Leatherwood Design Co

Retro-fitting 13 shades

2012-01-29T12:39:00.000-05:00

This client thought she wanted 13 unlined, casual valances that looked like pulled-up Roman shades. She and the designer decided on making stationary mini shades to be set with cord locks.

Once they were installed, the client realized that the look was not what she wanted after all. So we made a little mock-up of a faux hobbled valance, and they pinned it to the proportions they wanted.

The goal was to retro-fit without taking them totally apart or off the boards, to keep the cost down. So we removed the cord locks, strings, and rings, and keeping them on the boards, sewed pockets for ribs, a somewhat awkward project, but it worked.

The way the numbers worked out, we were able to just fold up the old weight bar pocket and sew it down- the seams were hidden behind the hobble.

Then added translucent tapes to hold the ribbed pockets in place, and voila: 13 new valances!

Another Hybrid Shade

2012-01-25T09:43:00.001-05:00

There is a collection of photos here that I probably wouldn't have ever amassed if it were not for the self-imposed pressure of blogging. Many of the decorators I work with carry a laptop, iPhone, or iPad and refer to the blog for inspiration or illustration photos when working with their clients. The homeowners like seeing photos from the workroom that will actually make their treatments.

The hybrid shade at the top was created to solve a specific design need, and the photo of the original helped another decorator visualize a way to cover a similar wide space with a relaxed silhouette. This shade is part London shade, part relaxed Roman, 66" wide, and will be used as a valance.

Totally blacking out drapery panels

2012-01-13T11:53:00.002-05:00

Our NYC client is hoping for total blackout from her new draperies. They're being installed this morning so I'll update this post with pictures if "someone" sends me any! These upholstery weight panels have 2" 2-finger pleats tacked 1" down from the top, at approximately double fullnesss, with a low-bulk top. The tack thread is wrapped around the front of the pleat rather than stabbed through the sides.

I tried to do everything humanly possible to be sure light did not bleed through any stitch holes. We did not blindstitch the lead edge; instead we sewed it, turned, then sewed in an extra strip of blackout to cover the first stitch line, folded back 1/4" to be sure the entire lead edge is filled with blackout. Not easy to describe, but it worked perfectly.

For the lining seams, we bonded double-sided adhesive tape to the wrong side of the blackout, then cut into 3/8" strips with a rotary cutter.

Then the strips were adhered to the seams. Merlyn, if you're reading this, THANK YOU for this tip!

It looked fine as it was but we decided to cover the strip with gimp, also using double-sided adhesive tape.

Short pieces of blackout "bandaid" strip were applied over the pleat seams- another place where light sneaks through. Leftover blackout strips were sent with the installer so he can cover up anyplace that I might have missed.
Next time I think I might go ahead and blind-stitch or hand-sew a rolled lead edge border, as usual, and adhere a blackout-lined coordinating gimp or other flat trim over the seamline. I think it could be a beautiful detail.

Big Hobbled Shade!

2012-01-09T17:29:00.001-05:00

In this space where panels would be cumbersome, the homeowner originally considered a full-length shade to cover the doors, but in the end decided to have us make a shade to cover about half of the length of the area, and pull it up part-way, to look like a full shade. This can be raised higher with a Rollease clutch to clear the doors if they need to be used. It has a more substantive presence than simply a hobbled valance would have had.
I love the ceiling-to-floor panels!

Modified Catherine valance

2012-01-08T12:06:00.006-05:00

The designer brought us two drapery panels, linen, two widths each side, abut 72" long, with little three-finger pleats just 2" long and 1" wide, and tassel trim on the lead edges and bottom.

The room had been renovated, and now to fit the new space we were to make a pole-mounted valance to cover 120" out of these panels. Something swaggy, using the bottom of the panels without removing the trim, and with bells that were pleated in the same style, to go with the remaining pair of draperies on the adjacent window. I also had to make 30" jabots out of whatever remained.

I definitely spent more time thinking about this project than it took to make it, which means I had a LOT of thinking time. The valance needed to be a style with a straight bottom. I considered modifying a Kingston. The decorator suggested modifying a Queen Anne. Time was a factor, as well as the limited available fabric.

Pate-Meadows Catherine valance

Finally I decided on modifying the beautiful Catherine valance, a Pate-Meadows pattern, one of my favorite valances ever.

I laid out the pattern pieces onto gridded paper and squared off the curves in the swags and bells. To be sure I was cutting to achieve the correct swag width, I draped chain weight. I replaced the triangular bell with a 6" wide rectangle that could be pleated like the panels. The pattern finishes to 22" so I shortened it for an 18" finished length. The self-lined jabots were cut sideways out of the little fabric that remained.

And, before cutting the fabric, I made a muslin mock-up, stapling the pleats and hanging to be sure of the dimensions. I was happy that it came out true to the original concept.

There was not enough fabric to cut the swags individually so railroading the treatment was the only option. I French-seamed together the two panels and realized that the three seams would just have to fall wherever they fell, because the five swags and six bells took up- to the very last thread!- the exact amount of fabric available. I used new lining- napped sateen- and hemmed it and it hangs separately from the face fabric.

The unavoidable seam in the center of the center swag left me slightly queasy, so when I got the inevitable call from the decorator, after the installation, I was sweating it out until I heard- "It was beautiful! It looked effortless and the customer LOVES it!"

I was so engrossed in figuring out what to make and how, that I totally forgot to take pictures, after the one showing the cut-up fabric and the cut-off pleats.

There was fabric left over- ha- two pieces about 12" x 12" each.

Fab Fabric Friday, Extreme Edition

2012-01-06T14:27:00.003-05:00

This is one of the most fab fabrics I've ever seen. Lucky me, I get to sew it!

"Enter the Dragons"

A Jim Thompson fabric

A 17-screen print!

Exquisite color

Remembering Needle Size

2012-01-05T14:20:00.000-05:00

When starting a new project, I never could remember what size needle was on the machine, until I learned this trick from someone- I can't remember from whom, probably someone on the CHF Member Forum.
Put the needle package in the little slot next to the bobbin storage area on the machine table, and keep it there until I change needle size again. I know, duh, right?

2012-01-04T11:12:00.000-05:00

Here are two of the shades we made from last week's Fab Fabric, featured in the previous post.

Fab Fabric Friday

2011-12-30T10:47:00.003-05:00

It's been awhile since I made a dedicated effort to keep up with Fab Fabric Friday, but today I have a fab fabric in the house that I think will inspire me to reinstate the tradition. It is Friday, isn't it? I kind of lose track of the days during this week between holidays.

This fabric is "Richter" by Studio Bon Textiles. Check out the website if you love contemporary prints.

Destined in this case to become Roman shades, this fabric is hand-printed and has lively visual movement.

One shade is wider than the width of fabric. I mistrust my ability to join widths perfectly on a tricky print like this, so I'm glue-basting the seam before sewing.

The Studio Bon website shows five colorways but I think this red is the best.

That red dye is beautifully printed on a very good linen-cotton, and the quality of both materials and process clearly shows.

And here's something you don't see very often: repeat information printed on the selvedge.

I made that Christmas quilt!

2011-12-22T12:10:00.000-05:00

Happy holidays!

Bustle Swags, Point to Point Swags, or Drapery Swags

2011-12-20T12:24:00.001-05:00

Occasionally I've referred to the book "Anatomy of a Swag" by Ann Johnson, and I think I did so most recently when showing you the Turban Swags we made out of a gold stretchy jersey-like fabric, but I must mention the book again because I've had two orders for the swags known variously as bustle swags, drapery swags, or point to point swags.

For the very first swags I ever made, I used the excellent patterns by M'Fay, for board, pole, and bustle swags. Eventually I realized I needed to learn how swag patterns were drafted because I had more complex situations where ready-made patterns did not fit, such as these silk stripe swags that had to finish a specific width and length that was not available in a pattern.

At the time, I could not afford the fancy template system that I coveted, so I purchased Ann's book, which had come out just in the nick of time for me!- and studied, studied, studied. Now I can draft patterns in no time, to fit any circumstance. Here you can see the muslin mockup I made for eight striped silk swags.

Something that makes my heart go pitter-patter is nice finishing. For the interlined silk I bound the pleats in the rose.

For this black and gold damask, I cut identical binding strips centering part of the medallion motif. I doubt that anyone but me will ever realize they are all carefully bound, identically, but I can always look back at this picture and smile.

Multiples

2011-12-14T11:51:00.001-05:00

Workrooms have some ambivalence about fabricating multiples of a product. While multiples do afford the opportunity to streamline production, the boredom factor sometimes outweighs the convenience. Folks, it's not all thrills in the workroom, every day. Here we had 4 identical shades to make, and now they're ready to string. These had been stack cut then fabricated one at a time. The little striped guy we snuck in with the 4 toile shades and it was like a magic trick, done with no apparent extra effort.

Once all the shades were on the boards, the strings were all run, stacking the next shade on top of the previous one. With all the boards face up, first all the screw eyes were installed, then the Rollease clutches, and the cords were clipped on at the top and secured with orbs at the bottom.

Then it was just a matter of hanging each one on the Workroom Valet for leveling.

Ready to be packed up!
I think 4 of something is the perfect number to make at one time, with a bonus one-off snuck in. It's one of the ways we workroom folk trick our minds to battle the tedium.

This fabric behaves perfectly for shades. One time up, down, and back up, and the folds were trained. Nothing makes a shade look good more than an appropriate fabric choice.

Trimming selvedges

2011-12-11T11:20:00.000-05:00

Why we trim selvedges off of fabric before sewing: this is how a super-fine silk behaves if you try to iron it with the selvedges on- it twists and grimaces and buckles and won't lay flat for anything.

Trim off the selvedges....

