Fab Fabric Friday!

So much wonderful work coming up!  I've been busy making mockups and samples, so, for now, a preview.....

For Mock Hobbled Valances

My Mock Hobbled Valance Sample- nearly finished....

For a London shade with contrast inserts in pleats

Faux bois for a bolster

Breathtaking sheer for skirted balloon shades

Workroom sample of skirted balloon, a work in progress....

Detail of tiny blue trim on shade skirt

More box pleated panels!

Board-mounted box pleated panels is such a popular style right now.
You might remember this 12' shade which we made a few weeks ago.  It was designed to have box pleated side panels covering each end.   

Small boards were covered with fabric and prepared with velcro, so the panels would be on the same plane as the shade. 

The panels were pleated and secured with a tag gun before leaving the workroom.

We used 1.5 widths per side and cut it down to allow 5 identical sections.

The installer kindly sent me an iPhone picture of the installed products.  If I get better photos in the future, I'll be sure to post them!

Details: black on black

I cleaned up my computer desktop last night, and discovered eight or ten sets of photos for blog "stories" that I never got around to posting.  Here's one of them: a little dog-ear relaxed roman shade.

Believe it or not, the face fabric is a black and white sheer, and the shade is backed with black sateen lining.  Bead trim is sewn in at the bottom. 

We used a black cord lock and black lift cord from Rowley, and clear rings disappear against the black.  So from the outside, the fittings are unobtrusive.  

Swag variation- straight bottom- and a "duh" moment!

Recreating window treatments from a photograph is sometimes part of the workroom's job.  Sometimes we have design input, but sometimes we are required to simply make what is ordered.
I was asked to duplicate a swag with a flat, straight bottom, that was seen in a magazine.  After much experimenting, I developed this mock-up.  I based the swag specs on that bottommost fold, using Ann Johnson's swag book.  I pretended that was the swag silhouette, and then left a lot of excess fabric, which I cut away to get the shape I sought.
Postscript *** Here's the "duh" moment: Now I am realizing that I basically was creating a variation of an Empire valance.  Those straight sides are where horns would be sewn to an Empire.***

I was so surprised when I unstapled the mockup- for the bottom to appear practically straight, the bottom edge actually is a concave curve.  This is the weirdest swag pattern I've ever made!

The real fabric is a plaid, however, and I didn't want the bottom edge to be cut off-pattern, so on this one point I compromised and cut it straight on the bottom, which meant the sides raised up a little higher than wished, but I didn't think the alternative would've been attractive at all.  Here it is before pleating..... strange, huh!
Postscript *** and now that I've had my "duh" moment, I see that it's just a very big Empire swag, with separate jabots instead of attached horns! ***

Ta-da!  The final product.  The swag dimensions, as well as the jabot style, short point, long point, and face width, were all specified by the client to be based on the very fuzzy photocopy of a photograph.
Postscript *** Well, if I had recognized this treatment as a wide Empire, I still would have had to draft a pattern from scratch, but it might have been easier if I had visualized this pattern shape in the first place. ***

Bottom trim on Roman shades

Two sets of shades, both with beautiful bottom trims- here's a representative shade from each group:

Gold mesh curtains

Yesterday I forgot to post the pictures of the curtains that go over those unlined hobbled shades.

This mesh is viscose and poly.  It took the iron well, pressed readily, and was easy to sew.  It's very fluid, and drapes beautifully.   Because the curtains will be inside mounted, we kept the fullness down by making two-finger French pleats.  

The curtains are short, so we used 2" translucent buckram.   Side and bottom hems were all hand-sewn, as well as the little pinches for the pleats.  In fact, the only machine sewing is the where the pleats are sewn.

Unlined sheer hobbled shades with ladder tape

Ever since encased cord shroud tape became available, from Rowley, I've been using it very successfully for hobbled shades. 
But for these unlined semi-sheer hobbled shades, I wanted something that would not be so visible through the fabric.

Since the shades were so lightweight, I thought I could use ladder tape without rings, and it worked beautifully.  The shades raised up without any friction, and the folds readily stacked up on top of each other.  The scrunched up ladder is all but invisible through the fabric.

Designers Resource in Lodi NJ carries ladder tape in several colors, and this color blends perfectly with the fabric. 

I used my favorite thread- Coats Extra Strong Upholstery thread, which really is super extra strong, and also knots tightly without slipping.

Ladder tape would not be suitable for any but the lightest weight shades.  For lined shades I'll continue to use the encased cord shroud tape, as shown here.