A closer look- my faves

Of the 10 shades I made for Liz and showed off in the previous post, this little guy is probably my favorite, or should I say the one I most would like to have for myself.

I just love the valance shape.   
And I love how I used the unembroidered selvdege to make a banding around the valance, and I love how I applied the trim so the bead hangs over the band.

Can you tell that I worked out the detailing myself?   Yes, I'm slightly in love with this shade!  Also I'm obsessed with anything remotely star-shaped.

It was not easy working the plain band fabric cut on the lengthwise grain, not bias, into the curves and the inside corner.  But I was determined, and with a couple of tucks strategically hidden behind beads, it worked.

Competing against the star shade for my personal favorite is this sheer silk with horizontal jute lines.  I've used this fabric before, for flat romans, but since I had the choice this time, I made the shade relaxed instead, and tied up the bottom two rings for a permanent fold, which I think helps disguise the covered weight rod.

When I worked on this fabric last year with another decorator, we came up with using twill tape to bind the edges, since the cut edges can't be sewn.   I love binding!  This was 1" twill tape, but in the past I've also used it in larger sizes.  It's folded in half over itself, glued into place, then when dry it's topstitched close to the edge.  My gridded fabric table top helps make sheer shades a breeze- you can see right through the fabric and line up the jute.

The tassel trim made it easier to deal with the bottom.  It's hand-sewn to a row of jute, and got another layer of hand-stitching after the hem was folded up.

On the back I also ran hand-sewing along the two jute lines that overlap, to prevent them from shifting.  There was another line or two of hand-stitching to stabilize everything.  As you can see I kept it very simple.  The weight rod was covered in a tube made from khaki lining and tacked at the lowest ring so the shade is very stable.

Now that it's in the store, this little sweetie of a shade is going to get some sort of topper to hide the cord lock.  Either something out of a wonderful fabric, or a carved wood cornice from, I don't know, Bali, or someplace like that.