And like magic it irons flat.

Ladder shroud and blackout lining

2011-12-08T13:57:00.000-05:00

A number of cord shroud techniques for shades have been available for nearly a year now, and we use whichever one is most appropriate for the fabric and shade style.

Ladder shroud is very useful with blackout lined shades because it's possible to apply little blackout "bandaids" to very effectively block light that wants to peek through the holes left from the needle where the rings are sewn.

I have discovered that the "bandaids" are applied most easily with a hot glue gun. They're cut about 1/4" wide by about 1" long. They don't get in the way of the cord as the shade is raised.

Fab Fabric Friday, and Keeping it Simple

2011-12-02T10:06:00.001-05:00

My friend Josh is a master at knowing how to showcase a brilliant fabric, like this Schumacher embroidered sheer linen, shown here with a dark backdrop.

The normal instinct would be to run the wide striped motif vertically......

but the client wanted a horizontal stripe. Josh chose flat valances, his restrained taste bringing out the best in this lovely fabric by keeping it simple.

We railroaded the fabric, cutting the bottom along the scallop, and using a portion of the embroidery at the top for balance and finishing.

The back of the scallop is finished with a sheer binding rolled to the back as a skinny facing.

The bias strip was sewn to the face fabric before the scallop shape was cut:

Then trimmed, and the curves clipped:

The strip was pressed down....

Then to the back, rolled, and pinned.....

Finally, machine topstitched.

I thought it would have needed to be hand-sewn, but actually the topstitching was unobtrusive, added the illusion of a little bulk, and turned the facing into a design element.

Drapery over Top Treatment

2011-11-29T12:05:00.000-05:00

I am really liking this recent trend of layering drapery panels over top treatments, a reversal of what we are accustomed to seeing. This is the third or fourth recent project with this layering arrangement.

The inverted pleat panels are finished with a mitered tacking strip so it will fit easily and with as little bulk as possible.

To make installation as easy as possible for the installer, we prepare the boards ahead of time. Here the valance underlayer is stapled and the board covered. The inverted pleat panels will be stapled on-site. The industrial strength velcro will hold the bishop-sleeve overlayer. There is a little screw eye near the back of the board with coiled string that matches the lining of the bishop-sleeve: the string loops through the screw eye and will run down the back of the bishop-sleeve to the tassel tie-back to hold it in place.

Curved Wall

2011-11-22T15:17:00.000-05:00

I had it pretty easy with this curved kick pleated valance: the installer measured, made the template, and cut and covered and hinged the boards ahead of time.

I really wish I had the glam shot for this but I never had a chance to see it after installation.

In all it was about 16' of valance- one side was a curved eat-in area and the other 8' extended straight across a sliding door. The decorator called to tell me that it was gorgeous, made my day!

Turban Swags

2011-11-18T11:16:00.000-05:00

If you want to learn how to draft your own swag patterns and troubleshoot to fine-tune your swag, you can't do better than to consult these two books by Ann Johnson. These books are regular lunch-time reading for me.

I pored over them when I had a recent order for two Turban swag valances, and learned that a Turban swag is not simply a swag with one side made wider to wrap around the board; rather, it is a hybrid: the top-mounted side is a regular swag, and the return-mounted side is a boxed swag. Two patterns must be drafted and joined.

Both of the valances for my order were quite wide, and were to have only two swags each. That meant that the top-mounted half was actually the equivalent of half of a 100" swag!
In this case, the top is pleated, and the return sides are scrunched. We had to do a good bit of improvising because of the nature of the slinky, stretchy, satin fabric- more on that below.
This is not the glam shot- in fact the swags are barely dressed- but you get the idea.

I followed the instructions for dropping plumb lines from the board to determine the line where the regular swag and the boxed swag meet; and I draped chain weight to get the exact finished measurements and the specified short point at the overlap in the center.

I made my pattern and when I stapled it onto the board, it fit just the way I wanted it to except that I found I needed to trim a little off the bottom curve. I just used a Sharpie pen to draw the bottom curve where I wanted it, then trimmed off the excess.

The fabric was a slinky, stretchy satin- and it was interlined. Here it is, again, not quite dressed!
It was an extremely difficult swag to drape, in the end; although the mock-up draped just the way I planned, the actual swag was so heavy and stretchy that I had to modify it to make it fit the specifications. Pleats on the returns absolutely would not hold their shape so we turned them into scrunched/gathered returns.
Luckily the installer is very talented and was able to dress the swags perfectly once the valances were hung. The decorator and the homeowner were delighted, and I was relieved when they called to tell me so.

Outdoor decorating to make Ralph Lauren drool!

2011-11-16T09:02:00.004-05:00

The prettiest farm in the world, to me, is Kitchwan Farm in Ossining, owned by my friend Linsay and her family. The farm feels like a big outdoor living space and is treated like a canvas.

On a recent golden November afternoon, Linsay arranged chairs and textiles around a fire pit, with a basket of marigolds ready for making leis. Move over, Ralph and Martha!

11/11/11 is Corduroy Appreciation Day!

2011-11-11T10:25:00.008-05:00

Okay, so who knew there was a Corduroy Appreciation Club? And that today- 11/11/11- is Corduroy Appreciation Day? you know, uh, 11/11/11. This is the date that when expressed in writing most resembles corduroy since 11/11/1111, which was 900 years ago and I don't think corduroy was even invented then. Thanks to Slow Cloth for pointing this out. I totally missed the New York Times article yesterday.

Anyhow:

The only corduroy I could find in my workroom today is this tote bag- a particularly nice one with pockets, sturdy, lined, welted, underwired to hold its shape, from Neiman Marcus. Thanks to my sister-in-law Marguerite- I am the frequent beneficiary of her eagle eye for red accessories! Bags, scarves, wallets, socks, business card cases, you name it- if it's red, she snags it for me.

If you're interested in corduroy in quilts, check out this blog post by Barbara Brackman. I myself once used corduroy prominently in a quilt- the first quilt I ever made, in fact, circa 1979. This was no art quilt. It was made the old-fashioned way- using scraps of fabric leftover from clothing that I made and actually wore, an old blue cotton blanket for the filler and the binding, and some pink terrycloth for the back that I bought to make something but never used.

I can't remember what the corduroy was originally used for, but I had enough to make a border for both front and back. The colors used to be a lot brighter! Although this quilt is rags and tatters now, I keep it because it was my first, and the earliest embodiment what became the spirit of my taste: what we now call repurposing; what later came to be called shabby chic; and a mixing of disparate elements in a style that we now kindly refer to as eclectic. But I know that really this quilt is just plain weird. Hey, it was 1979!!

I've always been a big fan of corduroy, and I'm glad that it has its own special day, but I think the most important thing to take away from Corduroy Appreciation Day is the realization that fabric nuts of all kinds are just plain crazy.

211" of Sheffield valance

2011-11-10T10:48:00.000-05:00

I want to show you the ladies' lounge at a local country club, just to give you an idea of the scale and context of this 211" modified Sheffield valance.

And here is 80% of the monster valance. The decorator could not stand in a place to get a good angle to show the whole window at once.

Five sections of about 40" each follow the lines of the individual windows, and the jabots make up the difference at the ends.

The workroom table is 144" long but the valance is 211". Luckily the trash can is the same height as the table and is willing to be pressed into service in such a situation to support the boards.

At about 40" the sections are a lot wider than normal.
The boards are hinged so the treatment would fit into a vehicle.

The designer chose gathered jabots for a softer look.

Appropriate pairing of fabric and treatment

2011-11-08T08:43:00.001-05:00

The first element of a successful window treatment of any type is choosing a suitable fabric, or vice versa, choosing the right treatment for a chosen fabric. When the designer fails to consider the appropriateness of the pairing of a treatment and a fabric, the results can range from disappointing to tortured, even if the fabric is super-high-end-awesome and the treatment is stunningly original. Expertise in evaluating a fabric's appropriateness is acquired mostly through a great deal of exposure to fabrics and some understanding of the structure of a treatment. Often the swatch in a sample book is insufficient for judging; sometimes not even a memo sample is enough. When a lot of money is going to be spent on fabric, it's a good investment to order actual yardage and make a mock-up to be truly certain that the right choices are being made and that the fabric is going to perform as expected. That mock-up can become a workroom sample, or a treatment in, say, the designer's sister's powder room, or cut up for pillows.

Here is a great example of a successful pairing of fabric and treatment: this stripe, beautifully printed on a finely woven cotton, was just made to be a Roman shade.

It pressed perfectly, folded up on the first try, and remembered its pleats without keeping creases. The folds ripple softly and effortlessly.

Ladder shroud tape was chosen for this shade. My newest way of using ladder shroud is to run the tape and then sew the rings over it, catching the shroud as the rings are sewn.

A fabric stapler, one of my favorite workroom tools, secures the tape at the top. I love the little magnetic staple remover! We have two fabric staplers, one for each side of the room, which has saved many footsteps.

The ladder will be tucked into the hem and sewn in with the weight bar pocket stitching line, and then the bottommost row of rings will be attached. The tape won't be awkwardly tied and knotted around the bottom ring.

Here is a hallmark of custom work: matching thread! For this asymmetrical stripe, five different colors of thread were used to match the stripe running along each lift line.

Motorized hobbled shade project

2011-11-04T12:16:00.001-04:00

Here is a challenging project- 6 side-by-side hobbled shades with a distinctive printed fabric.

This project was designed by Susan Marocco Interiors, and motorization was expertly accomplished by Joe of All Systems Go.

The pattern layout and the pleats had to be very precisely planned and fabricated to ensure continuity once the shades were hung. Luckily this Harlequin fabric was expertly printed and pattern drift was nearly nonexistent- a big deal these days, when so many patterns are printed off grain. Here you can see by comparing the owls that the pattern is off by barely 1/4" from one side to the other.

