Flat-back blackout reverse mount hobbled shades

Flat-back blackout reverse mount hobbled shades.  That's a mouthful, right?

It's important to remember, when talking about "blackout" lining, that it is the LINING that is blackout, and not the TREATMENT.  The lining is blackout, but the treatment is ROOM-DIMMING.  The only real blackout treatment would be plywood nailed over the window.  Just about any window treatment will have points of light bleed.
Even this three-layer blackout treatment from a few years ago- blackout drapery, shade, and cornice- allowed some light bleed.

For that reason, room-darkening is a big issue in the shade fabrication world.  There are two sticking points with shades: one is the "pinholes of light" that are the consequence of stitching- the needle pierces the black inner layer of the lining and the tiny holes let light through.  The other issue is the "light bleed" from the sides of shades, whether inside or outside mounted.

For this project with Denise Wenacur, we wanted to make outside mounted room-darkening hobbled shades.  Hobbled shades eliminate the pinholes of light problem because the row stitching is hidden by the "hobbles".  The light bleed at the sides, however, is enhanced because the hobbles stand out from the vertical plane of the back of the shade, like this hobbled shade we made last summer:

We decided to make flat-back hobbled shades.  The flat back and the reverse mount allows the shade to hug the wall as closely as possible, minimizing the light gap.

When raised, the flat back folds up with the hobbles:

I hadn't made a flat-back functioning shade in a very long time, so I was feeling my way for this project.
I fused a coordinating lining to "Silky" blackout lining (from Angels Distributing) but in retrospect, next time I'd order a color-coordinated blackout lining and use it alone.  I marked the horizontal rows before taking it off the table to prepare the face.

For the face fabric, I made a mockup out of the cutoffs from the sides.  I was able to work with the pattern repeat so the hobbles are pleated to pattern.

Two different finished lengths required twice the planning!

I pinned the bottom so I wouldn't forget how the layers were sandwiched.

The two layers were first joined at the bottom, at the weight bar pocket.

Then the shade was laid on the table and the face fabric pinned to the flat back along the rows lightly marked with a pencil.

 I worked my way across, double-checking the lines on the flat back which I had marked earlier.

From the back:

And there, friends, is where the photos end!  Sewing these rows is JUST A LITTLE AWKWARD, which helps explain why I have no photos of that step.  After that, it was inevitable that I would forget to continue to document!  But the rest of the job was pretty basic.  

Rings were sewn to the back, and the shades strung (using Ring Locks) and rigged just as if it were a flat roman.  These were reverse mount, which means that the fabric comes off the back of the mounting surface- in this case, Rowley's EZ-Rig headrails with velcro, positioned as far back on the mount board as possible.  

Grommets in the shade allow the cords to come to the front and attach to the lift mechanism, and a blackout-lined topper blocks the grommet holes.

Pleating to pattern worked out beautifully- in this photo, see especially the bottom right which shows the pattern well:

There was another 128" wide x 27" long window for which we made a short hobbled shade that folded entirely up under the valance when raised.

This job was quite an adventure, and we were thrilled at how well it turned out!

Sleeping on it

Last night I dreamed of a way to make sheer hobbled shades without pockets.  I have numerous methods for making hobbled shades.  Mostly I use ribs without pockets, but I still sew pockets for sheer hobbled shades.  You know how things you dream seem so logical in the dream, and are clearly absurd when you wake up?  I'm not sure, but I THINK my dream method might actually be feasible and useful.  I'm going to think about it today as I work on other products, and decide whether or not it's worth an experiment.
Meantime, I made these sheer hobbled shades a few weeks ago, using one of my regular pocket methods.

 I sew the translucent twill tape on as I sew the pocket.

The pocket fold line is marked with disappearing purple pen.  I have to work quickly, before the ink disappears!

I dread sewing pockets because it's not easy to keep the fabric grain lined up.  But I have always felt that sheer shades need the pockets for stability.  This happened to be a well-behaved fabric, so the process wasn't too painful.  I didn't even have to pin the fold- which kept my arms and midriff free from pin gouges! 

After all the tapes are on, I sew on clear rings which are shrouded with clear ring locks- both from SafeTShade.  The ribs from Rowley Co are clear plastic.  

 The shade safety standards determine the maximum spacing allowed on hobbled shades, just as on flat romans: 16.9" of combined loop.  With hobbled shades, the loop includes the fabric and tape, so the row and ring spacing must be calculated to fall within that range. 

I wonder if I should see a therapist to analyze me and my dream-method for making sheer hobbled shades without the pockets?  Perhaps in a few months I'll have a whole new technique!

