Curtains in 2017!

For someone mainly known as a Roman shade maker, I sure have had a LOT of drapery orders these last few months.  And since I acquired a few old/new-to-me sewing machines this year, I was able to handle the volume and enjoy the process.
I still LOVE sewing draperies by hand, however!  The penultimate drapery job before Christmas break was Ripplefold for 34' of window space, and these 20 widths of fabric were entirely hemmed by hand.  Nicole Gray of Suite Dream designed the treatment with 4 panels, each using 7 yards of a double-wide poly-linen blend.  Right now the Architrac rods are visible, but soon they'll be covered with a painted cornice.   This is the installation day photo- more to come after the job is complete.

 A few days before the Ripplefold, Nicole installed these 8 banded panels for a bay and two side windows.

Appropriate fabric choice is a key element of successful draperies.  Here the woven-patterned banding fabric paired perfectly with the medium-weight poly-linen blend.

The hems were pressed into the face fabric before the widths were joined, eliminating the need to table the bottom separately.

I'm loving my newly acquired machines!  From the straight stitch machine, the fabric moved to the new/old super-fast Rimoldi for the raw edges to be overlocked......

 .....then down the line to the blindhemmer for the bottom hems.

The banding fabric was basted in place with Dofix's Bortenfix K basting adhesive before sewing to keep it from shifting.  The banding was sewn at the 4" line so it could be wrapped with a full 4" on the back as well.  Although I'm showing the photo here, the banding was actually the first thing done, even before the widths were joined.  That meant less bulk to handle while sewing the band.

 I worked in pairs so I'd be sure not to make a mistake and make more lefts than rights.  The first panel took longer than it should have because I hadn't developed a method yet.  After the first one I realized I'd save time by doing as much of the bottom corner as possible before laying in the lining.  The edge was pressed, the bottom trimmed, and the panel laid into the Drawmatic clamp bar with the corner kept free.  The hemline of the band fabric was kept loose and unpressed, so the bottom line could be manipulated a bit in case there was take-up.

I shifted the corner onto the table so I could work with it more easily.  The corner weight was tag-gunned in place.

The band is folded up....

Tucked in...... (the first 4" of hem was left unstitched to allow for this step).......

And re-positioned under the clamp.

The lead edge was folded, pressed, and pinned after laying in the napped sateen lining.

The bottom corners were pinned in place.  The lead edges, with the banding, were sewn by hand, and the return edges were machine blindhemmed.

My favorite thread for hand-sewing side hems is Silamide thread.  It doesn't tangle, it glides easily, and has just a wee bit of give that keeps the seams from clenching up.   I use a single thread for most hemming, but for drapery bottom and top corners I double the thread.

The bay window panels had two lead edges with banding, for a total of 8 panels, 13 widths, and 10 lead edges.

Quite an adventure!  These 43 widths were made in addition to a set of sheer pinch pleat (14 widths), two pairs of lined and interlined top tack with decorative tape (6 widths), and two pairs of sheer lined with sheer top tack (6 widths).  A total of 69 widths in the 10 days before closing for Christmas break!  All side hems were machine blind-hemmed except for the ripplefold above, and the 10 banded lead edges.
Not shown: low-bulk method for tabling the tops, and the pleats being tacked with my new/old Chandler tacker- a super-time-saver!

Making friends with my blindhemmer

I've grown accustomed to doing a lot of sewing by hand.  I love the look, and I love the process.  Most of all I love how hand-sewing eliminates the stress of stitching on fabric created by machines.  Hand-stitching becomes a part of the product, while machine-stitching is something done to the product.
But there is a time and place for machine blindhemming, and not all budgets can accommodate hand-hemming.
Unfortunately, I've been estranged from my US Blindstitch machine for a few years.  It has sat, forlorn and dusty, in a prominent spot in my workroom, silently reproaching me, and I suspect accusing me of elitism.
Along came this fabric, and an order for draperies.  With its cheerful, easy-going nature, it served as a liaison between me and my blindhemmer, helping to repair our damaged relationship.  My USB breezed through the bottom hems with nary a miss or snag to the front.

The side hems sewed up equally easily. 

The first and  last 4" are still ladder-stitched by hand. 