Before sending the shades to be motorized they were hung in the workroom to make sure everything lined up correctly. Any discrepancies were easily fixed by adjusting the encased cord tape from Rowley which served as the hobbling tape as well as the shroud.

With a 27" pattern repeat, half of the birds on the fabric are hidden in the folds of the hobbled shades, so I used some of the hidden birds in the backdrop section of the valances.

The valance body is just a rectangle with a gentle bottom curve, a little wider than the area covered to give the droop; the width was determined by draping a piece of chain weight so the backdrop would have the right amount of exposure. The tapered horn is from the M'Fay Imperial valance pattern. Little double jabots were velcroed into the corners after the boards were up.

The skinny bows are made of two pieces- the long main piece and a little cinch with a tail. The bow was lifted up and the tail of the cinch stapled to the board face.....

then the bow was flipped back down and secured with a staple snuck in under the cinch.

The shades have three settings- fully lowered, middle of the window, and fully raised. A lot of hard work paid off with a job that was very satisfying in the end.

London shade with all the bells and whistles, and making a knife-pleated ruffle

2011-11-01T09:53:00.001-04:00

I have been awfully delinquent about posting!- between hurricane Irene, a back injury, finger injuries (more on that later!), an early-autumn cold, and that freakish White Halloween storm, my ability to focus on writing has been.... fuzzy.
At least I've been pretty faithful about taking photos as I work. Time to start catching up sharing recent projects with you.

Here is a beautiful London shade, with lots of goodies.

The top is stapled to the 3/4" side of a board, and the rope trim hot-glued to cover the staple ant-trail.

The fabric is a breathtaking Scalamandre silk Chinoise print, as crisp as a page of parchment, and the brilliant blue contrast is a soft, drapey Scalamandre moire- I think it must be a silk/cotton blend, but I"m not sure- no acetate here! These are luxury fabrics that inspire awe just to touch. It's a pleasure to work with such fabrics.

The pleats are made of 12" of blue moire, and micro-corded with the same. The silk is interlined, but the blue is not- I was afraid it would add too much bulk, especially at the board line.

The microcord was sewn to the silk and interlining together.

Knife pleating and box pleating is easy with Rowley's pleating tape.

Just stick it to the overlocked ruffle strips before sewing, then fold as you sew to create the pleats.

There are different lines in different colors to create various pleat styles and sizes. Once the strip is pleated, just peel off the tape. I even re-used the tape to make the ruffle for the second shade.

This ruffle was 3" long, so I started the rings 3.5" up to be sure the ruffle wouldn't be hidden when the shade was raised.

More sheer Roman shades

2011-10-19T15:41:00.001-04:00

Another very striking sheer stripe has been turned into Roman shades.

The success of a sheer shade is all about how well-behaved the fabric is by nature. This one folded up beautifully- it was a good choice.

The weight bar was covered in fabric tubing before being inserted into its pocket.

Again we used the cord loop shroud and it is nearly unnoticeable.

Fab Fabric Friday, and a Gathered London

2011-10-14T15:37:00.001-04:00

This is exquisite fabric: silk, with embroidery over applique.

Each flower and leaf is gorgeous.

It became interlined draperies and a gathered London shade.

It's one of the most beautiful embroidered silks I've ever worked with.

You're thinking, what a lazy post!

Yes, I agree. I've got so many photos of recent projects, and not enough time to get them posted. I'll try to catch up soon.

Shirred valance with header

2011-10-07T08:44:00.001-04:00

This has always been a favorite treatment of mine.

Besides this 45" valance, there were two at 100". The fabric is bulky, and the valance interlined, so the fullness is only a little more than double.

Flat 3/8" bias cordless welting (or flange) trimmed the bottom.

A separate header- a 1x4- was interlined and welted at the bottom.

The welting is made with fusible web, to prevent buckling or stretching.

The welting was applied to the bottom of the header with adhesive tape, again to prevent unevenness and buckling.

The valance was shirred and stapled and the dustboard covered, then the header was secured to the valance, and it was done!

Remembering Steve Jobs

2011-10-06T10:52:00.002-04:00

May his joy in excellence inspire us.

Mock Roman Valance

2011-10-03T21:28:00.000-04:00

The client wanted a mock roman valance. Usually this means evenly spaced folds of equal size, but she had in mind something that looked more like a roman shade actually pulled up............ like this:

These valances go over the sheer shades that were bound in the same orange upholstery fabric.

This is a variation on a flat-back hobbled roman.

This treatment took some rumination and experimentation. I like how it turned out, and I like the clean back. Next time I know how to make it without the horizontal stitching lines showing.

Sheer shade with skinny upholstery fabric band

2011-09-29T14:52:00.002-04:00

This warm sheer stripe shade required a little bit of special handling......

..... because it was banded at the bottom with a skinny strip of pumpkin-colored upholstery weight fabric.

The shade was laid out on the fabric gridded table top, hemmed on the sides, and pinned in place.

Camel-colored cord loop shroud was pinned in place, too, and tacked to the fabric along with the clear rings. You can't even see the little monofilament loops which will shroud the lift cord when the shade is strung.
The grid makes it easy to place the rings without marking, since you can see through the sheer!

For the bottom weight bar pocket and hem, a separate strip was folded in half and placed on the back of the shade. Masking tape was helpful for marking, basting, and stabilizing. The basting line of red thread marked the bottom of the shade and held the three layers together.

The skinny strip of orange fabric was sewn to the right side, and the red basting line made it easy to line them up. Do you see the mistake I made? This photo shows the banding pinned next to the wrong side- an error I didn't notice til it was sewn, so I had to take it off and re-sew it to the right side.

Once I fixed that little boo-boo, the layers were trimmed close to the stitching line.

Then the band was turned to the back, carefully pressed, then hand-stitched.

Nice!
Technically I think this is actually a binding rather than a band.

The pocket was sewn in the hem strip, then the strip was sewn to the shade body following the masking tape stitching line. The shroud was extended down to the pocket, looped, and secured with the stitching line. Later the loose end was tied to the bottom ring for extra security.

Here's the finished bottom before the weight bar was inserted.

A scrap of warm tan fabric served to create a cover for the weight bar. The tan lift cord blends with the fabric and the cord loop shroud.

The same tan fabric was used to cover the board, which you can see in this shot of the back. Also you can see how nicely the unobtrusive cord loop shroud shirrs up as the shade is raised.

There were valance for these shades, too, out of the orange fabric, and I'll show those next time.

Riding on the Marrakesh Express

2011-09-23T10:11:00.003-04:00


"Marrakech" by Manuel Canovas

My first thought when associating this fabric with window treatments would have to be "cornice."

But alas, the designer wanted hobbled shades- short hobbled shades that will be permanently pulled up to act as a valance.

There are two main motifs per repeat to be juggled and re-arranged in a pleasing way.

In the process of planning this project I folded and taped out various possible arrangements, first trying to keep the medallions sort of symmetrical:

But after experimenting more I liked this version better:

Yes, that's my foot on the table.....

It looked a little cluttered so I modified that layout with 7" folds instead of 6" folds, which opened the pattern up a little more:

I kept the tapes on throughout the fabrication process. That pattern was making me dizzy. Since the fabric was unlined, I was able to see the pattern on the wrong side well enough to make it easy to sew the pockets. It was hemmed by hand, and the ends of the pockets had to be hand-sewn as well because the layers were too thick to fit under the presser foot.

The shades matched each other perfectly. I still think a cornice would have showed off the fabric more effectively, or at least, a cornice version of a mock hobbled roman which would have eliminated all that bulk on the sides.

Still, they turned out well.... and I kept in mind that they would be pulled up so only the three top folds would be showing. I think that if you look at just the top three folds, the presentation is pretty well balanced.

Pencil Pleat Drapery

2011-09-16T12:06:00.004-04:00

The red and white couching really brings to life to this blue and white stripe.

The pencil pleated panels will peek out from under the floral silk I showed yesterday.

Choosing a thread color for hemming would have the first challenge, if the fabric was machine-hemmed. Since the hemming was done by hand, I didn't have to choose!

I have a huge aversion to seeing pleating or shirring tape on the back of draperies, so I hide it with the fabric. About a year and a half ago I showed shirred panels using this technique. Shirring and pleating tapes remind me of foundation garments- girdles, to be precise. They should work their magic without being seen.

The top is cut the size of the tape plus a couple of inches extra to fold under. The tape goes all the way to the ends; later, after the strings are pulled, tied, and clipped, they will be tucked into the ends which will be hand sewn shut.

I fold over the top and make sure the tape is nestled close up to the top, and pin securely.

The top is sewn- I keep checking to be sure the pull cord doesn't get caught.

Before sewing the next two rows, the excess lining and interlining were trimmed away. Then those two rows are sewn carefully, keeping a good eye on the seamline guide to be sure the pull cords don't get caught. These two rows are not sewn all the way to the ends- the stitching lines begin about 1" in- enough room for fingers to reach the pull cords.

The excess face fabric is trimmed, leaving enough to tuck under.

Okay, back to the routine!

2011-09-15T17:39:00.003-04:00

Vacation week is over, the hurricane week is over, and now it's time to get back to the blogging routine.

I did get new mini blinds for the workroom......... The best thing about them is that they are clean, plain, and I can angle the light. Thanks to John for putting them up for me!

Thanks to the hurricane, September sort of started a week late, but we're back in full swing now, working madly. There have been some big installations and best of all, new work is flowing in every day.

We recently finished this two-layer drapery treatment. The overdrape is a rod pocket interlined embroidered silk rod pocket on a 2" pole. Underneath, the pencil pleated striped panel will peek out. Both layers will be swooped to the side, tied back, and puddled. Both layers are hand sewn.

