Red and White Quilts

Joanna S. Rose has been collecting quilts most of her life. When her husband asked her what she wanted for her 80th birthday, she said she wanted to see all of the 651 red and white quilts she owns, at one time. 
So this 6-day show was staged, and I was thrilled to be able to see it today at the Park Ave Armory.
It is one of the most amazing things I've ever seen.  It was a red-and-white wonderland.

I will let these photos speak for themselves.  You can read more about the exhibit in this New York Times article.  I took over 100 pictures, and have selected some to give you a feel for the beauty of the exhibit, a hint of the exquisite detail, and also some of my own favorites.

 

 

 

Today I got the chance to go see some of our recent work, installed.

Flat panels with rings; Roman shades.  All is lined with blackout to reduce light bleed from embroidery.

Drool

The valance is slightly curved to follow the arc above it.

 

Ribbed shades strung with JK mesh tube cord shroud.  The rings are sewn on and the cord and shroud fed through the rings. Then the mesh is secured to the ring with a clear miniature tie wrap, clipped short.  

The flat panels have 10 rings per width, spaced about 5" apart, for a casual, ripply look.

 

Stitched channels keep the drapery hooks in place.

Mesh Tube Cord Shroud

These are our first shades made with the mesh tube cord shroud from Julius Koch.

It shirrs up compactly and was easy to sew on.

  

It has some stretch to it, so for the section between the bottom and the first tacking point, it needs to be pulled taut, the lift cord fished out, and sewn into the hem.

Very important: tie the ends into a loose loop while working on tacking the shroud, so the cord doesn't slip out by accident!

Multiples

So far this year we have had an amazing amount of "multiples" orders- a whole lot of the same shade, rather than just one or two.  Right now we're completing an order of 7 hobbled shades.  Two are 22" wide x 86" long, four are 42" wide x 67" long, and one is 118" wide x 43" long.

Here are the six smaller shades in various degrees of completion.  Everything is prepped- wood, ribs, weight bars, and Rollease clutches- now to just finish the sewing, mount, and string.

Some workrooms love multiples, others hate them.  I guess I like the fact that you can move an order along more quickly when you're making a lot out of the same fabric, but I hate the boredom that sets in after one or two are done and you still have six or seven to go.  Sometimes the boredom slows me down, like now, when I sit down at the computer.

Especially if they are all the same size, multiples allow for streamlined work techniques.  I love having my gridded canvas table for these: I draw all over it with my purple disappearing pen to indicate lines for cutting, pressing, and marking for lift line rows, so I can be sure they are all identical.

This second picture is from last week's multiple order- 8 identical flat Roman shades with blackout lining and ribs.  I ironed the fusible rib tape to the inside of the lining, 4 at a time, using a long straightedge as a guide.

No, I didn't take a picture of the final product- I had misplaced my camera.  I'll be at this house next week for a second wave of products, and I'll take pictures then, I hope!

Bay window Roman shades

The Roman shades with the VersaRail clutch with a 1" headrail, from Rollease, were installed last week.

Yes, we did work all this past week, but since the camera was mis-placed, there are no pictures, yet.  We were busy making shades, and beautiful hand-sewn unlined panels.  There should be photos, not this week but the following week, when we return to that house to install the rest.  

From the archives....

.... a reminder that curtains can be fun!

And cafe curtains are good problem-solvers.

A mystery

Monday morning and 4 bagfuls of pillows are ready to go out.

This brown lip cord was shipped on a piece of embellished cardboard.  I've spent days trying to imagine the scenario in which this trim would come here on this cardboard with these drawings on it.

Even the back.

This would make a good fiction challenge.  Write the story that explains this.

Modification

The homeowner lived with the bullion fringe long enough to decide that she didn't like it.

To minimize the labor involved in removing it and putting on another trim, we snipped the fringe off-

Glued on the new trim-

Uh oh, now we can't see the trim header!-

So we unclipped the bottom-most ring from the split rings holding the stationary folds in place, and added two to act as spacers between the bottom ring and the next one up-

Voila!
It's not rocket science, but it does make the customer happy!

Showhouse!

I have some exciting news!- Susan of Susan Marocco Interiors, a designer I have worked with often over the past 8 or 9 years, has been invited to participate in The 2011 Designer Showhouse of Westchester, and she in turn has invited me to help her create window treatments and bedding.

Susan will be decorating an upstairs guest bedroom in this $11,000,000.00 Bedford Corners home, a room with two windows facing the front, to the left of the door as you face the house.

We met there yesterday with the decorative painters to measure and plan wall and window treatments and set up a timetable.  Susan has chosen some sumptuous silks and trims that I can't wait to get my hands on.

I've always enjoyed attending showhouses and being inspired by the multitude of fresh ideas I've encountered at them, but this is my first opportunity to contribute to one.  Cool!

A Little Improv

The homeowner is in love with this fabric, so when she took down some medallion swags she wanted to re-use them as inside mounted board swags for new windows.  Medallion swags are proportioned differently from board-mounted swags, but luckily, with a little modification they worked, just barely.  Admittedly a little disheveled looking here on a stand in the workroom, once they were in the windows and dressed, they were a success.  The inside mounting kept the flaring jabots contained, and the board was padded under the flat center of the swags between the pleat so the top line was even and there was no gap.

Moins c'est Mieux

Sometimes less is more, as we so often hear.  This is one of those situations.  A small window needed a hint of privacy.  This awesome fine cotton sheer is printed with scenes from the life and demise of Jeanne d'Arc and is best viewed uncluttered by pleats, gathers, or folds.  So it was hemmed by hand all around, stapled to a board, and allowed to hang freely.