With a 7" horzontal repeat, the header was pleated to every-other-pattern, alternating light and dark.

An adjacent window will be treated with a roman shade..............

 .....also pleated to pattern, with a 7.5" vertical repeat.

This was a very satisfying and productive project, and I'm looking forward to working more with my lovely US Blindstitch machine!

Blind hemming

When I started out as a full-time workroom, I didn't know that there were workrooms where people actually used needle and thread to sew.  I thought everything in a proper workroom was done by machine.  Thank goodness I soon learned differently!  Sixteen years later, I've come to love sewing by hand, both for the superior results and the satisfying sense of process.
That being said, there are times when hand-sewing, while delightful, is just unnecessary because the result will be in no way superior to the machine sewn version.
So a couple of years ago I bought a blind-hemmer.  When I started out, I subbed out all of my drapery orders, so I had little need for a blind-hemmer.  Now, I do make some drapery, but what I make here is always and only by hand, so I still don't need the blind hemmer for panels.  The same goes for my Roman shades: they are made on the table, by hand, and don't leave the table until they are on the boards. 
However, I find plenty of other time-saving uses for it.  It is invaluable for bedskirts, a few valance applications, and, sometimes, relaxed, London, or balloon shades.
It made short work of this interlined London shade.

I assembled the shade on the table.  The linings were laid in, hems folded, and rings and ladder tape sewn, all on the table, the bottom left unfinished.

The top and bottom were basted across by hand and trimmed.

A quick trip to the blind-hemmer finished off the side hems.

Back at the Juki, the brush fringe was sewn on, and then a facing of the moire, and, yes, I forgot to take a picture of sewing on the facing!

You'll just have to imagine the part where I sewed on the facing, which was made from a strip of fabric, folded in half, sewn over the fringe seam allowance, and pressed up to meet the bottommost rings.  Then that, too, went to the blindhemmer.  The ends were slipstitched together for a clean bottom finish.

And that blind-hemmer saved me probably the amount of time that it took to write up this post :)

Sheer Hobbled Shade

Definitely a fab fabric.

It became a hobbled shade, sheer, unlined.

Since it was a reverse mount, I could not easily find a way to photograph the front.  But the back is more interesting, anyhow.  It uses translucent twill tape from Rowley to create the hobbles; TechStyles' cord shroud was joined to the twill tape; then the clear rings were sewn over both to secure.

The shade width was 61", and the fabric was 58" wide.  The widths were joined and serged, and wide, double 2" hems pressed in, completely covering the seams.  The hem was hand- blind-stitched, catching the serged seam, so no hand stitches show on the fronts.

Here's a close-up of this wonderful fabric.        

Machine work

We do a lot of hand-sewing around here, but sometimes it's all about patient machine work.  For this small shade, we bound two layers of green sheer linen with 1 5/8" twill tape on 4 sides.

This ripply self-lined linen was a little hard to handle.  First the twill tape was secured with a narrow strip of fusible interfacing tape.  The fusible stuff penetrated both fabric layers, serving as basting.  Then it was folded and pressed and top-stitched, with the corners mitered.

For this lacy unlined cotton, I wasn't sure I would do a good job matching the pattern using a French seam.  So I sewed right sides together, and felled the seam.

Pressed to the side, the felled seam is very cool.  This really beautiful fabric is about to become a softly gathered London shade valance.

More about French seams here.

Some may disagree with me, but for sheers, especially stretch panels, when the budget does not allow for hand-sewing, I prefer the blind hem of a regular household machine to that of a blindhemming machine.  I think the blindhemmer makes a stitch that looks too commercial and also distorts the fabric if the tension is not just right.  Say what you like, I happen to like the domestic machine blind hem.  I love those little V-stitches all in a row.  I love that it looks like a person made this using a machine, not a factory.

Patient topstitching creates precise headers and pockets to complete these sheer linen stretch panels.  The fabric was cut by pulling threads to be sure it was cut perfectly on-grain, in both directions.

Gorgeous shades!

A workroom shot of one of the two shades, mounted for testing, partly raised.  How do you like the pattern layout? 

