An Update, an Aha Moment, and a Mock-Up

I thought I should post an update on the applique shower curtain and shade we made for Katherine Stern.
When we installed this shower curtain, the header was improvised with a facing to the back enclosing clear buckram, and drapery pins, to make a "mock" ripplefold, using glides in the Aria H-Rail pole from Rowley.

The reason we had to improvise was- the ripplefold carrier in the fullness we needed was on backorder, and would not be in in time for a scheduled photoshoot.  So once the components came in, I brought the curtain back to the studio to modify, and the pole to rig.  The difference is possibly not noticeable to most people, but we were totally thrilled with the new look.

It was important to make the folds follow the pattern, so I had to improvise with the tape.  After I took apart the header and carefully secured it with pins, I cut the tape up into pieces, then used double-sided tape to place the sections to line the snaps up with the pattern. 
Then all I had to do was sew both sides, and re-sew the facing, by hand.  I made sure to catch through to the right side in the embroidered area, to keep the fabric from sagging on the front.
It might have been unnecessary, but I re-inserted the clear buckram.  I thought that since the tape was pieced the header might benefit from the extra support. 
I will say, all this made me very nervous.  I didn't actually know what I was doing until I started doing it.  Luckily I did the right thing!......

I'm not gonna lie, Ripplefold has been a hard concept for me to internalize.  It's hard enough with a solid fabric, but with a pattern you really have to be able to visualize how to plan.  Recently I made this little sample, and even after making it I didn't quite get it.

It wasn't until I looked at it from directly above that I had my "AHA MOMENT"- the carriers must be planned to fall BETWEEN the motifs that you want rippling to the front and the back!

Once again proving that a picture is worth a thousand words.  And a mock-up is worth a thousand pictures!
I have a ripplefold curtain coming up with a geometric pattern with a 6.875" horizontal repeat.  I'll be doing a mockup of that for sure.  The whole thing is one panel 134" wide and I want to know what I'm doing before I do it!

Oh! and- here's one result of that photoshoot.  I love how the photographer used the mirror!  This photo gives you a better idea of context for the shower curtain and shade.  Check out Katherine's website to see more of her fabulous work.