Topping off the Roman Shade

We use toppers for Roman shades under a variety of circumstances, from utilitarian to aesthetic.
Crosstown Shade and Glass requested reverse mount for these shades: the shade falls off the back of the mounting board, allowing the bead chain loop to hang conveniently in front of the inside-mounted shades.  A topper hides the mechanism, and the grommets that route the lift cords to the front of the shade for rigging.

There plenty of methods for making toppers.  In this case, we wrapped 1/4" hobby wood with blackout fabric and interlining before covering it with the face fabric, so these toppers are thin but rigid, and slightly padded.

The wood doesn't come in the size we needed, so we pieced it together.  This topper had to be about 7-8" long in order to hide the grommets that route the lift cords from the back of the shade to the front, where the reverse-mounted lift system is located.

During preparation, double-sided adhesive tape secured the linings.

The shade is rigged and strung before the topper is made, because, for one reason, once it's on, the shade is hard to hang for testing.  We used the Rollease traversing clutch- an industry tried-and-true- because it offers the most versatility.  The bead chain loop was specified to hang 2" in from the end, and with some other systems this would push the outermost columns 5-5.5" in from the edge- too far, in our opinion.  The outer columns on these shades are about 3" in from the edge, and ribs in the folds keep the sides from drooping.  In case you're wondering, these shades are blackout, made with our own no-pinholes-of-light fabrication technique.

Another reason for making the topper after the shade is mounted is so we can be sure we match the pattern to the shade body.  The third reason is to be sure the topper is long enough to hide the grommets.  Sometimes in the workroom we will raise the shade up to the height of the window to double-check what that length should be. 
The topper is nail-gunned to the board face, then the fabric wrapped to the top of the board.

I am pretty thrilled with the pattern match!  And, of course, I love the pleat-to-pattern of the folds :)  Are we tired of that yet?!?