What it's like to dress the sets of period dramas – from the expert behind Bridgerton, Hedda and more

A shorter version of this article first appeared in Radio Times magazine.

Jillian Drujon knows how it’s hanging. As a trusted supplier of curtains, tents, banners and bedclothes to some of Hollywood’s biggest productions, the American-born drapesmaster has worked on fantastical period dramas from Bridgerton to King Arthur. She’s gone sci-fi for Blade Runner and Men in Black. She even worked on the sail-flapping, flag-snapping Pirates of the Caribbean franchise.

With business partner Paula Maestro, Draper Emporium is based in a studio in north-west London, where Drujon works to train the next generation of drapers. It’s also where she fabricates the weird and wonderful textiles that have featured in films from Maleficent to Mission: Impossible. Recently, she’s behind the textiles in Hedda, starring Tessa Thompson – a reimagining of Henrik Ibsen's play Hedda Gabler.

Here Drujon tells RT why her role is about so much more than providing curtains for productions.

LEARNING HOW TO STITCH I grew up in Massachusetts, started stitching at school, and had an industrial sewing machine in my bedroom by the age of 17. My mom played Scrabble competitively, and after I made her a Scrabble bag, I got a small contract making them. I moved to London at 19 and a draper I knew got me some work on Danny Boyle's Sunshine, making the interiors of the spaceship, and it went from there. Even people in the industry don’t know this job exists. Drapesmaster is a very antiquated term because you think curtains, but it’s not just that. It encapsulates loads of stuff, from flags to soft furnishings. I only really need a sewing machine, a pair of good scissors and a tape measure, and maybe a pen and a staple gun.

WORKING WITH THE RIGHT MATERIALS I'm brought in by the set decorator, ideally eight weeks before the shoot. We'll advise the art department on colour, opacity or quantity. If the fabric is really stretchy, we'll tell them to put it in the bin! And linen will be creased by the time it gets to set. We like to work with silk, cotton, flax, velvet, canvas, cotton, polyester voile and wool. The flags on Gladiator II were made from the same silk, cotton and flax as they had back then. We did lots of appliqué and cut-outs.

SOURCING THE FABRIC Buying the fabric, especially after Brexit, is a huge job, so somebody else does that. You can go through 500 metres of it and sometimes wait weeks for it to arrive. After filming, we might be given leftovers, but on franchises like Harry Potter and Marvel, it's stored in warehouses. For running series, they’ll just go back and repurpose things – change a trim here, cut something down there.

MAKING A SMOTHERING PILLOW For My Lady Jane, a period romance on Prime Video, we made a “thunderbox”, a padded 16th century toilet. I’d not made one before, and probably never will again. We also created a pillow that was used to smother the main character, which meant cutting the centre out so it could be placed over her face but allow her to breathe. There’s a pillowcase called the Oxford pillow, which first appeared in the 1860s, that is always requested on Tudor projects. They’re really hard to make and totally historically inaccurate. I’ll occasionally bring up historical inaccuracies and, if I say it with enough love, the art department will listen.

CRAFTING A PAPOOSE The Great, I made an 18th century-style papoose. It was so weird, and they put a real baby in it. I remember actor Nicholas Hoult saying, "This baby is not going to like this. It's going to be far too hot." He was right - who'd want to be encased in leather. strapped to a man you don't know?

DESIGNING THE FABRIC OF SPACE We do a lot of spaceships, because there’s not an IKEA for space sets! They’re always very hyper-designed and very particular. On Star Wars: The Force Awakens, we upholstered the interiors of the Millennium Falcon, which involved lots of weird shapes. We also made some tents out of fibreglass.

DYEING THE DRAPES One of my favourite projects was a set for the Joseph Bologne biopic, Chevalier, in one of Europe’s only remaining baroque theatres in the Czech Republic. My business partner and I made dyed drapes to fit in with the 18th century interior. The place was so old that we had people watching us constantly to ensure we didn’t break anything, but we definitely put our stamp on it.

Hedda is released on Prime Video on Wednesday 29th October 2025. Sign up for a 30-day free trial of Prime Video and pay £8.99 a month after that.

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