The beautiful floral silk came with a big flaw right in the middle of the goods.

Don't ask me how the manufacturer thought this darning repair job could be disguised. Although the vendor did send extra yardage to compensate, the flaw still interfered with the cut lengths, so we had to make short cuts and put in a smaller hem at the bottom, and a false pocket at the top.

The pocket is a single layer of beige lining, layered over the heading to hide its raw edge, pinned in place, and topstitched.

I love how this method reduces the bulk of fabric in the top.

And since the pocket is run railroaded, there are no clunky seams inside for the pole to catch on when it's being threaded through the pocket.

More tomorrow on this double layer treatment, focusing on the striped panel.

Hurricane Hiatus

2011-08-31T21:57:00.001-04:00

Well, Leatherwood Design Co remained dry during Hurricane Irene. We had a flash flood during a Hudson River thunderstorm about 5 summers ago; luckily I was in the building at the time, and was able to rescue everything that was on the floor and we lost next to nothing. Since then, we've been very diligent (/obsessive) about taking precautions against any chance of water damage. Our landlord did an awesome job after that storm, creating very effective new drainage, but I am still leery of a repeat of that flood.

Everything at floor level is in plastic, or on pallets. Nevertheless, for Irene we moved virtually everything to table level; this was a hurricane, after all! I'm happy to report that there was not a drop of water in the building.

We finally got power and telephones and internet back, so things can start to get back to normal. I hate to waste a cleaning opportunity, though, so while everything is still up on the tables, we're getting under and behind places that haven't been cleaned since that flood......

.............including the windows.
The embarrassingly dusty windows.
When we moved into this space the five big windows had mini-blinds, and now, 11 years later, they are a dusty, crumpled mess. So today I took them all down and threw them out.
Now the big question is: what to put on the windows?

Oh, what possibilities!- a window treatment workroom choosing window treatments! Well......

I don't want shades, because I don't want to ever see bare windows when the shades are raised, or a wall of fabric when they're lowered. I do not want curtains, not even cafe curtains. I don't want fullness, I don't want silhouette, I don't want clutter. I don't want color, I don't want pattern, and I don't want different treatments on each window. I want lots of natural light, and I want to be able to control it. I want to be able to see out.
I want new mini-blinds.
I'm always surrounded by ever-changing pattern, color, line, and volume; I don't want distraction on my own windows while I'm working. Even though many workroom visitors say "but what a great opportunity to make and show off samples!!"...............
..........I want new mini-blinds.
Cheap, plain, white, mini-blinds.
Tomorrow's project!

I'm hoping to get back to normal working and posting right after Labor Day.
Thanks for reading!

Drafting Scallops: "And all you got to do to join....."

2011-08-24T14:40:00.002-04:00

There's been a run on scallops. That is, I've done my second scallop project in a month. Normally scallop projects are years between. In July it was the lavender scalloped drapery lead edge, for August it was a scalloped bottom for a Roman shade.

If I have to draft a third scallop job in September, I'll start to wonder if I missed the memo from the Organization of Scalloped Edgers. And if fifty folks come in and order scallops, I'll believe that it's a movement. And all you got to do to join, is start drafting those scallops- thank you Arlo!

Drafting scallops: stuff I learned from my momma.
She didn't teach me to draft scallops, per se, but she taught me how to use a grid and points and lines; compasses and squares and straightedges. I was a very little girl. I kept her company when she made posters for church or school events, and she explained every step of her process. My mom could make anything.

For these scallops, I drew parallel lines, thinking I wanted a 2" short point, but once I had the lines I knew I really wanted a 1.5" short point.

I refined the lines til I had something I liked.

I folded the template to get a mirror image, (you can see your lines through the paper if you use a black Sharpie), cut it in half,

then flipped it, made sure the scallop shape was the same upside down as right side up.

The shade was fully made before the scallop was cut and sewn. Actually I should say, sewn then cut. I love my purple pens- I draw all over the backs of shades- but the purple kept disappearing from the blackout lining so I had to draw in pencil. The weight bar pocket was sewn into the facing, then the facing sewn to the uncut scallop. The seam allowance was trimmed, clipped, and notched, turned to the right side, and one stitching line attaches the facing to the shade, at the point where the bottom rings will be attached.

Cute green trim applied:

The shade was strung with mesh tube shroud, cord idler pulleys, and a cord lock. Sorry no picture of it on the stand.

Modifying a duvet cover

2011-08-19T16:15:00.000-04:00

Remember this bedding ensemble from a month or so ago?

Unfortunately the duvet was too narrow for the bed. Both the bed and the duvet were odd sizes, and even though the client had used them together for years, once the duvet was in a cover, it was obvious that it was too narrow.

After a brainstorming session with the designer, we decided to add to the width with a flange. The client needed to keep the cost down, and I wanted to be sure the flange looked as if it had been there all along. To keep the labor down, I didn't want to open up the serged seam if we didn't have to, or remove the snap tabs inside. I wanted to avoid extra bulk, and I didn't want any hand-sewing- it's a heavy bed-covering, and it needed strong machine sewing.

So our post-vacation mission was to create the flange to extend the sides and make it not look added on. With a sudden flash of inspiration, I realized we could use the braid trim to actually join the flange to the main cover, as well as to hide the join. That would eliminate excess bulk. We sewed two long tubes for the flange, open at each end..........

The front flat braid was sewn to the cover, just overlapping it halfway,

then the flange was tucked under the other side of the braid and sewn.

The duvet cover was flipped over and a row of flat braid was sewn onto the back side. It was fortunate that the braid on the front was nubby and patterned, to hide all the rows of stitching, otherwise this process wouldn't have worked.
The ends were sewn shut by hand. I had to leave that to the last, because I was sure that if I sewed the flanges to size beforehand, something would stretch, or shrink up, and the pieces wouldn't fit.

To stuff the cover, we turned it inside out, snapped the duvet to the cover, then gingerly turned it right side out, all as one. Heavy work!- you practically have to crawl inside it.

Here's the flange from the front.....

And from the back.

And by the way, those three Milan valances were for this master bedroom..... Now that the duvet cover is finished, I hope we'll be receiving a nice photo of the completed room.

Back From Vacation, Best of Westchester, and Up Next:

2011-08-17T12:28:00.001-04:00

Leatherwood Design Co was included in this summer's "Best of" edition of "Westchester Home!" Click here and scroll down for the on-line article.

Vacation is over, back to work, nothing left but to occasionally check out the webcam of the Cape May beach I love so much, and book our autumn trip.

Plenty of work in-house to get busy with.......

....including this very enticing project- 6 motorized shades out of "What a Hoot," a Harlequin fabric imported from England.

Milan valance

2011-08-06T19:12:00.000-04:00

I was happy to have an order for 3 Milan valances- the second time recently that someone finally ordered something I'd been dying to make! (The other time was the panels with the scalloped lavender lead edge.)

I assumed I'd use the M'Fay pattern, but unfortunately my valances were only 34" wide, too small for the pattern and too drastically different to modify it. I'd have to re-create it from scratch. Hurray, who doesn't love an opportunity to practice their pattern-drafting skills?

I used the designer's sketch which was drawn to scale. It took a couple of muslin copies: first to get the proportions right, and then to re-proportion it to allow the diamonds to match on the pleats.

The way that I decided to layer the fabrics required a three-step cutting process. First the face, then the face with the lining, nestling the curves to save on fabric;

then the face down against the interlining. When the valance was turned to the right side, I wanted the interlining layer to be seam allowance layer that sat next to the face fabric, because I didn't want the bumpy embroidery to show through.

Grading the seams, clipping the concave curves, notching the convex curves, turning, and pressing takes as much time as the actual sewing.

A boo-boo

On four of the six pieces I needed to re-sew the curve because I didn't get close enough to the microcord the first time, like this:

I staple-basted because I had a funny feeling that I'd have to do some adjusting of the pleats on the board, and I was right. It took some fiddling to get everything just right.

But look: beautiful, I think!

And now......

We are going on vacation!

cya later!

Cord idler pulleys

2011-08-04T13:02:00.001-04:00

These white matelasse shades are trimmed at the bottom with purple grosgrain ribbon and lavender gimp, although in the photo the trims read royal blue...

We used a cord lock along with cord idler pulleys from Rowley to help the shades raise easily, for two reasons:
The shade in the photograph is small, but the other was quite wide; so, first, since the context dictated a 1" headrail, there was no room for a clutch; and secondly, both the matelasse face fabric and bonded interlined blackout lining were heavy.

The pulleys were a great help- the cords glide smoothly over the little wheels instead of scraping across metal screw eyes. The only screw eye is at the end with the cord lock.

Mesh tube cinched with cable ties was used to shroud the lift cord. At the top ring the cord is fished out from the mesh tube and runs up to the headrail.....

...while the empty mesh shroud continues up to the headrail and is stapled to the top of the board, for a neat finish. This part needs to be done before the headrails are covered with finishing fabric.

The lining is the new Bella Notte Centurion: blackout with cotton flannel interlining fused to the wrong side. It's soft and drapey, and the interlining adds bulk- none of that unpleasant "rubber pants" blackout feel.

Lovely Lavender

2011-08-02T10:27:00.001-04:00

How pretty are these panels?? I've always wanted to make a drapery exactly like this-

and finally someone ordered it. A contrast scalloped lead edge-

with microcord- on the straight side of the band, that is; what looks like microcord on the scallop (at the bottom of the photo) is actually the back side of the band, with the fabric rolled around from the front to give a clean front edge.

My favorite two-finger pinch pleats.

