cubicle curtains
The CBB -> Anything Else
#1: cubicle curtains Author: Cumbrian Rachel, Location: Kendal PostPosted: Sun Jan 30, 2005 3:37 pm

I was talking to Rebecca a little while ago and for some random reason the subject of cubicle curtains came up! We discovered we had rather different views on them and really didn't understand quite how the whole tossing them over the rail during the day thing worked! So I wondered how everyone else viewed them.... I always pictured them throwing the closed curtains over the rail and I wondered how on earth they could do this. I think I also thought they only had one curtain each so throwing a curtain that went all the way around the cubicle over the rail while it was shut would have been rather challenging. Possibly my ideas were a little wrong! Rebecca suggested having three curtains round each cubicle, or possibly even four (so they could show a leg through the front) and closing them before throwing them over the rail. Anyway, enough random waffling - what does everyone else think about the whole cubicle curtain thing?!

 

#2:  Author: LizB, Location: Oxon, England PostPosted: Sun Jan 30, 2005 3:50 pm

I always assumed they were separate curtains on each side - except the wall end of the cubicle. Now you've got me thinking about it, if they could have been drawn back, then that would negate the point of them being thrown up to allow the air to pass through. I've a feeling the legs were shown at the corner of each cubicle, which would suggest three rather than four curtains. I guess the material would have been quite light, and possibly didn't reach the floor, so that it would be easy to toss the ends up over the rail so they were looped out of the way, and easy to pull them back down, without the rail being pulled down with them! Liz

 

#3:  Author: Kate, Location: Ireland PostPosted: Sun Jan 30, 2005 4:28 pm

I always pictured them like hospital curtains, except made of lighter material, as opposed to the plasticky stuff, so they could be thrown over.

 

#4:  Author: Katie, Location: A Yorkshire lass in London PostPosted: Sun Jan 30, 2005 4:35 pm

Kate wrote:
I always pictured them like hospital curtains, except made of lighter material, as opposed to the plasticky stuff, so they could be thrown over.
Me too. I assumed they "showed a leg" at the place where the 2 curtains met.

 

#5:  Author: Kate, Location: Ireland PostPosted: Sun Jan 30, 2005 4:44 pm

Just found this:
Quote:
As she rose from her knees the bell rang and already Clem was calling to them to come out and line up by the door. Jo glanced round her little domain and then saw that the curtains on either side were being tossed over the rods. She jumped as Josette grinned at her with the remark “I guessed you might forget. Throw up your other curtain and come on. Clem was never famed for being patient!”
It would seem to imply that there were three curtains...? ETA: That's from Kenya by the way, of which I found two chapters. *sigh* I'm giving the others up for lost, but I've a third done out again. So hopefully it won't take long to redo. (For those who haven't seen the transcripts thread, my computer ate my almost finished transcipt of Kenya.)

 

#6:  Author: Laura, Location: London (ish) PostPosted: Sun Jan 30, 2005 4:54 pm

I always thought that the end of the bed would be catered for by the wall, and then it would be like hospital curtains, where there was an l shaped ish one along one side and then a straight one on the other, and you stuck your leg out where they met?

 

#7:  Author: Ally, Location: Jack Maynard's Dressing Room!! PostPosted: Sun Jan 30, 2005 4:59 pm

I have always thought there was hree curtains. Two which were more static either side, that acted as the screen, then one at the entrance that was more frequently opened as an entrance and exit. I aways wondered if a girl took responsibility for a curtain on a certain side of her cubicle, as the girls on the ends would only have one (or two if you count the entrance one). Sort of like what we do in England with the fences to our property.

 

#8:  Author: KB, Location: Melbourne, Australia PostPosted: Sun Jan 30, 2005 9:26 pm

Laura wrote:
I always thought that the end of the bed would be catered for by the wall, and then it would be like hospital curtains, where there was an l shaped ish one along one side and then a straight one on the other, and you stuck your leg out where they met?
I think that's implying a level of technology that probably didn't exist at the time. Don't forget that modern hospital curtains run on railings rather than the wooden rods being fed through top seams in the curtains, which seems most likely. If there were corners, they would probably be straight, as having hundreds of rods shaved down to be rounded would be very expensive! If you had straight corners, they would be likely to tear the material if the curtains were opened right back unless the girls were very careful, and they didn't really have time for care. (It's also quite an effort to push cloth curtains back across wooden railings. Throwing them over the railing would be easier. That might have been a reason the curtains were toss up and not just pushed against the wall.

