Curtains in 2017!

For someone mainly known as a Roman shade maker, I sure have had a LOT of drapery orders these last few months.  And since I acquired a few old/new-to-me sewing machines this year, I was able to handle the volume and enjoy the process.
I still LOVE sewing draperies by hand, however!  The penultimate drapery job before Christmas break was Ripplefold for 34' of window space, and these 20 widths of fabric were entirely hemmed by hand.  Nicole Gray of Suite Dream designed the treatment with 4 panels, each using 7 yards of a double-wide poly-linen blend.  Right now the Architrac rods are visible, but soon they'll be covered with a painted cornice.   This is the installation day photo- more to come after the job is complete.

 A few days before the Ripplefold, Nicole installed these 8 banded panels for a bay and two side windows.

Appropriate fabric choice is a key element of successful draperies.  Here the woven-patterned banding fabric paired perfectly with the medium-weight poly-linen blend.

The hems were pressed into the face fabric before the widths were joined, eliminating the need to table the bottom separately.

I'm loving my newly acquired machines!  From the straight stitch machine, the fabric moved to the new/old super-fast Rimoldi for the raw edges to be overlocked......

 .....then down the line to the blindhemmer for the bottom hems.

The banding fabric was basted in place with Dofix's Bortenfix K basting adhesive before sewing to keep it from shifting.  The banding was sewn at the 4" line so it could be wrapped with a full 4" on the back as well.  Although I'm showing the photo here, the banding was actually the first thing done, even before the widths were joined.  That meant less bulk to handle while sewing the band.

 I worked in pairs so I'd be sure not to make a mistake and make more lefts than rights.  The first panel took longer than it should have because I hadn't developed a method yet.  After the first one I realized I'd save time by doing as much of the bottom corner as possible before laying in the lining.  The edge was pressed, the bottom trimmed, and the panel laid into the Drawmatic clamp bar with the corner kept free.  The hemline of the band fabric was kept loose and unpressed, so the bottom line could be manipulated a bit in case there was take-up.

I shifted the corner onto the table so I could work with it more easily.  The corner weight was tag-gunned in place.

The band is folded up....

Tucked in...... (the first 4" of hem was left unstitched to allow for this step).......

And re-positioned under the clamp.

The lead edge was folded, pressed, and pinned after laying in the napped sateen lining.

The bottom corners were pinned in place.  The lead edges, with the banding, were sewn by hand, and the return edges were machine blindhemmed.

My favorite thread for hand-sewing side hems is Silamide thread.  It doesn't tangle, it glides easily, and has just a wee bit of give that keeps the seams from clenching up.   I use a single thread for most hemming, but for drapery bottom and top corners I double the thread.

The bay window panels had two lead edges with banding, for a total of 8 panels, 13 widths, and 10 lead edges.

Quite an adventure!  These 43 widths were made in addition to a set of sheer pinch pleat (14 widths), two pairs of lined and interlined top tack with decorative tape (6 widths), and two pairs of sheer lined with sheer top tack (6 widths).  A total of 69 widths in the 10 days before closing for Christmas break!  All side hems were machine blind-hemmed except for the ripplefold above, and the 10 banded lead edges.
Not shown: low-bulk method for tabling the tops, and the pleats being tacked with my new/old Chandler tacker- a super-time-saver!