How many curtains per hamper?

[doggmann]

Hi wonderful people!
I'm ordering new curtains for a new black box venue we've put together in the old auto-shop classroom. Often the curtains will be struck and stored (summer, breaks, etc.) or when not used per design of the space.
We're looking at most of our perimeter curtains around the space at 10'w x 11' tall (14 of them), six legs at 6'w x 11't, a traveller of two curtains at 18'w x 11' t, and maybe three borders at 30'w x 2't.

How many 10'x11' curtains would fit in a 10 bushel hamper? How might i go about figuring out how many hampers I need to store everything? How big is a bushel in dimensions?

Thanks so much!!
Peter Parish
Redwood High School
Calif.

 

[derekleffew]

What fabric? Weight? How much fullness?

 

[doggmann]

Looking at a Medium weight cotton velour, 50% fullness. Shoot, and I just noticed, not a 10 bushel hamper - a 20 bushel hamper!

 

[urban79]

Our curtains stay up much of the time, and I don't really have room for the hampers so I can't help you there... I would strongly suggest looking at a synthetic velour though... The benefit of being inherently fire retardent rather than needing to be retreating is huge, at least to my district. I got money this year to replace our mains in part because they were cotton, and they hadn't been in compliance in years... I can never count on money down the line, and so that pushes the priority for me to the safety of the synthetic velour.

Just my 2 cents...
Chris

 

[kevinatblinn]

If you are using a theatre supplier to provide the curtains, they should be able to answer that question for you. Even if you are buying the hampers somewhere else.

 

[Footer]

I get 4 sets of 10'x28' legs in a regular hamper. Zero fullness on my goods. It all really comes down to how they are folded. The more bends you have the more space they will take up.

 

[theatricalmatt]

A 20-bushel hamper can hold about 25 cubic feet of material. Typically they're 48" x 32" x 30". If you've got some spare duvetyne or commando cloth, you could grab a bit the same size/shape as the soft goods you're looking to purchase, , folding it as you normally would, and measure that. A little math should get you to the number than will fit in a hamper. Give yourself a bit of extra room so you don't have to hop on top to cram them in.

Depending on the amount of storage you have, I'd suggest a different hamper for different type of soft goods. Perhaps the traveler curtains and the borders can store in the same hamper.

 

[doggmann]

Great responses!! Thanks so much, especially for the synthetic velour tip!

 

[PeterV]

I did the math on this a while back. 10 yards of 21 oz velour will need approximately 1 bushel of storage space. A 20 bushel hamper can contain approximately 180 - 200 yards of 21 oz velour if folded neatly. If you know the size and fullness of your drapes you should be able to get a pretty solid figure on your hamper/ storage needs.