Grey velvet swags, installed!

I'm happy to say that the grey velvet swags were successfully installed today!  Thanks to Danny at Fabric Factory Outlet for sending me his photo.

I've made a variety of arched treatments before, but once I began making this, I realized that I had never actually made arched SWAGS.  Thanks to the excellent instructions in Ann Johnson's books on swag fabrication, I was able to draft these swags perfectly on the first try.

The side swags were pretty tricky.  I read the instructions a dozen times before starting.  I've made asymmetrical swags, but never with an arched top.  It was fun!

The face of the board was covered in grey lining....

.....and the outward-facing part covered in white.  The horizontal board is there to help the frame stay put; it was removed after the arch was installed.

I marked the arch with masking tape in 1/2" increments so I'd have symmetrical reference points for each side.

 The reference points allowed me to go back and forth and make small adjustments evenly on each side.

The side swags were attached first, starting with the flat section.  When stapling mirror image swags, I do both together, one pleat at a time, so they can be pleated the same way.

It was pretty thrilling to see the pleats to fall into shape almost immediately!

I used cardboard tack strip to even out the center where the pleats stack up.  After the center swag was stapled, I flipped it back and filled in the gaps with little pieces of cardboard, then secured it all with hot glue. 

Actually the hot glue made a good filler too.  I wanted the top curve to be sleek.  Once the glue cooled, I trimmed it smooth with scissors.

To shape the jabots to the frame, I made a little paper mock-up of the jabot silhouette and cut the shape of the frame.

After the jabots were pleated (using my Parkhill jig), I cut them to shape, leaving a board allowance for the returns and first pleat.

Since the jabots followed the frame precisely, they were easy to attach to the face.  Only the return and part of the outermost pleats were stapled up onto the dustboard; the rest was attached to the front to reduce bulk.

It didn't seem likely that anyone would climb up and see the raw edges, but I covered them will twill tape just to be safe.

The dustboard cover was stapled just behind all the tack strip build-up which shaped the top.  It's fun to staple it on then flip it over right side up!

It's a wrap!

A busy hallway!

No matter how much workroom space you have, you always wish you had more, right?
I'm very lucky that in addition to my workroom space, I also have a L-O-N-G hallway, and I use the wall for drafting.  Recently I've been drafting those arched swags I mentioned yesterday.
I leveled the frame on a workroom stand and taped out the shape, reference points, and hung plumb lines.

 Using Ann Johnson's Anatomy of a Swag Vol. 2 as my guide, I draped chain weight to determine the shape and proportions of the swags.  This took a LOT of experimentation.  There were 3 fixed points: a center finished length of 18", a short crossover point of 15", and a finished width of 106".  Those numbers determined the shape of the swags.

As I was in the thick of it, along came two (TWO) Fed Ex drivers: one in the normal delivery truck with a big order from Rowley Company, and the other in a semi with a well-packaged 11' custom Ripplefold pole from J L Anthony!  (wait'll you see it!  it's spectacular)

We opened the box with the pole to be sure it was in perfect condition, and I went back to pattern-making.  As I perfected the chain weight draping, I recorded the measurements on the worksheets in Ann's book.

The masking tape was handy for making notes as I worked.

I taped gridded paper to the wall and traced the outlines of the swags.

All those tapes and draped chains were distracting, so I removed all but the actual swag shapes, to be sure I was satisfied with the proportions and silhouette.  Next- creating the swag pattern.......

A break from shades

This week I'm taking a break from shades, and focusing on three different swag projects for three different clients.
My go-to source for all things swags is Ann Johnson's superb books, Anatomy of a Swag.

If you are a workroom professional and don't own these books, all I can say is, why not?!
We took a chunk of time to create the frames we'll need for the three projects.  This is not in my comfort zone, so that might have something to do with why you haven't heard from me for a few days!
Lots of sketching, cutting, ripping, labeling little pieces, covering with lining...... this part is a LOT OF WORK!
There's one arch missing: it's out with the installer to check the fit before attaching the treatment.

 Ann's books will be particularly invaluable for the arched treatment.

Not only are the swags arched, but the side swags are actually hybrids: the inner half of each is a board-mounted arched swag, and the outer half of each is boxed: i.e. the pleats go on a vertical leg.  So the pattern will be half-and-half.  Here's a boxed swag we made a few years ago:

Another of the three jobs actually is a boxed swag with flat tails.  The treatment will be an exact duplicate of this, in a new, fresh fabric:

We photographed the inside to make sure we were re-creating the frame in the same way.

The third project will be a Turban swag treatment.  This is also a hybrid, like the outer arched swags without the arch.  This is a gathered Turban swag treatment we made a few years ago:

I'll be photographing the new treatments before they leave the workroom, so stay tuned!