Embroidery always leaves the fabric puckered and sometimes it's impossible to iron out.  But I'm totally in love with my latest Rowenta- that pointy nose is HOT and gets right in between the embroidery and irons out even the tiniest wrinkles.  The iron's wider "belly" was also useful for pressing sideways into a rippled section, sort of tricking it into flatness.
All this silk/viscose blend fabric had to be ironed first from the right side then turned over and ironed to size from the wrong side and then ironed again with the interlining, and then again with the lining- about an hour of ironing per shade before the sewing even starts! 

Can you believe this is the nursery scale that John's mom used when he was a baby?  John weighed a lot less than this shade!  We weighed everything to be sure we could use a slim clutch since there was little space for mounting these very wide shades so we couldn't use a regular 30# Rollease clutch.  The scale says 10 pounds, including the weight rod, face fabric, lining, and interlining, and the clutch components- whew!  the slim clutch can handle 15 pounds.   

There was not enough fabric to use three cuts per shade, and we had only 1/4" over on each side for the side hems, so we used an alternative construction technique, adapting a method from English interlined panel fabrication: the interlining was layered over the face fabric and both were folded over together, then the lining laid on top and ironed down just 1/8" or less from the edge- just wide enough to get a skinny needle into the space- and the sides were blind-hemmed by hand with itty bitty stitches.  It was tempting to just whip stitch the sides but in the end it was only a couple of extra minutes to do a blind hem, and I don't have to feel guilty!  That narrow bit of face fabric looks so nice, like a microcording.  I can think of a few situations where I might use this technique again.

The decorator just called to report that the shades look fabulous in her client's home and that they are very happy with them- yay!  I'm SO thrilled.  I don't know if folks realize how personal these projects are to us workrooms- a little piece of us goes into every job and we agonize over the decisions we have to make during fabrication.  I love hearing when one of my products has made someone happy!

More on Efficiency

I have been working on some hobbled shades.  Since these have a lot of steps, I thought I'd showcase one shot that illustrated as many steps as possible.
For shades, as for drapery panels, I have found that you get not only the best product but also the most efficient use of time if you leave the product on the table for as many steps as possible.

For hobbled shades,  the fabric is laid face down and the lining over it, squared up, then the side hems are pressed in, but not secured yet.

The bottom will be made in various ways, depending on the style, trim if any, and the customer's preference.  For these shades I folded up a double 4" hem and hand-sewed it.

Next the fold lines for the rib pockets are marked.
Here, we use disappearing purple pens.  I don't know what we'd do without those!
And then the fold lines are pinned, pins all in the same direction. 
As long as the straightedge is right there, the marks are made for the rings.  If three lines are marked, the straightedge can be laid down to mark the remaining rows.

Now the side hems are secured.  Depending on the fabric, they might be hand-sewn, adhered with adhesive tape, or blindhemmed.  Machine blindhemming is a rarely used method here.  We've blindhemmed side shade hems maybe twice, ever.  
For these shades, adhesive tape is applied.  Look at the right side of the picture where a straightedge is holding back the opened-up side hem to reveal the tape.  I want to apply segments of tape leaving 1" on each side of the fold line without tape, because this tape is not nice to machine needles and I want to avoid having to sew over it.
The adhesive is a secure method but it is used only when some amount of machine stitching will be securing the layers somewhere- in this case, the rib pockets.

The twill tapes that will be "hobbling" the folds are laid out on the far right and marked, in this case in 6" increments, and brought to the sewing machine with the shades.


There are three steps the sewing machine will be used for. 
At the sewing machine first the folded pocket lines will be sewn 3/4" from the fold, making a right turn at the end of the row to close the pocket on one end.  I use thread that matches the face fabric, not the lining, because I want the thread to blend in at the side hems, unless it's a really dark fabric.  And then, I use white for the lining sections and color matched thread for the side hem bits.  A pain in the neck, but.  For these shades I used a pale yellow which blended in with both lining and face fabric.
The tapes, all ready and marked, are sewn behind the bottom row on the row's stitching line.

Now the rings can be sewn and ribs inserted into the pockets, and then it goes back to the straight stitch machine which hopefully is still threaded with the matching thread to sew up the open ends of the pockets. 
Ready for stapling & stringing!  The shade was on the table once, and not moved til all was marked and secured.
The indispensible tools for maximum efficiency on this project: purple disappearing pen, and the gridded canvas table cover.