A motif that made its own border

Sometimes a pattern motif makes itself into a beautiful border.

For these shades, the designer left it up to me to decide on the ribbon placement.  It was total serendipity that the diamond shapes came right to the edge of the shades, so I could center them between the ribbon and the edge.  The shades are pleated to pattern, too!

After mitering the corners, I applied Dofix Bortenfix tape to the trim....

then fused it to the shade, starting at the bottom.

I use a separate square of Bortenfix tape in the corner so I have more control over its application.

After the trim is fused, I take small hand stitches in the outer corners to keep the fibers from straying.

For extra assurance, I apply a tiny dot of glue to hold down any loose fibers.

I hated to see these shades leave!

Re-purposing

We've spent considerable time in the house with the huge hobbled shades for Denise Wenacur, and last week it was time to go upstairs to the master bedroom, where we re-purposed the homeowners' existing window treatments.

Crown molding was added, so for two windows, the draperies needed shortening. 

And the turret had a full set of draperies until the seating area was built, so they were re-made into Roman shades, the band and rope lead edge detail transformed into bottom shade detail.

Ribs ensure that the folds do not need dressing, a helpful feature in shades that are mounted high and are not so easy to reach.  We sew, rather than glue, ribs onto interlining in between the rings so the folds will have some rigidity.

Dofix 6" fusible buckram provided support for the bottom banding.

Re-purposing generally involves some improvisation, to make the existing materials work for the new application.  In this instance, we had to fiddle a bit to make the banding work.  Although we usually make a double bottom hem, the banding was just wide enough to create a single hem, so Dofix Bortenfix was used to secure the hem below the weight bar pocket......

then Dofix fusible gimp covered the raw edge.  The rings were sewn through all materials so the stitching would provide extra security for  the band and the gimp.

After the weight bar was inserted into the pocket, the gimp end was tucked in and secured....

Then the bottom pocket ladderstitched closed.

Dofix 8" fusible buckram gave body to the topper, which I wanted to be somewhat supported but not quite as rigid as a soft cornice.  We mitered the top and fused Dofix velcro to the back edge so the topper could be mounted easily on installation day.

Fabric staples secured the fabric layers at the top......

and because these shades are reverse mounted, Dofix fusible velcro was added to the front.

The shade snaps off of the headrail for easy installation, then just as easily snapped back on.  The lift system is the Rollease SS38 from Designers Resource, chosen for its awesome gear ratio that allows this shade to be nearly fully raised with just one pull of the continuous bead loop chain. 

The little toppers behaved just as I wanted them to.

Ta-da!  (and yes, we fabricated those cushions, too.)

Black and White Greek Key

Our first shade of 2018 featured a graphic white-on-black Greek Key:

The miters started with a paper template.  A test corner was folded, pinned to shape, sewn, and tested.

The corners were trimmed and angled in closely at the tip, like a dart in clothing.

They were pressed carefully....

and a dab of glue was applied at the points to hold down any stray fibers.

A little more pressing manipulates the miter into square.

We chose to apply this trim using Dofix Bortenfix tape.  The tape was trimmed to size with a rotary cutter.....

then applied to the back of the Greek key tape.

Blue painter's tape marked the finished size and provided a guide for applying the trim.

The sides and bottom were folded and pressed along the blue tape, and then the shade fabrication continued as usual.

The first row of rings started 9" up to allow the Greek Key shape to show when the shade is raised.

Hand-sewing showcase

When wool drapes beautifully, it is because the panel has the internal structure to give it the freedom to hang naturally.  For this Holland and Sherry wool blackout-lined and interlined ripplefold, my biggest concern was giving the header reinforcement and support without impeding the drop of the wool face.  The ripplefold tape had to be sewn by machine, but all other sewing (apart from joining the widths) was done by hand.  We got to use a full complement of hand stitches in this project for Susan Marocco Interiors.

As I showed in the previous post, we carefully plotted out the ripplefold tape placement after testing it on the track.

After joining the widths, hand-hemming, and hand-sewing sewing the trim on, we prepared the header before layering in the linings, even though this mean two tablings.  We fused 2" buckram to the back of the header, and sewed the ripplefold tape through the fabric and buckram by machine.  Back on the table, the linings were layered in, and the interlining was held in place with a "basting stitch" at the top.  These steps gave structure to the header that was invisible from the front.

The lining was folded back up and the header gently pressed in place.

The header was secured by hand with a "back-stitch," one of my favorite hand stitches.  It can't accidentally pull and cause a pucker.  For this purpose, I could make half-inch stitches.  (When I sew seams by hand, right sides together, I use a very tiny back-stitch.  If I sew seams together while the fabric is flat on the table, I use a ladder stitch.)

At that point the panel was well-enough secured that the basting stitches could be removed.  But really, they rolled slightly to the back and didn't show anyhow.

I did not want to risk having light peek through the holes in the blackout lining made by the stitches, so the last step was to fuse Dofix blackout tape over the sewing.  This was probably unnecessary, but I preferred to be safe rather than sorry.

I took a similar precaution on the back side of the machine-sewn hem in the blackout lining.

 Working our way across the table was a little crazy!  Here is one panel partially assembled, and neatly folded to come back to the next day......

We used a lot of hand-sewing techniques for this drapery project.  The trim was hand-sewn down both sides using a "ladder stitch."  Unfortunately I forgot to photograph the stitching used to invisibly secure the interlining to the face at the side hem fold.  We used a long, loose variation of the "serge stitch" which provides security without risk of puckering.

Internally, the layers are loosely joined at the seams with an "interlocking stitch."

The versatile "ladder stitch" was also used for the side hems.

The layers were daisy-chained at the seams at the bottom.
This is a correctly made daisy chain:

And this is not: (hahahaha!)  (Guess who did this one?)
And lastly, here you can see that the bottom hems were hand-sewn with a variation of the "interlocking stitch" to keep the stitches from pulling on the fabric.

A lot of work, and time well spent to create a sublime drapery for a lovely homeowner.