The scallop was drafted onto pattern paper then drawn with purple pen onto the fabric. Both the front and the facing were reinforced with Rowley's fabric stabilizer, which made this soft linen easy to work with.

Using a tight machine stitch, the scallop was sewn along the drawn line, then trimmed to a little under 1/4". The concave parts of the curve are clipped, to let the seam allowance stretch out when the fabric is turned to the right side. The convex parts of the curve are notched, to reduce the bulk in the seam allowance when the fabric is turned.

We sewed the microcord to the scallop lead edge, then to the drapery. I guess that was the most tense part of the day, and picture-taking was forgotten about!
The fabric stabilizer made all the difference- the band pressed out perfectly to shape, and without a pucker.
With a finished length of 100", I made the band 100.5" long to allow for the possibility of a little shrinkage when it was sewn to the main drapery fabric- a good thing I made that allowance because it came out to 100" exactly.

The facing was hand-sewn to the panel, and encased the raw edges at the top and bottom. Here's the back of the top.

I have to say, I love these panels! They were installed yesterday, and I hope I eventually get a photo of them. (hint!)

Gathered Swags and other stuff

2011-07-29T09:35:00.000-04:00

There is a lot of work done here that we never get to see after it leaves the workroom. I was dying to see the opera shade featured last week and was thrilled that the timing worked out and I was able to get to the installation.

As a bonus, I got to see on-site the many other projects we've done for this home over the past few years. I wish my photo of these gathered swags and jabots looked as good as they do in reality in the master bedroom.

For some reason, I don't seem to have a workroom shot of these treatments. Single swags covered the small windows flanking the bed.

I do have a workroom shot of these silk balloon shades- the detailing is discussed in this blog post from April 15, 2010- can't believe it was so long ago!

And now I have an after shot, too. That's one fancy master bathroom!

A few years ago we made medallion swags for a different room, and this past winter the designer had us re-cut them for the narrow windows on the wall leading outdoors.

Here is how it looked in the workrooom in this post on March 11....

And a few weeks later we made pillows out of the scraps. I love this fabric and was happy that it wasn't wasted.

One of my favorite treatments is also the simplest: a totally flat panel, on a board, to showcase the amazing Jeanne d'Arc toile print on a fine cotton sheer. It provides just enough privacy for a downstairs powder room facing the back garden.

Here's how it looked in the workroom, on March 9.

One of the coolest fabrics ever!.........

Serendipity

2011-07-23T09:59:00.001-04:00

If you want a job you can report to every morning, work a specified number of hours at a pre-determined activity that you are capable of doing but will not have to think much about, you will not be creating window treatments for a living.

Every minute of every working day, window treatment fabricators are thinking their way through one-of-a-kind projects. Even when we make a style over and over again, the materials and math for a particular project makes that job unique.

If you love the unexpected twist, the happy coincidence, the lucky break; if the occasional surprising perfect marriage of the specific numbers with the specific fabric quickens your pulse; if your heart goes pitter-patter every time a raw material is transformed before your eye; if the mathematics of your project are as beautiful to you as the end product is to everyone else- then you will be rewarded every day in this line of work.

Which leads me to this valance that has been meandering through this post.

The cut length of the sections is 23", and the pattern repeat is 23.25"- right there you know you're on to something! The horizontal repeat is offset so that when the scallops are cut to size, what is left is the perfect part of the pattern to allow the repeat to flow continuously across the scallop and the horn on its right.

This kind of fortuitous coincidence is to window treatment fabrication what a lunar eclipse is to astronomy.
Usually it is the alternate motif that is used for the horn.

Some numbers, some fabric, a few snips and a few stitches, and- another Sheffield valance is born. The fabric is a beautiful English print on a cotton-linen blend.

I'd like to see this one mounted on its board, but, we were asked to put it on a tacking strip instead. It will be installed on-site.

Night at the Opera

2011-07-22T12:23:00.005-04:00

Another Opera Balloon Shade...... 142" wide!... with 5 poufs of varying widths. The fabric is a semi-heavy silk & rayon blend. It's lined with napped sateen, though the draperies are lined and interlined.

Can you believe- this is the fabric? The gold is the right side; but, amazingly, the wrong side is that acid green.

Workroom shot:

This shade is functional, but it will never be fully lowered, so when it's down it's just flat. It was really cool to see the green glowing through the part of the fabric that was over the open window where the sun came through.

As the shade was raised, the green disappeared....

When fully raised, only the gold is apparent.

From this angle you get a hint of the green. This shade operates with a 30# Rollease clutch. If you make these, you might be interested to know that the weight bar is attached 5 rings up.

Here are two other opera shades we've shown previously: this one with a header and 5 poufs of equal size, in an upholstery weight fabric-

This one with 5 narrower sections, also in an upholstery weight fabric-

Menswear as window treatment

2011-07-20T13:23:00.000-04:00

A few quizzical glances were cast at this fabric.......

Wool suiting?

It behaved wonderfully.....

And made up into really beautiful hobbled shades.

Pillows on TV!

2011-07-19T08:25:00.001-04:00

Remember these pillows?

We made them in February, and- at last- they turned up on HGTV on the premiere episode of "Home by Novogratz" on Saturday night.

Courtney Novogratz discusses the makeover on the HGTV "Design Happens" blog.

These spectacular fabrics were custom printed and the pillows made up as each fabric arrived- involving late nights and couriers and rushed meetings at the train station- to get them made up in time for the shoot.

From HGTV's "Design Happens" blog post by Courtney Novogratz July 16, 2011

Coverlet

2011-07-18T09:43:00.000-04:00

Infrequent posting is not a sign of inactivity- more a sign of a frenetic pace and inattention to photography.
Last week we produced shades at the usual rate and neglected to take a single photo.

In addition we made this luscious silk coverlet.

The face is a silk damask, and it's interlined with silk batting, lined with a fine quilt-weight cotton sateen.

I was thrilled with the drape of the silk batting. I wish the photo could capture that.

After the widths are joined and the components layered and pressed, the tacking is done. I forgot to take a picture of the tiny X tacks. The widely spaced tacks secured the layers with scarcely a dimple.
Then everything is trimmed to size, shaped, and basted. I love basting! Yes, it could be pinned, but it's not the same. Thread basting is so much better and doesn't take long.

Once basted, the edges are bound with a 5/8" self bias binding. First the strip is sewn to the perimeter right sides together. Bias strips tend to stretch and thereby lose some width so it's important to cut them a little wider than you think you'll need. For a 5/8" binding the strips are 3" wide. The shrinkage can be uneven if there is a woven pattern.

Then I like to press from the right side, pressing the main body of fabric as well as the binding outwards, then, working from the right side, fold evenly to the back, pinning as I go.

Especially on the round corners, the bias binding folds itself over into a neat finish with very little coaxing.

Isn't that round corner lovely? You make the curve by measuring in from the bottom and the side the amount of the drop, in this case 14", then draw the quarter-circle from that point.

Then the fun part: stitching in the ditch. This is done from the right side. As you sew, you pull the face and the binding apart slightly and stitch carefully in the "ditch" and when you let go and do a final pressing, the stitches are barely visible on the front. You can see them on the back, but that is why the back is the back. I considered hand-sewing the binding, but as this coverlet is going to get a lot of tossing around, I wanted the security of machine stitching.

To stitch in the ditch effectively, it's best (for me) to not think too much about what I'm doing. If I concentrate too much on the stitching, I miss my mark. Also don't go too fast, and try to remember to keep checking the back side, otherwise when you check your work at the end, you'll find missed spots like this!

A long time ago I learned a machine-quilting trick that I use for re-sewing a spot like this: take two stitches forward, then two back, then sew; end your sewing in the same way, two back then two forward; when finished, clip the thread on the right side right up next to the fabric, then on the wrong side pull the bobbin thread til the tiny tail of thread on the right side pops through to the back, then clip. The stitch join should be secure and unnoticeable.

This week it's all ruffles

2011-07-08T07:57:00.001-04:00

My awesome Johnson Ruffler got a total workout this week. This little machine is one of the best workroom investments I've ever made.

This bedding package has three ruffled products: a bedskirt, inset rouched velvet panels on the duvet cover, and a top-sewn silk ruffle on the pillows.
We did not fabricate the headboard. Or the dog.

Quite a pile of ruffles!

The velvet was first overlocked, then ruffled on each side.

The rouched strip was applied over the full width of tapestry. First the lip cord was basted to the tapestry, then the rouching sewn right sides together then flipped to the edge. The edges were basted together and then the second row of lip cord applied, then the outer band. This method worked surprisingly easily, especially considering all three fabrics are upholstery weight.

To fill a duvet cover, I lay it wrong side out on the work table, snap the comforter to its corresponding snap tabs in the cover, then work it through the opening, duvet and cover all as one, and zip it up. It takes awhile but it's easier than stuffing the comforter into the cover right side out and trying to reach inside to fasten the snaps.

Bedskirt- what can I say? The ruffler handled the velvet squares with professional calm at 3x fullness.

The silk was sewn into a tube, turned right side out, and pressed with the seam 1" from the edge. Then it was fed through the ruffler right over that seam line (which is on the wrong side), and again, the ruffler performed like a pro.

The finished ruffle was first basted to the face of the pillow with a narrow strip of double-sided adhesive tape, then topstitched over the ruffling stitch.

Three of those!

And some sleek throw pillows (no ruffles!) to top it all off.

Sharpening the Problem-Solving Skills

2011-07-01T10:38:00.000-04:00

As John Lennon sang, there are no problems, only solutions.....

Two layers of this brown linen gauze..... though I had a plan for this shade out of this fabric, it turned out not to work, and instead I had to improvise at every step.