 

#9:  Author: nikkie, Location: Cumbria PostPosted: Sun Jan 30, 2005 9:28 pm

Ditto the hospital idea,one L shape one and one side one ,I just assumed that whoever was ready would do the curtains rather than having responsibility for specific sides.

 

#10:  Author: claire, Location: South Wales PostPosted: Sun Jan 30, 2005 10:25 pm

LizB wrote:
I guess the material would have been quite light, and possibly didn't reach the floor,
They definately reached the floor, at least in Tirol, because Jo gets trapped in her cubicles when the seniors play that trick on them
Quote:
! Rage the middles never so violently, they had to climb down, and say "please" before the three people who had come in would agree to remove the drawing-pins with which they had secured the curtains to the floor. "You can take out the sewing for yourselves," said Mary cheerfully.

 

#11:  Author: Kathy_S, Location: midwestern US PostPosted: Sun Jan 30, 2005 10:43 pm

I just realized that I've visualized each girl dealing with three curtains, but that they only accounted for two walls! One was split in the middle, like an ordinary set of curtains, for entry and exit, and that's the pair they put the leg out between. The other was along one side. (So the other 2 sides were a bona fide wall, and the side curtain that was the girl next door's responsibility.)

 

#12:  Author: Susan, Location: Carlisle PostPosted: Mon Jan 31, 2005 1:28 pm

I always visuallised 1 each side and one to the front making 3 per cubicle. I always assumed they would be thrown up and not pushed back for the same reason as KB but also the cubicles were quite small and if the drawer units they had were against the wall or perhaps between cubicles it could have made pushing the curtains back difficult so throwing them over the bar would be a better option.

 

#13:  Author: Jennie, Location: Cambridgeshire PostPosted: Mon Jan 31, 2005 3:02 pm

Didn't I read in one of the books that they used metal 'standards' to hang the curtains from?

 

#14:  Author: Dawn, Location: Leeds, West Yorks PostPosted: Mon Jan 31, 2005 3:10 pm

I think my vision of them is that there are 3 curtains - 1 on each side and that they are possibly threaded through the metal pole (ie a hem on the top side and the pole threaded through), this would then mean that they had to be swung up as it would be much easier than trying to pull them back. I also think of the metal standards being quite flimsy. In Mary-Lou, Ruth nearly hauls it down on herself when she is changing and slips.

 

#15:  Author: patmac, Location: Yorkshire England PostPosted: Mon Jan 31, 2005 3:50 pm

Rufflette tape with tracks started production in 1922 so I always assumed they were on tracks. It makes sense though if they were just threaded over poles (either through the top hem or with tabs, that they would pull them up over the top to air the room.

 

#16:  Author: Rachel, Location: Plotting in my lair PostPosted: Mon Jan 31, 2005 5:12 pm

I always got the impression that there were upright poles holding up the curtain rails. Mainly because I seem to recall a mention in <insert book of choice here> the new girl being instructed to hang her dressing gown on a hook on one pole and her washbag (?) on a hook on t'other.I also wondered if the curtains between cubicles were more static and therefore not actually designed to be opened. More like fabric walls if you like. That would explain why they would be thrown up (sounds revolting!) rather than merely opened.Of course, all this makes much more sense in visual pictures such as I have in my mind. Anyone qualified in ESP is welcome to invade my brain and look at the pictures located there.

 

#17:  Author: Tiphany,  PostPosted: Mon Jan 31, 2005 7:20 pm

Rachel wrote:
I also wondered if the curtains between cubicles were more static and therefore not actually designed to be opened. More like fabric walls if you like. That would explain why they would be thrown up (sounds revolting!) rather than merely opened.
Aren't there instances where people go through their side curtains into a neighbour's cubey, though? I think Ted does this to get away from sleepwalking Con, and someone does it in Lavender, too. I'd imagined one curtain at the foot of the bed, then two on each side so they could get through the gap... but given that they're not meant to do that, maybe it was a single fabric wall and they got out by the place the side one joined the end-of-the-bed one. Hmmm.

