A week in the life

Sometimes it's hard to decide what to write up on the blog.  It's easy with whole-room projects, with lots of pretty "after" pictures and interesting "how we made it" shots; but some weeks are more hum-drum, filled with work on a smaller scale and a lot of variety.
So here's a sample week in the workroom.

The week started well, with a gorgeous Vervain hand-printed silk, for one of two duvet covers with microcording in the seams.   But the week derailed quickly, when the serger decided to take a bite out of the second duvet cover......... we had to order more fabric...... an expensive but oh-so-easy mistake. 

With the bedding package in limbo, I moved on to creative problem-solving.  A homeowner decided she wanted her hobbled shade lined with blackout.  Since it was going to be used as a valance only, and never raised or lowered, I cut strips of blackout fabric (which does not fray!) and used a tag gun to attach them at the rib pockets.

It worked.  Easy, cheap, and effective.

You can hardly tell.  The last strip just hangs loosely down to the bottom trim. 

During this week I had the opportunity to visit some of my work, which I had not yet seen since it was installed.

I love this shaped rose-colored contrast banding. 

And it was the first time I had seen the cornice that Liz from Paris Interiors had had made out of a carved wooden panel she got from a trip to Bali.  Very cool!  And, hey, we made those draperies!

Now it was time to get busy with real work.  My favorite project that week was two Roman shades out of an exquisite crewel.

It's a treat to get gorgeous fabrics like this.

I had nine shade/valances to make, along the lines of this three-sectioned opera shade.  It actually was not at all easy to get sections of unequal width to droop to the lengths the designer specified.  A lot of time was spent fiddling with it.

Then there were four self-lined Roman shades out of this wool-blend sheer.

If you've been following the shade safety discussions and know all about cord shrouds, you'll recognize this one from TechStyles.  I hadn't used this in awhile, since ladder tape became available, but in one week I used it on two different projects- this one, and a very wide box-patterened bronze sheer shade, which I forgot to photograph. 

Also that week were two solid cotton shades, 88" wide, with a jute tape trim- again, no photos.

However I did remember to grab the camera when the week ended with Pillow Day.   I forgot to take pictures of the gigantic (31x31") flanged shams that I made from a quilted velvet bedspread.........

The orange and brown pillows are gorgeous with the unusual three-toned loop brush fringe.

And the fun I had picking out zipper colors!  Every week should end with Pillow Day.