Tuesday, January 26, 2016

Adding lining to existing shades

Do you remember these sheer shades from last autumn? http://leatherwooddesignco.blogspot.com/2015/09/the-other-sheer-shades.html
These are some of the most beautiful shades I've ever made, so you can imagine my dismay when the designer informed me that the homeowner needed them re-lined, with an opaque lining rather than the gorgeous grey voile.

I dreaded doing this, but it turned out to be a satisfying project.  It was less difficult yet more time consuming than I had projected; and the opaque shades with grey sateen lining are just as beautiful as they were when they were sheer.
The goal was to not have to take apart the shade and sheer lining. 
I did consider adding lining in the manner of a double-sided shade, but I thought that would be an untidy solution, and ultimately inefficient because I'd have to fiddle with it a lot, not to mention I'd be unhappy with it in the end. 
Therefore I decided to remove the rings and lay the new lining over the sheer. 
I unstrung the shade, removing the orbs and cord clips, leaving the lift cord in their clips.
First making sure all the rings pointed up, I laid out the lining, rough cut to about 3" over the finished size on each side, wieghted it in place, and used the iron to make an impression in the lining of the existing rings- sort of like making a gravestone rubbing!
I could see where the rings were sewn, and used purple pen to mark the stitches.
Keeping half the lining weighted down, I folded back one half at a time, and snipped off the ring stitches, except for the bottom rings which I clipped off because I wanted the stitching to remain.
I kept the lint roller handy so the little snipped threads wouldn't wind up inside the shade!
At the top, I trimmed the lining even, leaving enough to tuck under the board.
When I staple, I use tacking strip set back about 1/2", which leaves wiggle room at the front of the board.  That wiggle room is what allowed me to tuck in the lining.
I stapled to secure the lining.
Sewing the rings went quickly.
At the bottom I was careful to avoid a pucker at the pocket when I sewed the bottommost rings.
Because the weight bar lay underneath, creating bulk, I knew I should let the shade hang before sewing the bottom.
 I trimmed the bottom and folded it in place.
I pinned it for hanging, then removed and re-positioned the pins after I knew the shade was true.
The lining and sheer are ladder-stitched together by hand.  Re-stringing with ring locks was quick and simple.
After leveling and completing the rigging, all that was left was to sew the lining to the face at the bottom.
Ta-da!


2 comments:

  1. Lovely work as usual! Love your blog posts. The grey lining is opaque? What brand, type?

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    Replies
    1. Yes Debbie The lining is opaque. It came from calico corners; I don't know the style name but it's a cotton blend sateen that they use a lot for contrast lining.

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