 

#18:  Author: Rachel, Location: Plotting in my lair PostPosted: Mon Jan 31, 2005 7:26 pm

Tiphany wrote:
Rachel wrote:
I also wondered if the curtains between cubicles were more static and therefore not actually designed to be opened. More like fabric walls if you like. That would explain why they would be thrown up (sounds revolting!) rather than merely opened.
Aren't there instances where people go through their side curtains into a neighbour's cubey, though?
Per'aps they wriggled through on their bellies? Or at least just lifted the curtain enough to slip under/through?

 

#19:  Author: KB, Location: Melbourne, Australia PostPosted: Mon Jan 31, 2005 8:57 pm

Rachel wrote:
I always got the impression that there were upright poles holding up the curtain rails. Mainly because I seem to recall a mention in the new girl being instructed to hang her dressing gown on a hook on one pole and her washbag (?) on a hook on t'other.
Yes, although I can't quite remember which book either. (BTWm, does anyone know if the 'standards' that are mentioned during the treasure hunt in Adrienne are the curtain rails?) If they are as flimsy as Dawn suggests (and that idea rings a bell), they would need the upright pole as extra strength. They wouldn't want to risk any girls accidentally pulling them out of the wall and damaging them or anything like that.

 

#20:  Author: Vikki, Location: Sitting on an iceberg, freezing to death!!! PostPosted: Tue Feb 01, 2005 4:01 am

Rachel wrote:
Of course, all this makes much more sense in visual pictures such as I have in my mind. Anyone qualified in ESP is welcome to invade my brain and look at the pictures located there.
Dear god!!! What a terrifying thought!!!! Wink (luv ya really Rach! Kiss)

 

#21:  Author: LizB, Location: Oxon, England PostPosted: Tue Feb 01, 2005 6:53 pm

According to Princess there was one curtain between cubicles
Quote:
Elisaveta slipped out of bed and pulled aside the curtain that divided her cubicle from Jo's
At that time they were pushed back
Quote:
She [Bianca] grabbed them up, pushed the curtains aside and almost dropped them. Joey's bed was just as she had got out of it... She stripped the bed at express speed and hauled the curtains back... ...The curtains were thrown back in accordance with the rules
A few books later, in Eustacia (if I remember rightly), the curtains are thrown up and Jo pulls them down and finds the note Eustacia left. So at some point, a change was made between pulling back and throwing up (Thanks Rachel for the image you have now given me! Laughing) Liz

 

#22:  Author: MissPrint, Location: Edinburgh PostPosted: Wed Feb 02, 2005 12:34 am

I see them as having those really rattly curtain hooks whick make a fantastic racket metal on metal. They would swish the curtian to the front end, grab it in a bundle and whisk the end up over the rails. Think of how you would get the shower curtain out of the way whilst you are giving the bath tub a scrub. And I assumed three curtains. Just because it made most sense to me. It wouldn't be too hard to toss crettone curtains over a rail, it's not a heavy fabric. It's like un-shiny chintz. But what struck me about the curtains is how the headmistress seemed to give so much thought as to the colour of the crettone and the design. Do headmistresses generally bother themselves with such domestic details?

 

#23:  Author: Sarah_G-G, Location: Sheffield (termtime), ? any other time! PostPosted: Wed Feb 02, 2005 11:16 am

I'm all befuddled now! Did they pull back/ throw up the curtains that divide the cubicles or just the one(s) at the front? I always assumed the latter but maybe not. Only, if they toss up the curtains between the cubicles, wouldn't there be a danger that the girl on the other side wasn't ready yet and was still getting dressed?! Maybe I'm just reading it all wrong now and trying to think too much into it! As to the pattening of curtains, I think Madge probably started out trying to make it homely as it *was* her and Joey's home and it was only a small school and maybe they liked it so much that the tradition carried on. Considering the brownish carpet and... triangular-ly patterned curtains in my current room in university accomodation I'm guessing whoever designed this place didn't give it quite so much thought! More like "this is cheap, it will last!"

 

#24:  Author: Robin, Location: London PostPosted: Wed Feb 02, 2005 11:52 am

maybe they had two separate rails that ran next to each other so that each cubicle had its own curtains? We had cubicles at school, but they had wooden divisions and only a single curtain at the front. Wooden divisions were fun - we used to practice morse code on them!

 

#25:  Author: KB, Location: Melbourne, Australia PostPosted: Wed Feb 02, 2005 12:22 pm

They definitely do the side ones, too. In the later Swiss books, with the best examples of sheepdogging, there are quite a number of mentions of the side curtains being thrown over the rail.

