Greek Key shade, continued-

Well, I have quite a backlog of projects to show you; I've been waiting for installations, client photos, before-and-after opportunities, or whatever, so I'd have the whole story.  This week I'll focus on getting some of those photo series posted.

For the Greek Key shades I just couldn't wait for the "after" picture, so I showed the workroom shots last week- scroll down to read the previous post. 
Today, yay, I can show you the shades on-site, courtesy of Daniel Silva at Fabric Factory Outlet in Fairfield NJ: 

I had a hard time deciding how to apply the ribbon until I read a post by Liz Hawkes on the CHF Forum about her stencil method, and then it all fell into place.

First I drew out the entire shade, 4 corners and all, on 1" gridded pattern paper.

I then cut a stencil out of template plastic and pinned it in place on the fabric.

I traced the entire pattern onto the shade with purple disappearing pen, which I tested beforehand on the glazed linen fabric. 

Starting at the spot where the ribbon overlaps itself, I sewed around the pattern, holding the outside corners in place with a seam ripper while pivoting.  The hardest part was turning the fabric, keeping the needle in place and stuffing it all under the machine arm trying not to crumple it! 

With just one side sewn, it's a little scary looking, all wobbly and a little unnerving- I wondered if I'd ever get it to sew down nice and crisp- (and professional-) looking.

But after the second go-round, and tacking down the corners, it was neat as a pin. 

Now I have to say something about the machine I used, my Juki TL-98Q, designed for quilters.  It can be instructed to end with the needle in or out of the fabric, and there is a button which clips the thread for you.  It makes a wonderful neat stitch with perfect tension.  For the mitered corners, I used that auto-clip at the beginning and end of every corner.  This machine has its issues, but I do love it for fussy sewing like this.

Here is the shade from the back, tabled and pressed, waiting for its lining:

I didn't want any stitching on the front, so I devised a new way (to me, at least) to insert the lining.  On the sides the lining is pressed under.  At the bottom it's pinned to the hem:

Then opened back up, transferred to the machine, and sewn in two parallel rows to create the weight bar pocket.  After it was back on the table and laid out, the sides were hand-sewn.