With a finished shade width of just 2" less than the fabric width, there was not enough of this flimsy gauze for substantial side hems. We wanted a 2" brown border all the way around. A piece of ancient, hoarded leftover brown cotton was recruited. It was laid inside the shade as a trim, instead of outside, the usual way. Hoarding justified! The gauze was pressed over the cotton to create a crisp side hem.

Thread pulled to mark straight of grain for pockets

For the rib pockets on the back layer, a pulled thread marked the pressing line, and though the fabric was wobbly, it sewed up nicely into neat, parallel lines.

I wish I had a pedometer: laying these fabrics out and keeping the layers straight I probably walked 3 miles back and forth around the table. The layers were joined with hand-stitching up both sides, rings sewn by hand, and clear ribs inserted into the pockets and secured.

For the final challenge, I had to devise a weight bar pocket: I made an outside pocket out of the last full-width strip of brown cotton and top-stitched it on, basting it first with that mother's little helper, double-sided adhesive tape.
The lowest row of rings was attached to the cotton pocket at the stitching line, so no stress was placed on the gauze by the rings or the weight bar.
The second row of rings was placed a half-space above the first row, so 2" of brown border shows at bottom when the shade is raised.

Before moving it off the table the top was basted securely just above the board line.

On the very first draw, this fabric pulled up into even folds. The opaque brown border worked out perfectly. I joined every scrap of brown cotton I could find to cover the boards- barely a thread left over.

The photo is deceptive: these shades are 58" wide and 75" long.

Modern-Dreamy

2011-06-27T15:54:00.000-04:00

Panels-over-top-treatment is a look that is new to me, and I'm totally loving it! This is the third time this year we've done panels over, and there is another such project coming up next month.
The faux-hobbled valance is 179" wide, hinged in the middle. We used Firm-A-Flex for the front to keep the weight down. Ant-trail stapling creates the folds. (That's a lot of staples!)

The horizontal stripe is sophisticated and works perfectly as inverted box pleat panels, which are attached with velcro to the dustboard. They are lined in a dusty brown super-sheer voile to give substance and soft definition to the pleats. Everything was hand-sewn.

To keep the corner uncluttered, the adjacent window is treated with a relaxed Roman shade under the faux-hobbled valance.

Hobbles everywhere lately

2011-06-18T10:05:00.000-04:00

Ah, a 118" fabric for a hobbled shade, AND I had some 108" lining sitting here- what a treat to make this wide hobbled shade without seaming widths together!

Such a nice fabric to work with... I'm not sure of the fiber content: it feels like it has rayon in it, but it could be blended with silk or cotton. It was woven perfectly so it was easy to have the pattern match on all the hobbles.

Because it has a cord lock, I opted not to use encased cord tape, which is my usual first choice for hobbled shades; but without a clutch, I would have wasted a LOT of encased cord tape running the strings across the width of the shade. Instead, I made the shade the old-fashioned way with twill tape and rings, and shrouded the cord with ladder tape.

A little self-fabric flap wrapped around the returns hides the mechanism. I started using a new way of attaching the flaps so they don't add bulk to the top of the board- they are stapled to the front board face under the shade, wrapped taut around the return, and stapled to the back of the board. With this method they don't stick out like wings quite so much.

Fussy Work

2011-06-17T13:13:00.000-04:00

There have been a few projects lately that have required some "fussy work." Here are a few little details that I enjoyed:


The front......

A laundry room rod pocket curtain needed to clear part of the washing machine, so we made a cut-out and bound the edge with a facing. The 1/2" hem was topstitched all around.


The back.....

When we cut this shade down to size, there was just enough left over to use for the mount board cover, so the trim continues up over the board, a nice detail that probably no one will ever notice!

This metallic & cotton fabric was 54" wide, and so was the shade finished width. We made a self bias binding to finish the edge instead of piecing the fabric.

Rings and loop cord shroud was a very unobtrusive way to meet the safety standards for this unlined, sheer shade.

Another metallic cotton sheer shades was self-lined, hand-hemmed, and strung with rings and loop cord shroud in a blending color.

No words needed

2011-06-12T11:23:00.002-04:00

Gathered London shade valances

2011-06-07T09:15:00.003-04:00


Gathered London shade valance

Gathered London shades need to be planned a little differently from regular London shades.


A perfect pleated London shade

The fullness in London shades is controlled by the pleats. The fabric is flat across the shade and all the fullness is in the pleats, You can make a deep pleat without excessive drooping, because the pleats contain all the fullness. When gathers are what you want, the fullness must be reduced considerably to achieve the London shade silhouette without bagging.

Way too full! yuck

Exactly one year ago I had a bad experience with 4 gathered London shades. It didn't help that there was a double ruffle in the bottom, which added weight and caused an even more pronounced "droopy drawers" look. Thinking these should be made at the same fullness as a balloon shade, the designer specified 2.5x fullness. Naively, I complied. As you can see, that was clearly way too much. I took them apart and cut out a lot of fabric to end up with 1.5x fullness. Of course I forgot to photograph the remake.


Double gathered London shade valance

Wiser now, I planned these gathered Londons, one single and one double, with just under 1.5x fullness. There wasn't enough fabric to allow a lot of extra folds at the bottom, and I was afraid that in the centers of the swoops, the few folds would flatten out, but with the 1.3x fullness that didn't happen, and I think the gathering is ample enough.

Here's one more from last winter:

2011-06-05T08:49:00.000-04:00

Ordinarily we love this popular fabric. We've used it for shades as well as cafe curtains. But this last batch was a nightmare- so irregularly pleated that the horizontal lines were off by as much as 3" on one shade.

To straighten it somewhat we had to do a lot of manipulation from the wrong side. It improved somewhat but was far from perfect.

At the bottom, trim can be used to disguise a wobbly line, but this trim is so narrow that it didn't serve that purpose very well.

The weight bar is 3" up from the bottom in its own pocket. Below it, the bottom refused to hang straight. A wooden slat helped keep the bottom taut.

But the slat kept wanting to hike up. So I took little tacks through all the layers just above the slat, hiding the thread under the pleats in the front. They helped to hold the slat in place.

A well-behaved fabric

2011-06-04T15:11:00.000-04:00

It's such a treat when a client chooses a fabric and treatment style that are compatible.

When I first started working in this industry, 25 years ago, drapery fabrics were cotton prints. The big boom in silk was yet to come, no one thought of using upholstery fabrics on windows, and nobody asked for their sheers to be blackout lined.
This cotton print behaves perfectly as a Sheffield valance.

2011-06-03T22:05:00.002-04:00

Sadly, this is one window treatment I'll never see in its new home, not even a photograph. It's a Sheffield valance for a bay window, which has cabinets that intrude into the mounting area. The three mitered dustboards are flat across the whole valance, but beyond the cutout area, boards extend upwards, sort of like an upside down cornice board, and the valance is attached to the 3/4" part of the board.

A self-microcord was secured with double-sided adhesive tape, to make it easy to control and adjust; then the dustboard cover was stapled over it and down over the back.

Cord Shroud Tape

2011-06-02T11:02:00.001-04:00

I like to make hobbled shades with the cord shroud tape from Rowley. It serves two purposes at once- it hobbles the shade, and shrouds the lift cord.

It can be sewn on entirely by machine. I use my little domestic Juki which automatically cuts the thread at the tap of my finger, so I barely even need to use scissors. I sew back and forth on one side, then raise the needle and sew back and forth on the other side, leaving the lift cord free.

When I cut my tapes for this shade I wasn't thinking, and cut them all to the finished length, so when ready to string, I didn't have enough lift cord to carry across the top as the operating cords. This is easy to fix without doing the tapes over again. Just tie some new cord to the bottom with a small but secure knot;

and gently pull from the top to feed the new cord through, allowing enough to carry across and down the other side.

This works for all the other shroud products as well: mesh tube shroud, ladder tape, or cord loop shroud. I've had to do it with them all, one time or another, either because I cut them too short, or because I "lost" the cord inside the shroud.

A Keepsake

2011-05-31T15:44:00.000-04:00

A valued client of a valued client of mine had a scrap of embroidered linen and velvet, leftover from this campaign bed hanging we made for her last year.

All she asked us to do was to serge it so the raggedy edges wouldn't unravel, but I wanted to do better than that.

A scrap of heavy linen, very similar to the velvet's base linen, just the right size, became the backing. By folding it over to the right side, it also became a binding. (I love binding!)

My valued client wanted the tag left on. No problem.

We left the selvedge intact.

Now she has her scrap, beautifully finished in a style that is both rustic and elegant, appropriate to the fabric and her vision of it.

Queen Anne Valance, and a lesson in facings

2011-05-27T11:52:00.002-04:00

A Queen Anne valance is just a scalloped, pinch-pleated valance. As with all patterned pleated treatments, the beauty lies in good pattern placement. With this fabric for this valance, the pleating creates a whole new interplay of pattern.

The sections are cut individually and joined.

The contrast lining, face, and interlining are layered and cut.

This is a long post, so click on "read more" to read the rest:

I used this valance to practice my facing skills. I wanted to make a facing to cover the entire return, instead of just contrast lining the whole thing. Here I've folded the facing segment and cut it to shape along with the return.

I thought hard, and figured out how to layer the fabric for sewing.....

Still thinking about it, and pinning.....

Hmmm, still thinking.....

Okay, got it, I've sewn it up, graded seams and clipped corners...... (practicing good seam hygiene)

Turned.... and, ooops! All that thinking, and it was wrong. The facing is going to be facing the face fabric!

Out comes the seam ripper, I pick apart the seam very carefully because I already graded the seam allowances....

Re-think, re-pin, re-sew, re-turn......

A scary moment, a little unsure of myself here, did I do the right thing?, and wondering why I bothered with this facing anyhow!!!.....