Extra long shades

Our workroom has standard 8' drop ceilings.  I had an order for 4 shades 42" wide and 99" long.  Since the shades were being shipped to Florida, I was not going to be at the installation, so I had to find a way to hang them.  Enter John: he took out a 48" ceiling panel, extended our hydraulic stand, and we raised them up into the ceiling so I could level them!

 

Not only were these shades long; they also were blackout lined with my no-pinholes method and ribs; and because circumstances necessitated mounting them on the molding, they also needed to be reverse mounted with a valance.  I used my standard no-pinholes method with ribs, which means working from the inside of the shade.  The combination of Bella Notte Duette (bonded with flannel) and Bella Notte Silky blackout makes a very handsome and substantial shade.

My favorite lift system for a reverse mount is a system such as Rowley's EZ-Rig, whose headrail comes with velcro on one side.  The shade goes on the back of the headrail so it will be snug up against the window molding and let less light in the sides.

I hand-basted the layers together at the top, then fused Dofix velcro to the face.  I did worry because of the weight so I took the totally completed shade to the machine and sewed the velcro for extra security.  This was a little awkward because the ribs and weight bar were sewn inside the shade, but since they were only 42" wide I managed it.

I left the basting stitches in and I left the raw edges- blackout linings don't fray, and the fused velcro hid the face fabric raw edges.

Each lift line needed a grommet for the cord to pass through to the front.  They need to go as high up as possible without causing any buckling; I usually put them about 6" below the top.

 

The shades were strung using Ring Locks from SafeTShade in order to be compliant with the safety standards.

I wasn't sure how long the valance would need to be to cover the grommets.  After the headrails were mounted on the boards we raised one up with a piece of paper taped to it to see how long to make the valances.  

The self-lined valances had to go 1" farther back than the board, so they would reach the wall.  I wanted to fit them with velcro to make the underneath more accessible for the installer, so I mitered the corners of the valances and added Dofix fusible velcro.

That is sweet!

Regular hook velcro from Rowley was stapled to the back edge of the board.

 

They fit beautifully and the installer's job was easier since he could peel back the corners to hang the shade.

 

Eventually I hope I'll receive photos of the installed shades, but for now, a table shot will have to do.

Sheer Hobbled Shade

Hi!
I'm working on some killer sheer shades this week and I can't wait to get them on the blog.
This shade is from the summer, however, and for some reason I didn't do a post at the time. 

It's a reverse mount with a valance, which is difficult to hang in the workroom, so guess what, I did not get a photo of the totally completed product.
But here is the front, before the valance was added.
Because it's reverse mount, the clutch and operating loop are in the front of the shade, the cords come up the back and through grommets to the front, and then the mechanism is hidden with a valance.

There were a lot of stripes to line up in order to join the widths of fabric.  I was a little baffled about how to finish the seams in the back.  There were too many stripes to be able to do a good French seam.  Serging seemed tacky.  Binding seemed bulky.  Finally, I stitched 1/4" away from the seam on each side of the seam allowance and VERY CAReFULLY trimmed the excess with a rotary cutter, a hair's breadth away from the stitching.  It came out great.

 Translucent twill tape from Rowley was perfect for hobbling the shades, and clear rings came from Textol.  Here you see the thread end being buried in the pocket before snipping, so no tails will be visible.

Call me crazy, but I did not sew the side hems!  The machine-sewn rib pockets hold everything together, and this sheer pressed crisply.  I thought that even hand-hemming would be unnecessary and unattractive.  It was fine without hemming.  I used clear plastic ribs from Rowley.

Pins hold the tape securely at the grommet placement sites.  Purple disappearing pen didn't last on the clear tape, so I used a tiny dot or line of light green Sharpie pen for my ring and grommet marks.  I plan where the grommets and board line will be on my shade at the initial calculation stage, and in fact I draw it all out on graph paper to be sure I haven't made a mistake.  The pins hold the tape and the shade is stapled to the board.

Before the grommets go in, I hang the shade to be sure the length is correct.  This is one of those long-cuts that save time later with any hobbled shade, even those that are not reverse mounted!!!!!  The tapes must end at the right spot on the board since they are what hold the last fold in place.  It is much, much easier to make corrections before the top of the board is finished.

Having passed inspection, the shade gets its grommets.

Finally, the shade is strung using Ring Locks from SafeTShade as the shrouding device. 
The very last step is attaching the valance, but as mentioned above, I didn't have a way to hang the shade and photograph it at that point. 

These shades were fabulous!

With a little help from my friends.......

