Ripple to Pattern

Once Pleat-to-Pattern draperies became an industry standard, Ripple-to-Pattern wave draperies were soon to follow, thanks to a variable wave tape developed by Forest Group. 
This graphic drapery, recently fabricated for Denise Wenacur Design and Decor, illustrates perfectly the striking effect possible when rippling to pattern. 

A few weeks later we used the same technique to fabricate geometric ripple-to-pattern for Cottages to Castles, installed by Scott Berniker who kindly provided photos.

All ripplefold begins with the rod.  We template the master carrier by fitting translucent snap tape to the actual hardware, using a fabric stapler.

 

This ensures a perfect fit on installation day.

We make a template of the header and plot out the placement of the pattern.  I make sure to include every detail during this step.

The header template is one reason to always order a little more fabric than the project strictly requires.  With the widths joined on the template, we can be sure the seams fall to the back of the ripples rather than show on the front.

After the drapery is on the table, we align the template to be sure everything is where it should be.

In our workroom, we prefer to fabricate with no stitching visible on the front- a huge change from the old way in which one of two rows of stitching were considered inevitable.

Our method for fabricating begins with a lock-stitch (basically an interlocking stitch which itself is actually a long, loose blanket stitch) to hold the lining and face fabric together, just past the crease on the heading side.  

Translucent 2" Dofix buckram is fused right at the crease line.

Easy-flex tape from Forest Group is secured with a narrow strip of Jewel tape down the center.

Our template show exactly where to position the 3 snaps.

The doubled heading is folded under, and the Easy-flex tape is staple-basted on both sides, through the heading only.

The ends are finished neatly (and hand-sewn after the tape is applied).

The header is opened up flat, and the Easy-flex tape is sewed on both sides.

All that remains is to hand-sew the ends, and insert the Easy-flex Hooks.

The only thing that varied between the two projects: the orange drapery is blackout, and we did not use buckram, concerned that it might not fuse securely.  Instead, we opted to hold the header down with a double-sided adhesive tape.

Did you read all the way to the end?  One thing that really super thrilled me, for the second time ever, I made pleat-to-pattern draperies AND a shade for the same room!  If you're a workroom nerd too, you'll totally get it :)

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.)

Tools my grandmother didn't have!

Does this fabric look familiar?  Back in the winter I posted pictures of a small shade out of this fabric.  It was fun using twill tape to band the edges and the shade turned out great.

The decorator wanted to use it again for this shade which is wider than the width of the fabric.  We needed to find a way to join the widths.

The face fabric is a very sheer silk, with a 1/4" hemp rope woven in horizontally.  The rope is very bulky, making it impossible to sew the widths, so we thought of using the twill tape to hold the widths together and at the same time hiding the join line.  The twill tape is topstitched down each side, through all the layers.

This is where some modern workroom tools really made it possible to fabricate this shade with confidence.

The shade was made almost entirely on the table.  Since you can see through the sheer silk and the sheer linen lining, I used the gridded canvas table to press and lay out the fabric and keep the rope lines and the lining grain line straight.

Adhesive tape was used as a basting tool.  Once the half widths were positioned next to the full center width, I ran adhesive tape down the join line and pressed the twill tape into place.  I also used the tape to position the twill tape used for the banding.  The tapes were also pinned to keep the layers together.

Fabric staples across the top kept the fabrics from shifting while the shade went off to the machine for topstitching.

Back to the table, wrong side up, the grid again assisted in marking for the rings.  As a matter of fact, I didn't even mark- I just followed the rope lines and the vertical grid lines and sewed the rings on by hand right on the table.  The clear plastic rings and tan lift cord are nearly unnoticeable from the front.


The twill tape in folded in half and made a pocket for the weight bar which I sewed right behind the bottom band, following the topstitching line.

I've had my gridded canvas table for 4 or 5 years now and can't imagine going back to fabricating anything without it.