Success!

One step I skipped over in the telling: the face is cut 1" higher at the top than the lining, so that when it's sewn with a 1/2" seam, there is 1/2" of face fabric turned over to the back, so the contrast lining won't show up there.

Pinned and ready to sew the top-

Sew the buckram, butted up against the seam line- I use woven buckram for a clean, crisp line- costs more but worth it.

It just took a minute to hand-sew the facings:

Five-finger pleats: At first I tacked through the side then changed my mind and tacked around the front of the pleats. I like the hand-made look.

Oh no!- The valance is ready to go out the door, and I forgot to take a shot of the back! I pulled back the plastic wrap enough to take this crummy picture, then off it went.

Stan and Crash show off

2011-05-25T12:54:00.000-04:00

Wonderful new fabrics are constantly appearing here, which gives me reason to live.

This eyelet I assume is laser-cut.

The bottom hem is double-folded to pattern so you can see through it.

For sheer shades, I cover the weight bar in tubing before inserting it into the pocket. (Where white or natural is not appropriate, I make a tube out of the face fabric.)

I chose cord loop shroud for this shade.

From the front, the squiggly cord is not noticeable.

Unless you put your eye right up to the fabric.

Workroom Valets have feelings, too, and ours even have names. They are Stan and Crash, and here they are, showing off.

Our first experiences with Safe-T-Shade

2011-05-23T09:19:00.002-04:00

Developed in response to the new shade safety standards, Safe-T-Shades are completely cordless. From the front, they look exactly like any other fabric shade, whether flat roman, relaxed, London, balloon, whatever.

They are actually two shades in one: the front fabric shade, and in the back, a spring roller shade. When the roller shade is raised or lowered, it winds around its roller, and the fabric shade in front comes along for the ride, folding up independently, looking just like any other fabric shade from the front.

Here is a view into the space between the two shades, and you can see the J-hooks and battens that loosely join the two layers.

The workroom makes and attaches a pull tab out of the face fabric which is completely hidden behind the shade.

The shade is fabricated similarly to any shade, with a couple of exceptions. Here, the side and bottom hems have been sewn, the pocket fold line is marked for stitching, and the rings are attached. All the sewing was done by hand.

One important difference is that for the outermost rows, J-hooks are sewn on instead of rings. The rows generally are 10" apart, which is somewhat greater spacing than traditionally fabricated roman shades.

It helps to sew the rings on sideways so they don't twist when the battens are inserted. The weight bar pocket is sewn as usual, but instead of a 3/8" steel rod we used a 1" wooden slat.

Our client wanted one permanent fold at the bottom; here you can sort of see that we used that pleat as the place to sew the weight bar pocket, and sewed the ring through the pocket and the face.

Here is the Roman shade, all the sewing completed, and the battens in place.

There was an awkward moment when the pull tab was sewn on to the roller shade fabric. It wasn't easy getting it under the machine. It's important to not let the stitching interfere with the pockets that are already there for the bottom rods, because they're quite snug already. In the future I'll make the pull 1" longer so I can sew it above the top line, rather than along the middle line where there is a chance my stitching might sneak into the pocket area.

Because of the extra permanent fold, the roller shade started 8" up from the bottom instead of the 5" or so that would be more usual. So our pull tab was 8". We didn't have enough scraps to make it entirely of the face fabric, so we made it out of lining and added the face fabric to the bottom. The kit comes with a little weight bar to tuck into the pull tab.

Once the shade is stapled to the board, the roller shade is pulled down to the lowest batten, and probably will need re-tensioning at that point. Once it is taut enough, the bottom is secured with the acrylic bars, the sides of the roller shade fabric are tucked in to the J-hooks, and the whole thing is done.

Safe-T-Shade offers kits for the workroom to cut to size and assemble, or a made-to-order headrail already assembled to the workroom specifications. We ordered them pre-assembled. It comes mounted on a covered board; included are the battens, J-hooks, and pull tab weight insert.

I love the fact that this option is entirely cordless. It is easy to operate. They were not terribly complicated to make, and the cost is in the ballpark with other lift systems.

I think it's a great solution for small and easily accessible windows in homes with young kids. And guess what, I have a new order for two!

A little more on the showhouse-

2011-05-21T10:59:00.004-04:00

The showhouse has been in full swing for a week now, and getting a lot of attention.

Visitors to the guest bedroom by Susan Marocco Interiors love the draperies and the horizontal stripe silk bedskirt that we created.

Gala night.... Susan Marocco, her husband Joel Goren, me, and Heidi Holzer who created the marvelous wall and ceiling decorative paint treatments.

For more on the showhouse, click on "showhouse" in the topic list to the left.

Arched Flat Roman Shade

2011-05-20T10:10:00.000-04:00

How do you like our arched window treatment? Really, that IS an arched flat Roman shade! It's a shame that you can't see the arch; the installer said it fit perfectly.

The homeowner does not like her arch. She wanted to hide it. The only proof I have that we made an arched Roman shade is the workroom photos. That's John, holding the shade and waving to me.

Here he is, trying to suck in his gut for this picture. As if. He's a skinny rail these days. The workroom is a real mess, though, isn't it? Trash can overflowing, chairs up on the work table, must have been a busy day. Ha.

This is a ribbed flat Roman. The frame is made entirely from FirmaFlex.

The Rollease clutch is set in enough that brackets can be used on the sides of the window molding. You can see that we used mesh tube shroud for this shade.

I forgot to take a picture of the front of the frame, before stapling the shade on. Here I've tried to pull the fabric back and get a shot of the inside of the front. It's made to be open, so the installer can get his drill in there and put in a couple of screws up into the top of the window.

The Empire valance is soft and sweet, made from an upholstery fabric with the shade matelasse as the lining.

Lip cord defines the edge. I forgot to take a close-up of the draperies, which are made from the same face fabric plus the lip cord plus brush fringe.

Did I mention this is for a newborn baby girl's room? A nice room to wake up in!

Sweet dreams, baby!

2011-05-18T07:31:00.001-04:00

The tape dispenser ran out of masking tape. My friend Josh likes to be helpful, so he filled it for me.

Hey, that's not masking tape!! That's the trim for his shade order!

Two miscellaneous shades

2011-05-14T14:56:00.000-04:00

This master bath hobbled shade was motorized. It's over a tub and it's impossible to reach the shade to operate manually without standing in the tub.
We did the sewing and subbed out the motorization part. Yes, we could have done that ourselves. But, really, the learning curve has been so steep these days with all the new shade standards, new products, and new fabrication methods, that I was totally thrilled to hand over the motorization to an expert.

This little center-pleat relaxed roman shade is just used as a stationary valance. I love it! The face fabric is a sheer silk and it's lined with a very beautiful goldish-tan sheer cotton lining which gives it that warm glow.

A Peek into Debi's brain.....

2011-05-13T13:54:00.000-04:00

.................a scary place, but welcome!
When I plan a project I resort to my own system of primitive sketches. There are all kinds of worksheets available for figuring out stuff like this, but in the end I go back to my own sketches. After the job is done I keep the notes and drawings with the order.
Here are a worksheets for a few recent orders.

This is how I planned out the pink center pleat relaxed roman. If I don't draw it like this, in "chunks" representing the sections and returns, I get my mirror images confused. One thing that has to be taken into account is the center of the "swoop" on the end sections, because the ends also have returns and deep side hems. On a solid it doesn't matter, but for patterned fabrics it does. So the cut pieces for the left and right sides are not identical, but the centers match.

For the ten center pleat shades out of the green print, the layout was more complicated because there were seven single, a double, and two triple:

And my worksheet looked like this- shades A, B, C, D, and E, with the centers marked for each section.

I need to have every bit of information all on one sheet, in my own shorthand which I can instantly understand, even if it's gibberish to anybody else. I get worried when it's gibberish to ME!

I know there are wonderful computer rendering programs to eliminate the need to sketch out designs to scale; I own one of them; nevertheless, I love and prefer to work with graph paper and a pencil so I can whip up ideas on the spur of the moment.

For these treatments, I sketched, to scale, a number of variations of proportion and consolidated them on two pages for evaluation. We went with the versions on the second sheet which were much more appealing. Everyone agreed that the half-sections peeking out from under the shirred panels looked more intriguing than full sections would have.

Once the design was chosen I used the same page to begin planning my cutting layout. In the end the final section sizes were determined by the horizontal pattern repeat: therefore the diamonds match at the folds.

Here is a worksheet for a kick pleat valance with contrast inserts. The seams needed to be offset so they didn't fall in the middle of the insert, or at the fold of the pleat. I've drawn rectangles to represent the cutting sizes of the solid sections and the patterned sections.

Here's my worksheet for a swag and jabot treatment. The decorator specified the width and depth of the components. Once I had all my numbers on one sheet, I could begin drafting my full-scale patterns.

Another center pleat relaxed roman shade

2011-05-11T17:30:00.004-04:00

This one is a faux silk with Apollo room-dimming lining.

The Apollo lining makes the faux silk gather up in a casual, crunchy way that I like. We chose the mesh tube shroud, anchored with cable ties at each ring, for this shade.

Ethereal Pole Swags

2011-05-10T11:20:00.000-04:00

Transforming his master bedroom was easy with these ethereal pole swags and panels.

This Larsen fabric, "Inca", softly frames the view. Window treatments bring down the high, angled ceiling to a gentler scale.

1" metal poles presented an installation challenge. With both swags and panels to mount, 1" didn't give us much room. The panels are attached with 1.25" velcro shirring tape, and the swags with 1/2" wide velcro. The poles were candy-cane wrapped with sticky-back velcro hook. Amazingly, all the layers somehow fit!

