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!

Manipulating pattern on hobbled shades

Hobbled shades out of patterned fabric require careful planning.  When I was asked by Denise Wenacur to fabricate three more shades for this open space, I was glad I had documented my planning process for the first set!
The bay window shades provided continuity from the kitchen window around to the full-length family room windows, and really completed the flow of the space.

The new bay window shades

The original three shades in the family room

All the shades wrapping around the space from the sink to beyond the fireplace

I kept all my notes from the family room fabrication, but the best thing I did was photograph the fold layout. I was able to refer back to this and re-create the pattern placement exactly.

For this pattern, after crunching the numbers I decided I wanted to have every third fold match.The repeat is 17", so I multiplied by 2 which is 34 and divided by 3, which is 11.3".  I wanted 7" folds instead of 6".  

 Now, in order to fabricate a shade in compliance with the safety standards, we have a limit of 16.9" loop.  This means the ring spacing on the fabric plus the equal amount of lift cord cannot exceed 8.45"- and many of us just round that down and figure a maximum of 8" ring spacing.  But on a hobbled shade, there is another loop to consider: the loop created by the tape plus the row spacing.  For a 6" fold, that allows 6" between rings on the tape, and a little over 10.5" row spacing on the fabric.   That's what I usually figure for hobbled shades with no pattern.

However, for THIS shade, after adding the 7" tape/fold spacing to the 11.3" row spacing, the "loop" was 18.3"- more than is allowed.  So----- here is how I devised a way around that!

I marked the horizontal rows at 11.3", and the tapes at 7", and began sewing them onto the shade.  You can see here that I have used ribs, but not pockets.   An X-shaped stitch holds the layers together around the rib, the tape is secured, and the ring sewn to the tape.

X-stitch securing the rib

Securing the tape

Adding the ring

So here's my little trick.  Another stitch is made 3/4" down from the ring, by sliding the needle under the lining, coming up, and taking a tiny little tack to hold the tape down.  This effectively removes 1.5" from the loop- bringing the loop to under 16.9"!!!  This tack is still within the underneath of the fold area and therefore doesn't interfere with the folds as the shade is raised.

Sliding needle 3/4" down under lining only

Tacking the tape

The tack barely shows!

This is by far the fastest hobbled shade method I've devised yet, even with the extra step taken to accommodate the pattern to keep the shade in compliance with the standards.

Getting comfortable to work my way up the shade