A Deceptive Simplicity

Kim Freeman of freemandesigngroup designed the window treatments and chose the fabrics for the upstairs of this home on the Long Island Sound.

Most of these fabrics should look familiar to you because I've gradually been showing peeks of them over the past few weeks as we've been completing phases of the project.

Cafe curtains for the Master Bath are made out of the same pleated fabric I used for shades a couple of weeks ago.  We like how it gives privacy yet allows light in.

The Guest Bath pin-tucked cafe curtain is a linen sheer with orange grosgrain ribbon, topped with a London shade in William Morris Co's "Honeysuckles".
We agreed that the cafe curtain could be a little longer to achieve a better balance, so we went ahead and hung this up for now but we'll make a new, longer curtain and raise the rod.

The best best best of all, in the dressing room, pin-tucked curtains out of a floral, banded with blue silk, and see how the pin-tucks created a new floral pattern!

Flat Roman shades out of the William Morris "Mary Isobel" for the study:

The portiere drape in the doorway from the Master Bedroom through the Dressing Room to the Master Bath is an interlined silk blend, self-lined, pinch pleats facing in to the dressing room, and the "wrong side" facing the master bedroom.  I like how the back side of the pleats fall in sort of box-pleat folds.  The trim is on the bedroom side.  I forgot to photograph it from the other side!

The blue floral embroidered linen Master Bedroom drape is lined with French blackout technique- that is, four layers of fabric to achieve near blackout.
The layer next to the face fabric is white interlining; then dense black sateen which is what blocks the light; and on the back, white sateen lining.
Heavy!

That beautiful Sanderson fabric appears in the Guest Bedroom as pinch pleated drapery. 

All the drapery are pleated up into slender two-finger pinch pleats with fullness of just barely over double.

Cafe Curtains

Having fun with cafe curtains lately!
They're a great canvas for little details.
These four workroom samples are just the beginning- I've got more cut out.  They're fun to sew in the evening while watching baseball.

Those gorgeous panels....

At last, the sewing is done, and the panels are installed- five windows!
Take a look back at April 16 for a post on how these were made.
Mostly hand-sewn, of course, except for where a machine was essential.

To me, the heavy tapestry drapery completes the feeling of a high-ceilinged, dusky castle great room, together with the heavy beams, stone fireplace with its faux deer, fabulous cool, earthen wall finish, and rustic wood, iron, and leather notes in the furniture and accessories.

In a series of work over the past year, Diane Satenstein of D. S. Interiors has carried the earth-and-sky brown-and-blue palette through much of this home, stretching traditional treatments by blending deep color, exotic pattern, and rich texture to create a comfortable but stimulating and slightly mysterious atmosphere. 

Well, at least, that's how I see it!
For me, as a fabricator, these have been some of my favorite projects, ever.  Below are some of the other treatments we've made for this home:

More flat panels, banded.

Relaxed Romans with a coin trim.



Swags with tassel fringe, and a little flat Roman shade with bead trim.

Shirred Top Drapery

The whole point of the various header styles on draperies is to control fullness.  Only rarely does anyone want a completely flat panel of fabric on a window.  If it is to have fullness, it must be contained somehow- hence, the pleat.
There are other methods, and here is one: shirring.
In this workroom sample, the gold silk is outlined in a rust microcording, a separate rust layer is added from the back, and the whole thing is shirred.  A two-cord shirring tape has been sewn and hidden- I wanted it to look as finished from the back as from the front.  
I would like to credit Heather Luke, an English curtain maker, for the inspiration for this curtain.  Her amazing curtains are all made by hand, and I wanted to develop a technique to achieve a similar look with faster methods so that I could offer it to my clients.  
(SHE doesn't use shirring tape!, and therefore doesn't need to hide it!)

Portiere Draperies

This week has been busy with a job that is almost ready to be photographed.  There are several components, one of which is Portiere drapery panels.  These photos illustrate our portiere fabrication method, which has been used on the draperies that haven't been photographed yet.
"Portiere" drapery, traditionally, is heavy draperies hung across a doorway (derived from French "porte" which means door).  The fabrication method takes into account the fact that they are seen from both sides... there is no "back" or "wrong side" and therefore a regular rolled side border is not appropriate.  The lead edge of the drapery needs to be "knife-edged" or "pillowcased" and may or may not have a trim.
Nowadays "portiere" might refer to any drape where the lead edge is made this way rather than rolled and blind-stitched, even if the drape isn't going into a doorway.  Usually the lining is a decorative contrast fabric.
What bothers me about portiere draperies is when the fabrics gap away from each other at the lead edge, which might happen because the fabrics don't cling to each other, or because of the weight of trim applied on one side.  I wanted to find an attractive way to secure the lead edge to prevent that.

We devised a fabrication method for draperies with top-sewn trim that yields a beautiful edge on each side.  The face fabric is rolled around to the back about 1/8" and "stitch-in-the-ditch" topstitched.  The tassel trim covers the topstitching on the face side, and on the back there is the illusion of a microcording.  This method has been effective with a variety of applications.  The photo shows a workroom sample we made as a show-and-tell for clients.
The seamstress needs a good eye and a steady hand to topstitch perfectly!  No extra caffeine til the sewing is done.
I must mention here that the only song I've ever heard that contains the word "portiere" is Warren Zevon's "Disorder in the House."

Another exercise

Another workroom sample exercise!  Here is a cuffed panel with an over-stuffed lead edge banding with tassel trim.  One thing I would change if I could is the size and shape of the cuff.  I thought a shaped cuff would be cool but actually the shape kind of gets lost and might look like a mistake if it's not dressed well.  And I think the cuff should be an inch or two longer, but that was all I had of that delicious silver silk, so there you are.  Rather than just sew the rings on, I though I'd try making a little pinch and sewing the ring into it.  That seemed to work pretty well so I rummaged around until I found these pale aqua glass beads, and we sewed them on with prominent French knots to show off the thread color.  This panel is lined with a heavy cotton sateen, and interlined with a heavy cotton flannel.  I didn't take a picture of the bottom, but the hem is padded with interlining as well as the lead edge.

I love surprises

Here is a color, fabric, and trim combination you're not going to see every day!

The decorator who designed this has a fabulous sense of color.  I wish I had a photo of the whole dining room, completed, but I don't at this point. 

These draperies pull together elements in the room and make them all work together, including an antique painted Chinese screen with soft blues and corals, and framed antique wallpaper samples with the same color palette.

The embroidered fabric is a heavy cotton, interlined; it's all hand-sewn, including the yummy fat pleats, which are pleated on pattern.

  The orange fabric is not a banding- it's a separate panel, meant to look like a second drape peeking out from behind, but it's not really a full drape.

The blue striped trim hints at the hardware, which was hand-made wrought iron by a local iron-worker, with a distressed finish to coordinate with the lighting fixture which I'm sorry you can't see.

Seen on its own one might it is a little wacky, but in context, it's brilliant!