Happy New Year, Blog!!!

Hey!  This blog is now 6 years old!
For my first post of the new year, here is a project for Paris Interiors in Scarsdale NY that included something of everything: a relaxed shade, a soft cornice, a 14' hard cornice, interlined pinch pleats with exquisite trim, and 14' of sheers.

The shade and soft cornice were in adjoining rooms, made from the same fabric- a taupe Scottish lace from Noblis-  but treated very differently.

In the living room, a luxurious ombre silk from Romo became stationary  pinch pleat panels mounted over a cornice, with grey traversing sheers under.

The shade is flat, with the rings set in 10" to create generous tails.  The bottom is trimmed with layered tape and glass beads from Samuel and Sons.  In case you wonder about the proportions, the width is about 65".  The lace is lined with a plain winter white voile.

I'm falling in love again with soft cornices.

This one was made on two layers of buckram.  Here the fabric is laid out over the paper pattern and photographed for the designer's approval.

Napped lining in khaki was layered under the lace, and a tiny lip cord finished the bottom edge.  All of this was hand-sewn, not glued.  It's not that I'm anti-adhesive, it's just that I like the results of sewing better with this little lip cord, plus sewing is more fun.

The top was finished with a 1/4" braid lip cord.

I wasn't sure if the treatment would need legs, but it did.  We didn't want the treatment to extend much beyond the molding, so I made the legs out of 1/4" hardwood from Home Depot.

The breathtaking trim for the LR panels came from Zimmer-Rohde.  It is applied by Dofix.  The pinch pleats are tacked by hand, with the thread looping around the front of the pleats.  Unfortunately it was totally impossible to pleat this to pattern, but I think it is fine anyhow!

 The sheers were also entirely sewn by hand.  I LOVE sewing sheers.

It was important to keep the face of the cornice untouched in case the client ever wants to use it without the panels.  I slipped pin strip from Rowley under the loosened top welt.  It was a little tricky hooking the drapery pins into the little holes, but Mario managed to do so, gracefully.

Little screw eyes provided a spot to hang the returns.

It took awhile to dress this silk, but Mario excels at that.  I let out the lead edge hem on one side and re-stitched on-site, to let it down a little- it didn't want to reach the floor without some coaxing.

I learned a lot from this installation.  That's why it's important for workrooms to get out there when their products are being installed.  Seeing the challenges and devising solutions informs protocol for the next time around with the same treatment.