middle, take the left strand and pass it under those middle two. Now take the right one, place it on the right side under the formerly left strand, then over the middle two, and pass it back under the left strand on the left side. Now repeat this with the other groups, making sure it is always at the same height.
Then you need a second row, in which you always connect two groups with each other, but with the same knotting method. The middle strands this time are just the rightmost of the first group and the leftmost of the second group around which you tie two of the middle strands as shown in the pattern. Repeat this again with all groups before you move on to the next row, which you tie back in the original group arrangement. You can tie as many of these rows as you like. However, keep in mind that they also need space underneath to walk through. You can therefore hang the curtain on the door after a few rows to check this.
Now wrap the lower ends of your thread curtain for the door with the adhesive tape so that they do not unthread and shorten if necessary.
Make fly curtain yourself – beaded curtain for the door
You can use the same knotting technique if you want to hang a beaded insect screen curtain. The only difference is that after each knot you thread a bead onto the middle two strands, then tie the strands below the bead together to hold them in place and of course repeat with all the rope groups and rows. Then leave the leftover rope hanging like in the variant above or decorate it with beads as well, tying knots at the end to keep them in place.
Since the beads have a fairly small hole, thick ropes are less suitable if you want to make such a fly curtain yourself. Instead, you can use solid yarn.
Make fly curtains colorful with beads
If you want the classic beaded curtain with strands full of beads simply hanging down, you don’t need any special knotting skills. However, you still need to plan in plenty of time for crafting – and materials too (keep in mind that an average bracelet alone requires at least 24 beads). The exact number depends of course on the length and width of the curtain and the size of the beads, but you should plan for several hundred. If you are making a fly curtain for the patio door or balcony door, do not leave too large a gap between the individual strands so that the flies cannot fly through the gaps.
Make a fly curtain yourself – this is how you do it
After you have measured the necessary length and want to cut the threads, plan an additional 15 to 30 cm. Choose strong yarn that can withstand the weight, and believe us – if you want to make a fly curtain yourself with beads, there will be a fair amount of weight. Don’t let the small sizes of the beads fool you. You can get advice on this in the shop. Usual bead yarn should be fine though. Accordingly, the curtain rod must be sufficiently stable.
You can then either tie the twine directly around the pole, or screw hooks into it at equal intervals and then tie the twine there. Then you can start threading the beads. If you thread the end of the thread into a pin, thanks to the pin it will be easier to put it through the small holes of the beads, which will save you a lot of time. Finally, tie a tight double knot to hold the beads in place and you can move on to the next thread.
