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Anyone remember fibre glass curtains?

(33 Posts)
polomint Sun 21-Jul-24 17:23:33

I put on a new pair of gardening gloves today and when I took them off my hands were tingling. It put me in mind of how my hands felt when I touched my fibre glass curtains many years ago. They were in fashion in the 1970s I think. I had a pair in my bedroom and also my living room

jusnoneed Tue 23-Jul-24 08:25:30

We have a fibreglass factory down the road from us, been there many years. When my parents had the local pub one of the factory workers gave my mum a roll of green fibreglass curtain material. She made curtains from it and then I had the left overs and made them for my place too. Terrible stuff really, it was slippery. But at the time lot's of it about.

maddyone Tue 23-Jul-24 08:38:09

It sounds awful. I have a vague memory of it.
I also remember the awful nylon sheets, they were horrible. I also remember the introduction of nylon shirts, needed no ironing. They must have been very uncomfortable to wear.

Drina01 Tue 23-Jul-24 08:42:06

… I remember them only because my future mother in law washed the curtains together with my then boyfriend’s shirts. He had to leave work by lunchtime to go home to change. !!! The itching was off the scale apparently !!!

Grannynannywanny Tue 23-Jul-24 08:52:13

After a couple of years my Mum took hers to my maternal grandparents farmhouse in Ireland in the early 70s. That house has been unoccupied since my elderly uncle died 20 years ago.

When I’m in Ireland I always let myself in to the now derelict house for a trip down memory lane. I was there a few weeks ago and the ceilings had collapsed. Birds were flying in and out through large holes in the roof and had built a nest on the kitchen dresser.

However, the psychedelic orange/brown fibre glass curtains were still hanging proudly on the broken bedroom window. The colours were as bold as when they were hung on the window 50 years ago. They seem to be indestructible 😀

Tiley Tue 23-Jul-24 09:26:58

I remember my Nan having some in her lounge. They were horrid, never looked or hung right and most peculiar touch to them.

flappergirl Tue 23-Jul-24 10:19:44

Yes! I had fibre glass curtains in my first rented flat around 1975. They came with the flat. They had green and purple psychedelic swirls on a white background. They were stiff and, not surprisingly, fibrous. To this day I've no idea what the virtue of using fibre glass was. I was sharing with another girl and we spent our time studying and partying, so needless to say we never discovered whether you could wash the curtains or not. It never occurred to us to be so domesticated.

Diggingdoris Wed 07-Aug-24 18:07:13

I remember in 1969 my Mum had a shopping trip to London and came home with fibre glass curtains for the lounge. She was so thrilled as they were the latest 'must have' and she was the first of her group of friends to have them. They had an almost plastic feel.