Another challenge was how to achieve the throw-style look the homeowner wanted. Certain elements affected the proportions and dictated the final design: first, the corner; also the fact that the poles end in elbows, not returns; and the 16" of wall space between the windows.

The ends of the treatment areas are anchored with "over" panels; the other panels are "under." Over the wall space, swags are criss-crossed.

Velcro wrapped easily around the elbows for a waterfall drapery effect. The rods are by Ona, a Vesta line, and custom painted with their "champagne" finish.

Showhouse Opens!

2011-05-08T08:39:00.002-04:00

At last, the Designer Showhouse of Westchester opened to a gala preview last night! A guest bedroom by Susan Marocco Interiors was a favorite, exuding her trademark "Approachable Elegance."

A steady stream of visitors sighing with delight rewarded all the hard work that went into creating the room. The three-layer trim on the draperies and the curved mounting board were a great success.

It was too chaotic to concentrate on taking a good full-room photo! These will have to do, for now.

The Euro shams are flanged with the silk pleated ribbon that provided the base for the drapery trim treatment; for the pillows, it is folded in half and sewn in.

Fragments from earlier projects provided a hint of contrast to the mostly monochromatic palette, the front pillow also showing off the drapery's three-layer trim treatment.

The horizontal striped bedskirt peeks out from under the quilted silk coverlet; the asymmetrical stripe is repeated in two pillows, not in place for this photo, but you can see them in one of the above photos.

An interesting variation

2011-05-07T11:21:00.001-04:00

Valances are most often placed over drapery panels; in this unusual case, the valance is under the panels.

It was fun figuring out the various options for the scalloped kick pleat valances to keep them in proportion with each other.

I think the valance half-sections peeking out from under the shirred panels is intriguing. This is only the second time I've ever done valances and panels this way, and I have another job coming up soon using that concept, though it will be a very different style and context.

The valances do not go all the way to the ends of the boards; that allowed more flexibility in sizing the sections. The panels were sewn with velcro shirring tape; the hook side of the velcro was stapled to the board with increments marked off so the installer and decorator could decide on-site how wide to shirr up the panels.

That Showhouse Pleat

2011-05-06T10:10:00.003-04:00

Geometric patterns like this lend themselves exceptionally well to pleated drapery applications. When pleated uniformly, the results can be stunning.

Here is where boutique custom fabrication distinguishes itself from factory custom fabrication. It's just a small detail, but, to pleat this fabric on pattern, we needed to make 8 pleats for a width and a half, instead of the standard 7.

The designer requested the "showhouse pleat" that we used for the draperies in her showhouse bedroom (more on that soon!). The more prominent center finger of the pleat is flanked by two shallower fingers.

These panels create continuity and drama along the dining room French doors.

I'm hoping I get a chance to see these panels again after the grasscloth wallpaper is hung later this month.

MIA no more!

2011-05-05T14:15:00.002-04:00

You may have noticed that sometimes I'm really meticulous about documenting the projects we work on, both process and completed product; others just slip through the workroom with a cursory workroom shot. I hate to say it, but, there are also plenty more that you never even hear about, neither a word nor a photograph.

For the past few weeks I've found it difficult to keep up with the documentation and completely unable to set aside time for the blog. I haven't even had time to keep up with reading blogs I love, or post on the D&D Pro Network Forum.
Fortunately, my iPhoto is cluttered with a collection of pics from some of our recent projecst, and I'm going to begin trying to catch up, one post at a time.

These shades are in the family living area of a large home. The family room has two triple windows, a double, and a single; and the kitchen area has five single windows and a door.
This fabric by Sea Grass replaces dark brown woven woods and instantly made the area warm and inviting.
This was a perfect setting for center-pleat relaxed roman shades. By the sheerest good fortune, the pattern could be matched where we seamed together the cut-down widths comprising the individual sections of the multiple-section shades.
We used the newly available ladder shroud tape for these.
For this house I'm posting only photos that include little beyond the actual window treatment, or I have cropped out most of everything other than the window treatments.

Another showhouse peek

2011-04-25T17:32:00.002-04:00

Packing up goodies today. The furniture is in place and tomorrow we'll put the bedding in place.

Horizontal stripe for bedskirt; the three-layer trim repeated on throw pillow.

More on Showhouse Draperies

2011-04-22T16:42:00.001-04:00

The showhouse draperies were installed this week- and I continued to have camera woes. I forgot my regular camera, and thanks to some lighting issues, the iPhone pics I took are not too great.

But here is one shot, at least. The panels are stapled to a curved board, and dressed with luscious, luxurious tassel tiebacks, which, as you can see, are not shown here.

Once the panels were sewn, I made a sampler of pleats for Susan to choose from.

We both had the same favorite: a three-finger fanned pleat, henceforth dubbed "the showhouse pleat." The center finger of the pleat is more prominent than the two side fingers, and the back of the pleat is fanned out and tacked- actually once on the board, the fanning is reinforced by the staples inside the pleat that attach it to the board face.

Also in the running: a regular three-finger pinch pleat, side-tacked:

Two-finger pleat, too casual for this room, though it's one of my favorite pleats:

Goblet pleat, nice enough but too predictable:

Three-finger regular pinch pleat, front-tacked, which I really love, but for this situation Susan preferred the side tack:

And top tack, which is just wrong in this context and with this fabric:
because of the embroidery, the fabric was not consistently pliant, so the embroidered parts were stiff and bulky while the plain parts were supple, making it impossible to create even fingers.

The original inspiration was a storefront drapery display Susan saw at Cowtan & Tout in London, with a four-finger flared pleat; but this bulky, interlined, embroidered silk was impossible to shape into four fingers, for the same reasons as the top tack above, as you can see:

Super cool wall drapery

2011-04-18T16:33:00.001-04:00

The crazy white-circles panels were installed 6 days ago, and I promptly misplaced my camera that afternoon. I've been dying to post these pics, but I just found the camera this morning.
The wall of 10-foot-long draperies was wildly successful. In a pre-war apartment on Riverside Drive with limited storage space, these draperies disguise an area about 18" deep where the homeowners keep everything from books to golf clubs.

Two rows of simple utility rodding hold six overlapping panels that can move left or right to provide easy access. On the right side the rods go to the wall; on the left the rod is curved so there is no room to peek into the storage space as you enter the room. Six-foot long clear wands make it easy to swoop the panels aside. Each panel is one width and has small channels for the drapery hooks; there are 10 hooks per panel.

To read more about how these curtains were made, scroll down a bit to the post from April 4.

Sweet Little Trim

2011-04-11T14:01:00.002-04:00

I do love this sweet little trim, which has been sewn into the bottom of a scalloped kick-pleated valance.

But I sure wish the sadist who designed it had given us sewers more than 1/8" of header to sew it on with! The presser foot kept slipping off while sewing. My fingers are cramped from trying to keep it all in place!

I suppose I could've glue-basted it but I didn't want to give it the satisfaction.

The showhouse- a preview

2011-04-09T12:34:00.002-04:00

How about this amazing trim?

When I saw the sample I wondered who makes it.

Actually, it turns out there are three separate trims, and we are creating it ourselves. The loop gimp was adhered to the pleated silk band.

Then the tassel trim was glued to the back of the banding.

I'm afraid this multi-layered trim will have to be hand-sewn to the drapery, because it is really, really heavy. I like to do hand-sewing during Yankees games. Hey, there's a game this afternoon! Guess what I'll be doing?

Seeing is believing

2011-04-08T11:04:00.001-04:00

Ladder shroud tape was a mystery to me until I actually used it.

I tried it out on an embroidered semi-sheer London shade that will be used as a stationary valance.

Until I actually finished the shade, I couldn't visualize how it could stay in place without tacking, and also keep a "hazardous loop" (i.e. one exceeding 16.9") from being pulled out.

It is easy to use, effective, and barely noticeable. I love it!

Order from Chaos

2011-04-04T10:56:00.001-04:00

One of my favorite parts of any job is the transformation of chaos into order. For most jobs, we start off with a neat roll of fabric which we unroll and cut up into pieces. Then we sew them back together and we have created something new.

This laser-cut fabric is the personification of disorder.

This has been made up into six panels, each 12' long, Parallel rodding will be ceiling mounted with three panels on each, overlapping, to create a 161" wall of curtain to create a storage area in a pre-war apartment on Riverside Drive.

We cut several hundred circles off of each panel so it could be hemmed on all four sides.

The top has clear 2" buckram with parallel lines of stitching to create channels for the drapery pins.

Tamed and ready to go!

Tiny bias band

2011-04-03T08:56:00.001-04:00

Horizontal stripes must be "railroaded" or run sideways if they are to be used vertically. This woven stripe was railroaded; as it came off the roll, it was horizontal. Luckily the shades were short enough that we could use the width of the fabric as the length of the shade.
Also luckily, the stripe remained straight after blocking- it had quite a "smile" to it at first. Trimming off the selvedges helped and then a lot of obstinate pressing.
These shades are blackout lined, ribbed, and strung with encased cord.
The bottom would have had to be faced even if it hadn't been banded. Despite its small size, that narrow bias banding was a lot of work!

Austrian shades

2011-04-01T14:12:00.000-04:00

On our walk across town to the Red and White Quilt Show we passed this- 5 stories of Austrian shades!

Red and White Quilts

2011-03-29T22:25:00.000-04:00

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.

2011-03-28T12:48:00.002-04:00

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

2011-03-24T21:41:00.001-04:00

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

2011-03-22T09:03:00.000-04:00

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

2011-03-20T11:02:00.000-04:00

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....

2011-03-14T13:49:00.000-04:00

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

And cafe curtains are good problem-solvers.

A mystery

2011-03-14T08:07:00.000-04:00

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

2011-03-12T11:08:00.003-05:00

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!