I want to do stuff like this all day, every day!

These applique borders are the most fun I've had sewing in awhile.  Fabricated for Katherine Stern, the shade and shower curtain presented a surprising and satisfying interplay of pattern and color against the Japanese cherry blossom wallpaper pattern.  Too bad you can't see the sink, accessories, and fittings finishes!  Next week I'll try to remember to take another picture.  If you love color and pattern, I urge you to check out Katherine's website.  Her color sense is so awesome!  You'll see how this fits in perfectly with her style.

The embroidered fabric was cutout and appliqued onto the solid purple which then was banded in black.

Wonder Under is just the product for a project like this.  I fused strips onto the back of the area of the embroidery that was to be cut out.  Before cutting I made slash cuts into the corners to help get a clean cut.

I will say that it did take quite a while to finish cutting!  I used several pairs of scissors: this large Fiskars worked well on the curves, but I needed short snips and longer sharp pointed shears for other cutting steps.

To begin the shade, I laid out the purple fabric at the exact finished width.

I carefully laid the cut out shade fabric and pressed it into place until the pattern was straight horizontally and vertically, then peeled off the Wonder Under paper.

Lots of steam fused the embroidered fabric onto the purple.

Next I was off to the sewing machine with the fabric.  If I thought cutting was tedious, this was even more so!  It was slow going, but it worked.

I cut bias strips for the 1/2" banding; in retrospect I think it would've been easier if they'd been cut on the grain.  I was very careful!

Because the band was on the bias I had to do some very meticulous pressing as I wrapped the band to avoid puckering.

So then I made the shade as usual; here it is all done, on the table.

I didn't want any stitching on the front, so behind the hem there's a weight bar tube that's tacked at the rings.  I guess you really can't see it, but it's my new favorite way to do the bottoms of shades.

The shower curtain banding was made the same way.  It was lined, and the black banding wrapped to form the side hems.  We loved how the embroidery played off the wallpaper floral.

The shower curtain is hung on Rowley's Aria H-Rail pole in Antique Brass, with glides.  It's a flat panel with hooks, but next week I'm going to take it all down and modify it for Ripplefold.  I didn't have the correct fullness carriers for Ripplefold, but there was a photo shoot the next day and it HAD to go in!
As Tim Gunn says: "Make it work!"