Tricky toile with lead edge flange

I was excited to receive this Schumacher toile for one pair of draperies, a width and a half each side.
The blue tape indicated the area of most color concentration across the width, and the designer wanted that area to be at around eye level on the finished panels.

Joining widths was the first challenge.  This fabric has a half drop repeat, but also a match that began about 7-8" in from the edge.  I decided to join all three widths first, and then determine where to cut up the middle for the half widths.  I used double-sided tape to ensure a perfect match, then serged the seams.

I was glad I did, because in addition to the half drop and the set in match, there was a considerable pattern drift as well, requiring some re-assessment of the pattern placement.  This pair of panels took as much time in thinking as it did in sewing!  Finally I was ready to split the middle width.

Next challenge was to plan a method for inserting a contrast flange into the lead edges, made from a 60%cotton 40%silk sateen.  The designer wanted the purple fabric to be padded.

The strip was cut to 4" and a fusible interfacing applied.  Then it was pressed in half, and a strip of fusible webbing ironed in, to keep the layers from shifting.

  

My biggest concern was how to control take-up from sewing the flange and facing to the face.  To mitigate that as much as possible, the flange was hand-basted in to place before being machine-sewn.  Those cutoff strips from the inset pattern match were not wasted- they became the facing for the lead edge side hems. 

Ta-da!

I haven't seen this treatment yet in its new home, but I did see the really cool Houles tiebacks chosen for draping the panels!

Nerves of steel, or reckless abandon?????

I can't decide which trait is more valuable when cutting a $400/yd Rubelli silk. Nerves of Steel? or Reckless Abandon? Boundless Self-Confidence? or Blind Faith?

I'll be back soon, I promise!!!!!  These last 2 weeks have been extremely hectic!  But I just downloaded a couple hundred photos so I've got stories to tell and pictures to go with them.  See you soon!

Best of Houzz 2015

Hey!  we were awarded Best of Houzz 2015 for Customer Service!!!!!

Two trims, two designers, some pretty valances

Funny how some fabrics and trims make multiple rounds through the workroom.  Even odder how some arrive at the same time from different decorators for different applications!

On the left, these two trims were layered to make one, and hand-sewn to Empire valances.  For a different designer, in two different rooms, the blue on the top right is a darker version of the lower left lighter blue and it was used on London shades, and the same raffia ball tassel was sewn into the seam on a valance.
I worked on all of these treatments at the same time, and they were installed within days of each other!
The doubled trims were first machine-joined.

The ensuing trim was first glue-basted to the valances, above the self-microcord, and then I went back and hand-sewed it both top and bottom edge.

The hand-sewing was necessary to keep it really flat along the microcord without any awkward buckling.

The valances are Empires, gathered instead of pleated, with horns that extend out and widened so I could make a sort of goblet pleat, dressed with buttoned Maltese crosses.

For the other designer, the raffia ball tassel was set into the self-lined flat shaped valances, so the tape doesn't show.

I'm not sure but this might just be the prettiest thing I've ever made.  The silhouette was based on a Moreland valance, but we flattened it out, joined it to its mirror image with a center pleat, and added stripped-down tails.  It doesn't get much prettier than this, in my book.

The blue tassel trim was applied to two classic London shades.  I can't believe I didn't take a close-up!  Also I didn't document the process of laying out the pattern- but the shades are drawn up so high that it doesn't even matter that I sweated over pattern layout!  Oh well.

Odd coincidence, huh!?

Christmas Gift Pillows

Happy New Year!  It's been nearly a month since I posted- December was hectic- so I thought I'd better hit the reset button and calm myself down.  I took a break from nearly everything, and here I am today, ready for the new year.

For my first post of 2015 I've been chomping at the bit to feature some printed silk pillows I made as gifts.  These  were more fun than it's possible to put into words.  I brought them home just so I could photograph them under the Christmas tree, before sending off to their recipients.

The small center pillow was made from a greeting card which I received.  The moment I saw it I knew it had to become a pillow, so I scanned it and printed it onto silk, then had a blast deciding how to put it together and embellish it.  The people depicted on the card are actually the senders, one of whom did the amazing artwork.

There was a lot of trial and error, printing and scanning onto a variety of printable fabrics, before I finally got it  printed onto silk with a color saturation close enough to the card. 

Once I had a print I was satisfied with, I fused the silk to white lining, then fused that onto the pillow face fabric.

Then the fun began.  I rummaged with abandon, digging out treasured bits of trims before settling on this combination, which I hoped was just bad enough to be good.

It was a hit!

I used a similar technique to print one of my own photos onto silk- sunset over the Hudson River from Croton Point.  The color has been barely manipulated, just enough to enhance the turquoise and blue to blend with the beautiful watery silk strie face fabric.  A little braid frame echos the creamy sunset colors, and vibrant turquoise baby corduroy microcord completes the embellishment.

The baby corduroy came in handy for the Eiffel tower pillows too.

For a Paris lover, I ordered from Spoonflower these two Eiffel tower photos printed onto a cotton-silk blend, then backed the fabric with plush napped cotton sateen.

They're backed with a soft charcoal colored linen and welted with that turquoise microcord.

 

Also from Spoonflower I found a great Dr Who print- the Tardis in Van Gogh's "Starry Night."   One yard made two, one apiece for two Whovians.  A little more rummaging through the trim treasure bin yielded this black popcorn fringe that is just silly enough.

And there you have it, Christmas gift pillows!

A surprise, improv, return flaps, and color-block

Workrooms often don't get to see their work in a truly finished room.
Often when we go to measure, the room is still under construction, like this one.

The day we came to install the treatments, there was a carpet in place but no furniture.

There was also a big surprise.

These built-ins were not there when I measured!!! 
The shade needed barely 1/4" off one side of the board.  The fabric fit just fine.
Well, we are nothing if not problem-solvers, and Mario's improv experience serves him well in all phases of his life.  He wielded the saw, and I helped by applying my weight to the miter box.  A little hot glue and a couple of screws later, that shade was hangable.

Fusible buckram has more magical uses than I can count, and one of my faves is to stiffen return flaps for shades.  Here I made 5 pair.  Sewing them makes them too bulky so I use double-sided adhesive. 

A quick fold and steam-

And they're ready to be attached.

Here they are from the front, on a different shade.

A peek underneath-

And from behind:

Curious to see the color-block shade?

 

Straight of grain

Keeping the grain straight is essential for window treatments to hang beautifully.
I've shown this shade before, while discussing dyeing the ladder tape.  It's a faux linen grainy polyester with a bit of metallic threads.

 

The following pictures might easily be the most boring photos ever shown on a blog, sorry!  But at least I did remember to take them, and they do illustrate the story......

 It was easy to cut and press the fabric on the grain because of the chunky weave.  But the shade is longer than my table, so before shifting the fabric to mark and sew the last row of rings, I ran a red thread along the grain line to make it easy to shift the fabric and re-align the grain.  It's especially helpful that you can see through sheer or semi-sheer fabrics to the dark grid lines underneath!

The line remained when it came time to staple the shade to the board, so I could measure up from the line to double-check that the grain stayed true.  Here I'm using the covered board to check it against the gridded table.  I think I said, boring pictures?

I didn't remove the red thread until the shade was finished and strung and hanging.  Just to be sure!