Rouched top panels and valance

Strangely, some styles come through the workroom in waves of threes.  Austrian shades is one of those styles; we had three orders in a row last year; and rouched top panels are the latest wave.

This luscious and ethereal version, by Elizabeth of Harlow Design, was done in sheer, unlined, embroidered silk.

Two flaps of fabric and triple fullness shirred up beautifully using Rowley's translucent pencil pleat tape.  The success of this treatment depends on patient dressing when installing.

These were hung on plain curtain rods.  After the panel was completed, I sewed on loops of 1" translucent tape to create rod pockets.

Spaced 9" apart, after the panels were shirred the pockets were 3" apart, close enough to hold the panel securely on the rod.

Elizabeth carried the rouched theme into the adjacent bath with a heavily fringed valance on medallions.  This valance had just one flap of fabric whereas panels usually have two.  Loops for hanging were made from strands of the fringe and are hand-tacked to the back.

Nicole of Suite Dream had us make rouched panels out of mauve silk, which are also hung on curtain rods but, in this case, using drapery pins.

To prevent the possibility of the shirring tape ever showing, I nudge the top flap fabric over the tape and sew it down.

This row of stitching is hidden by the rouching after the panel is dressed.

Our last wave of three rouched panel projects included these interlined embroidered silk panels, designed by Liz of Paris Interiors. 

They were so successful that she repeated the look for another room, using a heavy taffeta with velvet stripes.

And riffing on the usual rouched top style, I added a lot of embellishment to these panels.