Two miscellaneous shades

This master bath hobbled shade was motorized.  It's over a tub and it's impossible to reach the shade to operate manually without standing in the tub. 
We did the sewing and subbed out the motorization part.  Yes, we could have done that ourselves.  But, really, the learning curve has been so steep these days with all the new shade standards, new products, and new fabrication methods, that I was totally thrilled to hand over the motorization to an expert.

This little center-pleat relaxed roman shade is just used as a stationary valance.  I love it!  The face fabric is a sheer silk and it's lined with a very beautiful goldish-tan sheer cotton lining which gives it that warm glow.

A Peek into Debi's brain.....

.................a scary place, but welcome!
When I plan a project I resort to my own system of primitive sketches.  There are all kinds of worksheets available for figuring out stuff like this, but in the end I go back to my own sketches.  After the job is done I keep the notes and  drawings with the order.
Here are a worksheets for a few recent orders.

This is how I planned out the pink center pleat relaxed roman.  If I don't draw it like this, in "chunks" representing the sections and returns, I get my mirror images confused.  One thing that has to be taken into account is the center of the "swoop" on the end sections, because the ends also have returns and deep side hems.  On a solid it doesn't matter, but for patterned fabrics it does.  So the cut pieces for the left and right sides are not identical, but the centers match.

For the ten center pleat shades out of the green print, the layout was more complicated because there were seven single, a double, and two triple:

And my worksheet looked like this- shades A, B, C, D, and E, with the centers marked for each section.

I need to have every bit of information all on one sheet, in my own shorthand which I can instantly understand, even if it's gibberish to anybody else.  I get worried when it's gibberish to ME! 

I know there are wonderful computer rendering programs to eliminate the need to sketch out designs to scale; I own one of them; nevertheless, I love and prefer to work with graph paper and a pencil so I can whip up ideas on the spur of the moment.   

For these treatments, I sketched, to scale, a number of variations of proportion and consolidated them on two pages for evaluation.   We went with the versions on the second sheet which were much more appealing.  Everyone agreed that the half-sections peeking out from under the shirred panels looked more intriguing than full sections would have.

Once the design was chosen I used the same page to begin planning my cutting layout.  In the end the final section sizes were determined by the horizontal pattern repeat: therefore the diamonds match at the folds.

Here is a worksheet for a kick pleat valance with contrast inserts.  The seams needed to be offset so they didn't fall in the middle of the insert, or at the fold of the pleat.  I've drawn rectangles to represent the cutting sizes of the solid sections and the patterned sections.

Here's my worksheet for a swag and jabot treatment.  The decorator specified the width and depth of the components.  Once I had all my numbers on one sheet, I could begin drafting my full-scale patterns. 

Another center pleat relaxed roman shade

This one is a faux silk with Apollo room-dimming lining.

The Apollo lining makes the faux silk gather up in a casual, crunchy way that I like.  We chose the mesh tube shroud, anchored with cable ties at each ring, for this shade.

Ethereal Pole Swags

Transforming his master bedroom was easy with these ethereal pole swags and panels.

This Larsen fabric, "Inca", softly frames the view.  Window treatments bring down the high, angled ceiling to a gentler scale.

1" metal poles presented an installation challenge.  With both swags and panels to mount, 1" didn't give us much room.  The panels are attached with 1.25" velcro shirring tape, and the swags with 1/2" wide velcro.  The poles were candy-cane wrapped with sticky-back velcro hook.  Amazingly, all the layers somehow fit!

Another challenge was how to achieve the throw-style look the homeowner wanted.  Certain elements affected the proportions and dictated the final design: first, the corner; also the fact that the poles end in elbows, not returns; and the 16" of wall space between the windows.  

The ends of the treatment areas are anchored with "over" panels; the other panels are "under."  Over the wall space, swags are criss-crossed.

Velcro wrapped easily around the elbows for a waterfall drapery effect.  The rods are by Ona, a Vesta line, and custom painted with their "champagne" finish.

Showhouse Opens!

At last, the Designer Showhouse of Westchester opened to a gala preview last night!  A guest bedroom by Susan Marocco Interiors was a favorite, exuding her trademark "Approachable Elegance."

A steady stream of visitors sighing with delight rewarded all the hard work that went into creating the room.  The three-layer trim on the draperies and the curved mounting board were a great success.

It was too chaotic to concentrate on taking a good full-room photo!  These will have to do, for now.

The Euro shams are flanged with the silk pleated ribbon that provided the base for the drapery trim treatment; for the pillows, it is folded in half and sewn in.

Fragments from earlier projects provided a hint of contrast to the mostly monochromatic palette, the front pillow also showing off the drapery's three-layer trim treatment. 

The horizontal striped bedskirt peeks out from under the quilted silk coverlet; the asymmetrical stripe is repeated in two pillows, not in place for this photo, but you can see them in one of the above photos.

An interesting variation

Valances are most often placed over drapery panels; in this unusual case, the valance is under the panels. 

It was fun figuring out the various options for the scalloped kick pleat valances to keep them in proportion with each other.

I think the valance half-sections peeking out from under the shirred panels is intriguing.  This is only the second time I've ever done valances and panels this way, and I have another job coming up soon using that concept, though it will be a very different style and context.   

The valances do not go all the way to the ends of the boards;  that allowed more flexibility in sizing the sections.  The panels were sewn with velcro shirring tape; the hook side of the velcro was stapled to the board with increments marked off so the installer and decorator could decide on-site how wide to shirr up the panels.

That Showhouse Pleat

Geometric patterns like this lend themselves exceptionally well to pleated drapery applications.  When pleated uniformly, the results can be stunning.  

Here is where boutique custom fabrication distinguishes itself from factory custom fabrication.  It's just a small detail, but, to pleat this fabric on pattern, we needed to make 8 pleats for a width and a half, instead of the standard 7.

The designer requested the "showhouse pleat" that we used for the draperies in her showhouse bedroom (more on that soon!).   The more prominent center finger of the pleat is flanked by two shallower fingers.

These panels create continuity and drama along the dining room French doors.

I'm hoping I get a chance to see these panels again after the grasscloth wallpaper is hung later this month.