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Tuesday, June 16, 2015

Ethereal wool sheer

I won't understate the case, this project, designed by Christopher Robert Matson, was a LOT OF WORK.   Thanks to his amazing vision as well as the talent and determination of my team of you-know-who-you-are hand-sewers, this project is as sublime as I had hoped.  Of course, I only "see" the window treatments, but they are but one element of the space Christopher has created.
Iron rodding from ONA Hardware wraps around this U-shaped space totaling 461".  The Rogers & Goffigon sheer wool draperies are trimmed with a loop braid trim from Samuel and Sons. 
The stationary draperies are made to 2.5x fullness, and are meant to cover only the wall spaces, so in addition to the 2.5x pleating fullness, I added 50% to the area width so they would look as if they'd been drawn open.  So relative to the space covered, the fabric is about 5x full.
The available space at the ends is constrained by a built-in at the far right.  The French pole return allowed us to maintain fullness even wrapping around.
The loop braid was sewn on by hand, the stitches hiddedn in between the little cords.  Thank you to you-know-who-you-are!
The lead edge side hem is doubled over to reach the far edge of the trim, so the stitching from sewing the trim is completely covered.
I joined the widths with French seams that made my heart skip a beat :) after they were pressed.
What can I say about these impossibly perfect hand-tacked pleats.  These pleats make me swoon.  Thank you, to another you-know-who-you-are!
There's so much to say about all the different steps of this project- and for a change I remembered to take plenty of photos.  I'll continue writing about this project, focusing on the fabrication, hardware, and installation as the week progresses. 

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4 comments:

  1. Susan WoodcockJune 16, 2015 at 1:52 PM

    Absolutely beautiful!

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  2. KathyAugust 7, 2015 at 1:32 AM

    these are beautiful. Could you explain how you spaced the pleats to get the fullness of these panels? How many inches in each pleat? How many inches in each space?

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  3. hudsondebbAugust 7, 2015 at 7:30 AM

    Thank you, Kathy! These are stationary and I wanted them to look like they'd been drawn open, so first I multiplied the width of each area being covered by 1.5. Then I made the draperies at 2.5x. That width. I put 4" in each space and 6" in each pleat, plus 4" for each trimmed lead edge. So, for example, on an area 36" wide, I multiplied that by 1.5 for a finished width of 54", then multiplied that by 2.5, which meant 135" of fabric plus the side hems and seams. I didn't think in terms of number of widths; I planned my pleats and spaces, and trimmed each cut so every seam would fall at the side of a pleat.

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