I knew that privacy would be a big concern in the van - at night with the lights on, I look like I’m in a display case! I also knew that the windows were going to be the biggest sources of heat loss in the van.
I decided to make insulated curtains to address both issues. However, my start date of April 1 was looming and I didn’t want to push it off. I decided to take my sewing machine and material with me and make the curtains in Portland at Varun’s place. Over the course of 6 days, I sewed together two rear blinds and a front curtain over there. Since this was my first sewing project ever, it took a lot of trips to Joann Fabrics and a lot of you tubing to figure out how to put these together.
The Sewing Setup
The curtains are comprised of a light colored linen inside, a dark colored cotton backing, and Thinsulate insulation sandwiched between. I made mini practice piece (the green & blue piece buried under everything else in the following photo) before starting on the rear curtains. Below you see one pinned and ready to sew, followed by the finished article!
The main curtain had added complexity, as I didn’t have enough gray cloth to cover the back. I sewed together 3 pieces to make it work, and I think it looks pretty good! Another complication involved inverting it. To make this sandwiched construction, I sewed everything inside out (exterior faces of linen and cotton together, and Thinsulate layered on top). Because this was such a large piece of Thinsulate to put in the middle of these two pieces of fabric, I had to ‘baste‘ (loosely stitch) the Thinsulate to one face, flip it right side out, then remove the stitching afterwards for a clean appearance.
Even though this was a first attempt - the blinds work pretty well, and unless you’re looking closely, it’s hard to tell that anyone is in the van. Also, in a pinch, the main cabin curtain doubles as a really warm blanket!