Arched Flat Roman Shade

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!

A Little Cutie

Powder rooms are the perfect place to use a fabric or a window treatment style that you love but would get sick of in large quantities.
If you could make them yourself, you could make a new one each month out of next to nothing, and switch them around, or pass them along.
This is a single-swag Empire valance.

Empire with Knots

There were miles and miles of these valances.  This was the one larger valance, other five were 48" with two swags each.
M'Fay's Classic Empire valance pattern was used to make these.  The original M'Fay Empire had a straight bottom horn, but the new Classic Empire pattern's horn is curved.  I used the slightly fuller swag of the new pattern and the straight bottom of the original horn.     
25 yards of cording for the tops came with a lip which had to be removed and then the cord had to be picked clean of all the little whiskers that stayed behind.    
By the time all these were mounted I think my hands were shaking because the photo is a little blurry!
And I could have dressed the swags and horns a little better.... oh well, it's just a workroom shot.  It's odd that sometimes I don't notice that a treatment is sloppily dressed until I've photographed it.  Also when I read over the text of a blog post while I'm writing it, I often don't notice misspellings etc, but after I've posted it and look at the actual blog, I see the mistakes.

In time for Holiday Entertaining

The homeowners requested that their living room and dining room be completed in time for their holiday party.  The furniture was delivered, the technique painting completed, accessories in place- and we were happy to oblige with window treatments.

I think my favorite part is the dining room cornices.  It was fun planning the proportions so I could create identical scallops on different sized windows.
Thanks to my mom for teaching me when I was very little how to draft patterns!  It was my grandmother who taught me to sew, but my mom taught me the joy of developing the technical foundation that supports creativity.

Squire valances in the living room were made from a heavy upholstery weight fabric.  Since the horizontal threads on the reverse side show through when the sun is shining, this fabric was lined with the French blackout method- our regular white sateen, then a layer of black sateen to block the light, interlining, then face fabric.

The four layers of fabric created a lot of bulk.  I love my electric rotary cutter for stacking and cutting multiple layers of heavy fabrics- a real time saver, and it doesn't hurt my hands.

Empire valance we made in January 2010

Squire valances

I like Squire valances for three reasons.  First, they are dressy without being overly formal.  Second, they are the perfect solution to a situation where you need to create an illusion- a deep valance that is not too massive.  The teardrop bottom silhouette allows a deep long point with a short point 9" shallower, filling in space yet allowing lightness.  This valance is 22" deep at the long point but 13" at the short point, in contrast to this 22" long Empire valance which is boxier.  Third, the Empire valance has five or six pleats whereas the Squire has only two.

Are you wondering, who makes up these valance names?  M'Fay, that's who.  Many of her patterns have become industry reference standards.  

Empire valance variation

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Here is an Empire valance with extended gathered horns.  

This particular order was a challenge to fabricate mainly because of the need to reduce bulk at so many stages along the way.

As you can see in the second picture, the face fabric is a heavy woven upholstery fabric.  You can also see the very heavy lip cord that was sewn into the bottom.

The valance is also interlined, which adds a lot of bulk to an already bulky face fabric and a medium weight lining. 

All the seams had to be trimmed and layered to reduce bulk.

 The third photo shows the swag section laid out on the lining on the bias.  Since the face fabric is stiff and awkward pleated up into a swag, the lining and interlining are bias cut to give the swags a little drapeability.

For valances composed of many pieced sections, lining and interlining are railroaded if possible to reduce bulk at the seams.  Because we wanted to cut the swags on the bias, we could not railroad the linings.  However, with this style of valance, railroading wasn't an option anyhow, as you can see in the bottom photo.  Once the pieces are joined it forms a big arc. 

The bottom photo also shows how the interlining has been trimmed away from the board line of the swag pleats to reduce the bulk when it's pleated up.  Both interlining and lining have been cut from the board line on the slender cascades, since the layers all had to pleat up into 3" of space.  The flat "picture area" of the swag has been padded to lift it up to the pleat level. 

Wool

I'll admit it, I'm cheating, this is NOT what we're working on today.
These are treatments made from the most luscious wool I've ever had the opportunity to use.  It's "Bechamel" from Rogers & Goffigon, it is rather costly, and it comes very yummy colors.  This winter white is one of the best.  It is the drapey-est imaginable fabric!  The swags look like..... well, a satiny bechamel sauce.  Or molded butter.
We have a couple of clients about to use wool or wool sheer, so I have wool on the brain.  A wooly brain.
That's my justification for slipping in these oldies today.  These pictures are SO old, they are scanned PRINT photos (gasp!).  Complete with all the original smudges.
I think these treatments were made in 2002.
The swags are made a la Merrick and Day.  The swags are constructed with a unique point-to-point technique, and virtually none of the fullness is on the board.  It's all behind the horn & jabots.  The header is a separate piece, as are the extensions of the horn and jabots.
I can't remember who makes the trim, which manages to be sophisticated and whimsical at the same time.  It reminds me of little M & M's.
The valances and draperies are all interlined, and lined with an aqua dupioni silk.  Remember all that dupioni silk from those days??
There were tiebacks but at the time of this photo they hadn't been installed yet.
In the adjacent sitting room the same fabrics and trim are used for traditional Empire valances. 
Since these treatments were made we've used various wools for top treatments, draperies, and shades.  It is, to me, the ultimate luxury window treatment fabric.

Empire Swag Valance

I'm taking a quick little break to show you the Empire valance, as well as the hinged treatment all folded up and easy to transport.

Glue basting and reducing bulk in Empire swags

Today we worked on an Empire valance, which is interlined and trimmed at the bottom with bullion fringe sewn in.
To keep the bulk of all the fabric layers from building up on the board when the treatment is stapled, we've applied several techniques.
Here is the interlining being sewn to the swag lining and trimmed far enough away from the board line to keep the bulk off the board. At the bottom edge, we basted the interlining to the lining and trimmed the interlining, then glue basted the face side, trim, and lining side so that the layers would not shift when being sewn. I never did glue basting before this job- but I'm a convert now! We also made drapery panels from this fabric with the bullion fringe on the lead edges: I knew there was no way I could sew that heavy fringe to that silk without puckering, so I plunged in with glue basting and it worked beautifully- no puckers, and I'm a believer.




Didn't I say earlier that I'd be cutting a new wave of shades today? Yes I did, and yes I did. But I'm holding out on photographing them because one of them I can already tell, even though it's only Monday, that it is going to be the Fab Fabric Friday most beautiful fabric in the world Pick of the Week.
But look at this- I don't mind showing you this embroidered faux silk that looks like it was totally made for the striped Empire valance silk- but it is for a different client, different decorator. That happens a lot around here- a whole day of projects that are color coordinated, by chance. This gold embroidered silk is on its way to becoming a tableskirt with shirred jumbo welting. Oh boy!