Top Down Bottom Up Adventure

I said I'd come back to this shade- and this is the day!  Top down bottom up (TDBU) shades, with two independent lift systems, are cool but tricky.  There are a couple of steps that used to stump me, but between reading up and experimenting I learned a few things that really helped both the fabrication and the end product. 

Fabricated for Crosstown Shade and Glass

I started by making a shade as I always do, but I also added ribs both at the rings and at the folds, to give maximum structure and support.  (I was hoping that the ribs would eliminate the need for interior lift lines.  More on that coming up.)
Something I wasn't sure about was ring spacing.  I wanted to let the shade fold to pattern and approached spacing as if it were a regular shade- but then I wound up with too much at the top, which would made the top fold different from the rest- duh!  I re-positioned the rings and ribs a couple of times and thereby learned a key piece of information: the ring spacing must be determined by dividing the finished length into precisely equal spaces.  I ignored the repeat in the end; with this trailing-vine pattern, it didn't matter much.
If I work with pattern again on TDBU I will be better armed to crunch numbers.  Workrooms often must work with specifications given without consideration for the fabric.  If I had control of the specs, I'd manipulate the finished length and topper length to achieve ring spacing to fold to pattern.   In this case, a longer topper would've cut down the shade finished length enough that the ring spacing could have followed the pattern.

The top of the shade was always the step that caused me much trouble.  I knew that it needs an insert that is rigid and inflexible and can be drilled through.  Photos posted by Elki Horn offered some great ideas for the top.  I happened to have a piece of drapery rod that wasn't needed, and it worked perfectly.  John drilled a hole through the pole for the lift lines that operate the top-down function of the shade.  An orb made it easy later to level the top.

When I made TDBU shades in the past, I followed directions that had me putting grommets in the top pocket.  That was always a big pain.  The fabric layers are thick, and it's hard to position the grommet precisely, and the whole thing looked messy.  I used Elki's suggestion and ran the line through the fabric with a big needle.

In the past I machine-sewed a top pocket, and I always hated seeing that stitching line.  This time I folded the top down over the pole and hand-sewed it in place.   This works but the sewing has to be tight and secure and occasional stitches must pick through to the front to hold the layers together.  I'm sorry I didn't take more photos as I went- sometimes when working on a less-familiar product it's easy to forget to document- even though that's exactly when I want them!

TDBU shades need a topper to conceal the two lift systems.  In this case the topper specified was a shallow, simple upholstered cornice.  There wasn't a lot of mounting space available, so the dustboard was only 2.5".  In the future, I'd want a wider dustboard for a hard topper, or, alternatively, a soft topper.  The two clutches fit, but were awfully cramped, and the wood topper made access difficult.

The shade was about 40" wide and I wasn't sure if the bottom-up function would require more than 2 lift lines.  We tried it with just 2 but the folds sagged dreadfully, even with all the rib support.  So I added one center line and three lines were plenty.  The top down only had the two end lift lines.

 

The shade was leveled so that the top tucked up under the topper.  The orbs really helped with this.  (I know, in this photo the topper is tilting forward- the shallow dustboard didn't allow the workroom valet to hold it straight.) 

I was very happy with the way this shade turned out, and I'll be confident about making more.

 

 

The last shade photographed in the old workroom!

Stationary wool shades

Susan Marocco chose beautiful Holland and Sherry wools for two stationary Roman shade valances in the same home as the wool ripplefold draperies I wrote about in June.

Both shades were trimmed around the perimeter with Samuel and Sons tapes.  We mitered the corners, and the blue shade featured two layered tapes.

From past experience with wool shades I knew the layers needed to be interlocked internally to support the wool and keep it from sagging.
First the interlining was interlocked to the wool face.  We used the seam in the face fabric and then interlocked in alignment with where the rings would eventually be sewn.

 

Ribs were sewn to the interlining to provide additional structure.

Above the board line, the interlining was serge stitched to the face fabric.

The lining was interlocked at the board line.

The ribs were secured to the lining, then the rings sewn in between the ribs.  These little tack stitches are visible on the back, but they lie on the column line with the rings so they're not noticeable.

The side hems were sewn by hand, and the bottom finished as per my usual method, with buckram in the hem.

To miter the trim corners, we first basted by hand to make sure the pattern was well aligned.   The corners were then sewn by machine, cut, clipped, pressed, and the little fiber ends stabilized with some tight little stitches and a dot of glue.

The mitered trim was sewn by hand to the outer edges with a ladder stitch.  How the pattern falls on a pattern like the Greek key is a matter of math and luck; for this shade, we had pretty good luck!

Because in both rooms the underside of the boards are not easily visible, we did not need to make returns, but we did use a bit of trim to cover the ends of the boards.

The time we spent on steps to support and stabilize the wool were well spent.

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.

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!