 

#26:  Author: Miriam, Location: Jerusalem, Israel PostPosted: Wed Feb 02, 2005 1:15 pm

THere was abell for private prayers inthe morning, by which time they were all (except Verity Anne) supposed to be dressed. THey only threw up their curtains after praying, so everyone should have been fully dressed and ready by then. Even if they were not quite ready, it would only have been last details, like hankies and giude badges, not thier dresses.

 

#27:  Author: LizB, Location: Oxon, England PostPosted: Wed Feb 02, 2005 3:40 pm

Robin wrote:
We had cubicles at school, but they had wooden divisions and only a single curtain at the front. Wooden divisions were fun - we used to practice morse code on them!
Isn't that the sort of thing they had a Welsen? Liz

 

#28:  Author: MissPrint, Location: Edinburgh PostPosted: Thu Feb 03, 2005 9:24 am

I'm sure all the curtains were tossed over the rails, and the windows opened to allow fresh air to sweep through the room. Imagine how fusty it would be for the middle cubicle if the side curtians were down. Just consider how nasty un-aired teenage bedroom can get.

 

#29:  Author: Dawn, Location: Leeds, West Yorks PostPosted: Thu Feb 03, 2005 2:07 pm

MissPrint wrote:
Just consider how nasty un-aired teenage bedroom can get.
Ah well our teenagers don't have coldbaths every morning - that may make the difference (well it seems to make them perfect in every other way). Also Matey would never let anyone leave bread crusts, mouldy coffee cups, dirty underwear and all the other things that lurk and add to the aroma lying around Wink

 

#30:  Author: MissPrint, Location: Edinburgh PostPosted: Fri Feb 04, 2005 3:31 am

Dawn wrote:
MissPrint wrote:
Just consider how nasty un-aired teenage bedroom can get.
Ah well our teenagers don't have coldbaths every morning - that may make the difference (well it seems to make them perfect in every other way). Also Matey would never let anyone leave bread crusts, mouldy coffee cups, dirty underwear and all the other things that lurk and add to the aroma lying around Wink
Ahem, I'll have you know my teen is not allowed food and drink in her bedroom, and the only chore she does voluntarily is put her laundry in the basket, and still the room is fusty. Sad I'll have to institute daily cold baths. 'Tis the only thing to do. Wonder how she'll take it? Twisted Evil

 

#31:  Author: Kate, Location: Ireland PostPosted: Fri Feb 04, 2005 11:17 am

They constantly had the windows open though... so that might help.

 

#32:  Author: KB, Location: Melbourne, Australia PostPosted: Fri Feb 04, 2005 11:46 am

It astonishes me that they never flooded any of the dormitories. Can you imagine it - every time it started to rain, the maids would all have to rush up the stairs to slam all the windows shut!

 

#33:  Author: MissPrint, Location: Edinburgh PostPosted: Fri Feb 04, 2005 6:40 pm

KB wrote:
It astonishes me that they never flooded any of the dormitories. Can you imagine it - every time it started to rain, the maids would all have to rush up the stairs to slam all the windows shut!
I think they did. Though it was the girls who were doing the rushing to close jalousies iirc. But even with it pelting rain through a window, it never does get wet enough to flood. Takes the shine of the parquet though. Gaaah! I hated having to shine the bit under the windows after an unscheduled wetting.

 

#34:  Author: LizB, Location: Oxon, England PostPosted: Sat Feb 05, 2005 10:40 am

In the winter didn't they have wooded slats that fitted into the windows to let the air through without completely freezing the place - presumably they would have kept out the worst of the rain/snow at that time of year, so it would only be the occassional summer storm (most of which were spotted in advance) that would be a problem.Liz

 

#35:  Author: Lyanne, Location: Ipswich, England PostPosted: Fri Feb 18, 2005 12:22 am

I was thinking the other day that they must have had the material specially printed for them as no company would have had that much different floral material.

 

#36: cubicle curtains Author: Kirstie, Location: Ayrshire PostPosted: Mon May 02, 2005 12:44 pm

I was watching an Audrey Hepburn film on saturday 'The Nun's Story'.In one scene she is talking to the doctor and in the background you can see the hospital beds split into cubicles using free standing rods,poles and curtains. It looks exactly how I have always imagined the dormitery cubicles in the CS to have looked and is set in the same era.These definately look like the curtains could be thrown up over them.
This topic just sort of jumped into my head when I saw them

 

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