Thread: Blackout curtains

Does anyone know what blackout curtains would have been made from, during the 1940s. The sources I've tried all seem to say "blackout material", but I bet before the war it had a proper name. Any ideas?

Thanks in advance.

Originally Posted by Bilston Blue

Does anyone know what blackout curtains would have been made from, during the 1940s. The sources I've tried all seem to say "blackout material", but I bet before the war it had a proper name. Any ideas?

Thanks in advance.

with suitable material such as heavy curtains, cardboard or paint,

I would think the most common cloth would be- cotton, wool,
I would guess at least double layers or more to prevent light from escaping.

Light was the original GPS for aircraft, you know your close, but can't be sure,
"oh, theres lights, drop the bombs there."

Hi Bilston,

This was the answer I found on wiki answers:

During the Blackout in Britain, any thick material that kept light from escaping could be used. Some people tarred their windows and others tried black paper. The government made black cotton fabric available at a good price, but still hanging the curtains and keeping them up was a chore.

Read more: What are blackout curtains made of

I've seen the tar thing a couple of times. A few people say it doesn't matter what kind of fabric was used, as long as it was very thick, usually woven. Opening and closing them wasn't easy.

Will post again if I stumble on a better source.

I remember a stiffened cotton holland blind on my bedroom window, but I imagine any covering would have sufficed. As the closest that enemy planes came was just under 2000 miles, my bedroom was probably not a very good example. I did read just now that black paint was used by some people in lieu of material.

To quote me muvver, who regaled us with this story about a million times.
When she was a courting the old man, air raid siren went off whilst they were at the pictures.
Oh the way back 'ome, air raid started in earnest, so the old man shoved her into what he thought was a doorway.
Turned out to be a heavy black velvet lined curtain disguising the entrance to a pub.
Muvver went base over apex through the velvet curtain, much to the delight of the boozy sods inside. [Her quote not mine!]

For windows, if you didn't have velvet lined curtains, most ordinary people used wood, painted and cut to the size of the window.
Then closed the curtains over that. But I have never heard them mention a specific name

It would appear that blackout material was just a generic term for anything that would keep out the light.

I asked my Dad about this as he is 80 now and was a child during the second world war. He grew up in East London and lived through the Blitz. He said they used black paper roller blinds on the windows. The door (and some of the windows) were covered in old dark blankets. The blankets were always made of pure wool in those days. It seems that the blackout curtains did not have a specific name.

From what he has told me, I think the type of covering used very much depended on where you lived and how wealthy/poor you were. My dad’s family were working class poor and they used whatever they had at hand to cover the windows and often weren’t afforded the luxury of buying materials for the sole purpose of covering the windows. You used what you had. Or at least the poorest people did. Likely a different story for the middle and upper classes.

Thanks for all of your answers. I was hoping for someone to pop on here with first or second hand experience, so to get three such answers is great.

I have a minor character in my novel who works a textiles/drapery store, and supplies his neighbours with material for curtains. The fact that the material would have been heavy makes sense on reading that.

Since posting this thread I've read about the black paint. Seems such a simple solution.

Thanks again.

I lived in Iceland for a couple years and we had them in the barracks. That far north of the equator, you have daylight around the clock for a couple months, so blackout curtains were used to block out the sun while sleeping. They were very close to a canvas type material, though I'm not sure if that helps you with the era you're writing on.

You may have some luck researching the materials used for blocking out the sun though, rather than keeping in the light. Reverse engineering, as it were. Cheers.

In our flat in NW London my mother dyed the existing curtains black. There's posh.

xO - Had the Japanese high command only known where you were and what the future held, several Betsy bombers with long-range fuel tanks would have been sent in your direction.

In Gulfport there was no fear of aircraft, but there was some danger from submarine. As I recall the upstairs windows on the south side of the house, which would have been visible from the ship channel, were covered with a sort of heavy black broadcloth. At war's end my grandfather had some of it turned into a coat, which in turn turned into a running joke in the family.

Blackout curtains to submarines – being as it’s a forum, I guess there’s some sort of inevitability there. Okay, my city DID come under submarine attack. On 1st June 1942, Japanese midget subs snuck into Sydney Harbour on the tail of an Allied vessel coming through the safety net. One fired a torpedo at USS Chicago which missed and instead sank HMAS Kuttabul, with the loss of 21 ratings. Urban myth has it that another sub fired a single shell on the suburb of Neutral Bay, knocking out a plaster lawn jockey and a bed of antirrhinums. The subs were subsequently blown up, with the dead submariners given a full military funeral by our Navy, to show the little yellow bastards that some nations fought with honour.