Wondering how to assemble a curtain backdrop?
We don’t blame you! A curtain backdrop is the perfect frame for your event, but they can be tricky to set up if you have never done one before.
Don’t worry, River City Events is here to help:
Curtain Wall Materials
First, you need to make sure you are ordering the proper equipment. For the purposes of this demonstration, we will be building a wall that is 10 feet or less, or a single–double wall. You will need:
- 2 adjustable uprights
- 2 base plates
- 2 rubber base weights (the larger your wall is, the more weights you will need.)
- 2 adjustable sliders
- 2 crossbar hangers
Our client care team can help you decide how many panels of fabric you need, but the general rule is 1 panel per foot. Any of our linen fabrics will work, but you can always come to our showroom and experiment with our linen collection firsthand to find your perfect look.
1. Measure Backdrop Length with Slider
The first step is to use your adjustable slider to measure how long you want your curtain backdrop to be (in this case, 10 feet).
2. Attach Upright to Baseplates
Next, place your base plates on either end of the slider. We always recommend placing a weight on each baseplate to prevent the double wall from falling forward when the fabrics are added.
Once your baseplates are placed and weighted, you can now attach one adjustable upright to each baseplate.
3. Attaching Crossbar Hangers to Uprights
You will notice there are 4 slots at the top of each upright. You are going to want to put the crossbar hanger in the front slot, whereas your slider will eventually be attached to the inside slots.
Make sure the cross bar is secure before you hang anything from it.
4. Setting Up the Background Slider
Next, retrieve the fabric that you want to be in the back of the curtain backdrop. Thread that fabric onto one of the sliders.
After your fabric is on the slider, hook your slide into inside slots of the upright.
Now, fluff the fabric out so it is even across the slider. You can cuff your fabric over the upright on either side so that the poles are not visible.
5. Setting Up the Foreground Slider
Then, retrieve your chosen foreground fabric and thread them onto your second slider. Once the fabric is connected, attach this slider to your cross bar.
Fluff out the fabric again and cuff the crossbar with your fabric so that the crossbar and upright are hidden.
Before you raise your uprights, find the middle of your fabric (where you will part the curtains), and make sure you have an even number of fabric panels on either side. For example, if you have 10 panels of fabric, make sure you have 5 panels on either side.
6. Raise Uprights to Your Desired Height
Carefully raise your uprights to your desired height.
To increase the height of your upright, simply push the adjustable pole of the upright upward. Conversely, to decrease the height, you simply press in the clip located at the join between the adjustable pole of the the upright and the solid component which connects to the baseplate.
If you are alone, alternate between raising the uprights—you don’t want to raise one upright much higher than the other because the slider could fall out or your backdrop could fall over.
Instead, raise one upright a couple feet, and then raise the other upright equally, alternating between them until you reach your desired height.
7. Finishing the Curtain Wall
Whew, we’re almost done!
Recall that you split the foreground drape panels into two sides in step 5. Gather one side of these panels and bunch them against their respective upright. Then, zip-tie the panels to the upright.
You can hide the zip tie by fluffing out the fabric or covering it with a piece of ribbon.
Do this same step with the other side of foreground drape
Finally, fluff out that fabric to hide the base plates and weights.
There you have it, that is how River City Events builds a double wall backdrop!
Contact Us
Have questions? Is something not clear? Want to learn your options for curtain wall backdrops?
We’d to love to chat!
Call us at 780-424-6001 between 9 am to 5pm on Monday to Friday, or 10 am to 4pm on Saturdays, or leave us a message.