84" tieback

The story of the 84" tieback is the third installment of the oversize ripplefold project for Crosstown Shade and Glass.    Though it looks simple, it was anything but- to create the smooth, sleek crescent I envisioned, I decided to hand-sew it.

The first step was getting the correct proportions.  Obviously if the panel was just 8' long, the tieback would've been much narrower.  Steve from Crosstown measured and determined that the wide point should be 8" and taper down to 4" ends.

It was up to me to draft the boat-shaped pattern.  The tieback was 84" wide in all,  and the fabric widths were joined so the seam would be in the back.  This was the only machine sewing.

I thought that buckram was necessary to help the tieback keep its shape, and I also knew that machine-sewing right sides together and turning was not going to give me the sleekness I envisioned, so I made the tieback sort of like I make a soft cornice, layering the face fabric, interlining and Skirtex. 

The interlining was trimmed close to the buckram, the curves were clipped in the face fabric, and Jewel tape applied to the buckram.

The face fabric was folded over, secured with the tape, then gently steamed into shape.

The self lining was layered on, the raw edges turned under leaving a little edge that I could sew to.  Then the entire perimeter of the tieback was hand-sewn with tiny ladder stitches to secure the self lining to the face.

This gave me exactly the look I wanted to achieve.

I think it's perfect :)