We're making some drapes for our conservatory roof, and at the ridge is going to be clear fishing wire with a substantial amount of weight of the cotton muslin cloth draped over it (totalling 35 linear meters)

What kinda poundage clear fishing wire would be strong enough? Only after 8 metres, but I appreciate they come in 100m rolls lol

Ive got a load in the garage ill have a look in a min for you

Oh you're a gentleman, I wasn't hinting at a freebie, it was only advice I was after as we wouldn't want it snapping lol

I'd very much appreciate any spare you may have however

As you have to support the 'wire' very often, wouldn't it be better to use thin curtain pole as a support?

Nylon fishing line is very stretchy and unless you know the knots to tie it securely it will be a bit tricky to secure so it might not be the best choice?

Perhaps that white paracord stuff might be better?

Our initial idea was the 'net curtain wire'... which we have loads of... but its coated in white plastic, so it'd be visible, and would look DIY'y

I think we liked the invisible look of the fishing line, but didn't realise it was stretchy?

Try fishing braid. Similar, but lots of strands woven together, doesn't stretch.

Go for 50lb+ and you'll be ok, make sure to tie off with something like a blood knot and you'll be ok

*googles blood knot*

Thanks chaps - appreciate this

Braid is not clear, Google fluorocarbon line which is clear but any line will sag.

What about using some nice chrome rods and making a feature of it?

the projection of the conservatory is 4.2m, and the width is 6m...

I tend to agree with the amount of weight (albeit its lightweight 100% cotton) i have a feeling it would sag no matter how tight you pulled it?

Braid comes in different colours, and you can get a nice white to match the curtains.

Not perfect, but probably your best bet IMHO.

You could try a light trace wire (used to stop fish with teeth biting through line) it'll be more expensive though. Might be worth a look.

Finally a subject I can help with!

Your best bet is either pre-stretched mono fishing line or as stated previously, a braided line. Monofilament line ages with exposure to Sunlight and will become weaker with age, giving a relatively high degradation in its strenght. My advice is to therefore over egg the breaking strain of the line, to allow for the weakening it will experience over time.

As to knots, with heavy line like this, blood knots are not as good as say a palomor knot or a loop knot.

Even with pre stretched line, you can still stretch it some more to create a nicely tensioned setup. I personally would tie a loop knot at one end, have the fabric hanging and the loop knot fastened at one end to where you want it, then add tension to create no slack, mark where you want the next loop, based on the tension you require, then tie it off. The whole thing is then taught!

Make sense?