Cafe curtains

"The timeless appeal of cafe curtains."
"Show off your best sewing techniques on cafe curtains."
"Impeccable details make fine cafe curtains."
"A very special pleat showcased on cafe curtains."
"For privacy AND a view, use cafe curtains."
"Cafe curtains, the under-appreciated solution. "
These were all possible titles for this post, but they are too long.  But all of them together comprise a perfect summary.
I was going to write about a different project today, but when Monica Plotka sent photos of these cafe curtains installed, I wanted to post them right away.

The 118" fabric was cut with the stripes running horizontally.  By the most serendipitous chance, the finished length worked out to be exactly the distance between the outer edges of two of the embroidered stripes, which allowed the embroidery to define both the top and the bottom of the curtain.

We used 4" clear fusible buckram from Dofix to reinforce the header, and a 4" bottom hem balances the top.  The embroidery is layered almost exactly over itself, eliminating shadowing. 
A semi-sheer lining from ADO adds body and more privacy.  After the sheer was layered in, the entire curtain was hemmed by hand.

The pleats are tacked by hand with pale grey button thread from Wawak.  The 3-finger pleat is tacked 2" down, right in the middle.  I don't know if this pleat has a name, but I'm calling it a "butterfly pleat." 
Cafe curtains are a great place to show off excellent workmanship.  A special pleat is especially noticed when it's at eye level. 

Cafe curtains afford privacy from the street, but leave the view of the sky and trees.  I wonder why they're not used more often.

There's another detail I wonder if you noticed, too.  The inside of the window frame is painted blue, the wall color.  I love it!  I'm putting this observation at the end of the post to see if anyone reads all the way to the end :) so if you have read to the end, I hope you comment on the inside blue!

Pleating to pattern

Pleating to pattern distinguishes the artisanal workroom from the commercial.
Whether pinch pleats or box pleats, draperies or cafe curtains, roman shades or valances, pleating to pattern takes more time and attention but yields a pleasing product.

Here are some favorite examples from our workroom.

Cafe curtain...... Possibly my all-time favorite example!

Goblet pleat drapery: every other pleat matches.

Classic French pleated draperies.

Box pleats!

Pleating to pattern is especially effective here.

Mock hobbled valances.

Hobbled shades.

Inverted pleat valances.

A little serendipity on this Sheffield- the pattern matches across the horn and scallop.

On this roman shade, every other pleat matches.

 

A small motif but a big effect when pleated to pattern.

More French pleats.....

More box pleats......

And one more set of hobbled shades.

What to do with a big round window?.....

Pick out a cool fabric and stretch it on a frame.

Also two small flat kick pleat valances, and a pair of top tack cafe curtains for the big window. 

Are you wondering about the amazing brown pleated fabric in the background?  More on that in the next post.

Double Center Pleat Relaxed Roman

A double relaxed Roman tends to be pretty flat at the bottom, so center pleats are sometimes added to give more fullness and create a more graceful droop.

The fabric should look familiar- we made cafe curtains out of it in the spring.

The double center pleat relaxed Roman that this client liked

I love how the a new pattern was created out of the larger pattern when the fabric was pin-tucked

The chenille flowers are bulky, making it tricky to join the widths.

The center pleats are pretty cool!

A Deceptive Simplicity

Kim Freeman of freemandesigngroup designed the window treatments and chose the fabrics for the upstairs of this home on the Long Island Sound.

Most of these fabrics should look familiar to you because I've gradually been showing peeks of them over the past few weeks as we've been completing phases of the project.

Cafe curtains for the Master Bath are made out of the same pleated fabric I used for shades a couple of weeks ago.  We like how it gives privacy yet allows light in.

The Guest Bath pin-tucked cafe curtain is a linen sheer with orange grosgrain ribbon, topped with a London shade in William Morris Co's "Honeysuckles".
We agreed that the cafe curtain could be a little longer to achieve a better balance, so we went ahead and hung this up for now but we'll make a new, longer curtain and raise the rod.

The best best best of all, in the dressing room, pin-tucked curtains out of a floral, banded with blue silk, and see how the pin-tucks created a new floral pattern!

Flat Roman shades out of the William Morris "Mary Isobel" for the study:

The portiere drape in the doorway from the Master Bedroom through the Dressing Room to the Master Bath is an interlined silk blend, self-lined, pinch pleats facing in to the dressing room, and the "wrong side" facing the master bedroom.  I like how the back side of the pleats fall in sort of box-pleat folds.  The trim is on the bedroom side.  I forgot to photograph it from the other side!

The blue floral embroidered linen Master Bedroom drape is lined with French blackout technique- that is, four layers of fabric to achieve near blackout.
The layer next to the face fabric is white interlining; then dense black sateen which is what blocks the light; and on the back, white sateen lining.
Heavy!

That beautiful Sanderson fabric appears in the Guest Bedroom as pinch pleated drapery. 

All the drapery are pleated up into slender two-finger pinch pleats with fullness of just barely over double.

Cafe Curtains

Having fun with cafe curtains lately!
They're a great canvas for little details.
These four workroom samples are just the beginning- I've got more cut out.  They're fun to sew in the evening while watching baseball.