So, it's time to start filling in the blanks for many of the projects from the past month that barely got a mention.  It was a hectic time leading up to vacation and there was no time for blogging in detail.
I'll start with these big, bad boys.
The day before we left for vacation, we installed these two very large, heavy hobbled shades, each 9' wide by 6' long, designed by Denise Wenacur for a community gathering space.
I was nervous about these shades, because we had recently made blackout hobbled shades out of a similar fabric, and had a lot of trouble with distortion due to sewing the pockets for the ribs.
Thanks to great suggestions and advice and help from various very kind and generous people and vendors, fabrication was practically painless.  You'll see plenty of shout-outs as you read through!

The fabric is a backed woven fabric with fire retardant treatment, and the lining is FR blackout.   The blackout is seamless, thanks to Angel's Distributing, who will sell 110" Silky Diablo Blackout lining in cut lengths, folded, because otherwise it would come on 110" rolls and cost a small fortune.  I got two cuts and the 110" width was run lengthwise because the shades were 108" wide.
The face fabric was about 56" wide so I was JUST able to squeeze the width out of two cuts, with smallish side hems.  The thought of sewing this heavy, inflexible fabric was daunting, however- not necessary, thanks to the pre-owned Do-fix I had just purchased and set up!  So I Do-fixed the seams, laid in the lining, and Do-fixed the side borders and the bottom pocket, and reinforced all Do-fixing with hand stitches.  What a breeze!  Eternal thanks to Jen White for helping me set up the Do-fix and giving me a crash course in how to use it.

I marked for the ring placement and started sewing rings and twill tape.
OK, do you notice anything missing here?
There are no rib pockets!
This is the most amazing thing ever!   
Scot Robbins (of Parkhill and Workroom Valet fame) had mentioned awhile back that he was making hobbled shades without ribs.  I could not believe that it would work, but I contacted him and he assured me that as long as I used plenty of vertical rows, the folds would hold up.  I took a deep breath and forged ahead.  Sure enough, it worked incredibly well.  Most of us do space vertical rows about 12" apart with ribs; for these I think the spacing was about 8.5"; you sew a few more rings, but the time savings is more than worth those extra rows!

Shifting the fabric and making sure to keep the rows true took extra care.  Here is an excellent example of where taking extra steps saves time.  I taped a 36" yardstick to my 96" straightedge and used the grid to mark the horizontal rows with disappearing pen, marked my increments, then quickly made pencil marks in the other direction for ring placement.  (Have you noticed how quickly the purple pens disappear on blackout fabric?)

I marked the twill tapes with purple pen, and tacked the rings, folding up the bottom and doing the bottom row last.

When it was time to shift the fabrics, first I gathered the loose twill tapes and gently pulled up just a bit of the shade.

Then I pulled a bit more....

And a little more.....

Then pinned like crazy along the uppermost marked line.....

Then carefully, oh so carefully, shifted the fabric across the table until the pinned line was near the middle.

I wanted to keep enough of the finished portion of the shade on the table so I'd have a reference for the next ring marks.

You get the gist of it: pin, mark, tack, shift, repeat, until finally it was done.  I also did the side hems as I went.

Luckily these windows had a 4" space in which to mount the shades.  We knew these big guys needed a very capable and durable clutch.  Mike at Designers Resource came to the rescue, recommending the Rollease Galaxy geared clutch, which can lift 53 pounds.
There was a relatively gentle learning curve because we'd only used these tube type clutches a couple of times before, and Mark and Mike were both very generous about advising us and pointing us to assembly instructions, even when it was 4:50pm and they wanted to go home.
I won't bore you with all the reference photos I took to remember how to mark the tubes for clip placement and direction.  But once we had the hang of it, it went incredibly quickly.  I'll use the Galaxy and Skyline clutches often now that I know how easy it it.  Designers Resource cut the tubing to my exact size specifications which really saved time and trouble for us.
There are no photos of the back, so I can't show the Ring Locks by SafeTShade.  I thought they would be the best choice to allow the shade to stack up smoothly.  They worked beautifully. 

The only seriously scary time during the process came at installation.  The first shade went in like butter, was easy to secure with a zillion screws, and lifted like a dream.  The second shade...... was too big.  Oh, yes, I measured incorrectly!  The board was ever so slightly too big!
Here we are, wishing that wishing would make it fit........

Thank goodness this job is just 10 minutes from my workroom.  We packed it up, I went home to pick up my hubby John,  and he came back with me to use his amazing Bosch multi-tool to slice off the ends without having to unstring anything.  It took 10 minutes at the most.

Unfortunately. my installer, Mario Fuentes, had to leave because his day was fully booked.  So to the rescue- our nephew Jim came along and between him and John we got the shade installed before the facility closed for the day at 2pm.  Cleo came along for the ride and helped by holding the screws and handing them to her dad when he needed them.

Now we can go on vacation!