Now it's time for the drapes that go over those sheers! The fabric is a gorgeous blue flower embroidered linen-like fabric. There are four windows, so eight panels. Finished length 109". Each panel will be one fabric width wide.
Here is an overview of the fabric pattern.
The first task is to turn up the double 6" hem and hand stitch it in place. What made this project a little more trouble is I decided the lining should back all of the visible fabric. Otherwise, the embroidered design could show through to the front, and we can't have that! That means the lining tucks all the way inside the side hems - all the way to the fold - and needs to be in front of the bottom hem folds. Since I am leaving the lining hem loose at the bottom (to prevent any stretches and pulls), I had to cut a piece of lining and tuck it inside the hem before I sewed it shut. That is what the picture to the left shows.
The side seams were going to present a problem because (1) the lining needs to go all the way to the fold, so I can't just match up selvages, (2) the lining has to fit inside the panel -perfectly-, without any tugs or ripples. The method I used is a lot of trouble, but results in a beautiful lining insertion. First, I laid my fabric face down on the table and turned in 3" and pressed. Then tucked 1" under and pressed. I did this on both sides. Then I laid the lining down face up and tucked the edges down the side seams all the way in and all the way down. (The lining was cut so it was exactly the width to fit fold-to-fold.) I needed a way to pin the fabric and lining so that I could take the panel to the machine and stitch the lining to the main fabric at the inside (1") fold. As the picture on the left shows (with the main fabric to the left), I put straight pins in the -lining only- about every six inches down the side, where the straight pins are exactly along the fold, but not going through it. Then I placed a straight pin in the main fabric positioned so it crosses the vertical straight pin where it goes into the lining.
Then (and this is the worst part), I lift up the lining and place it -under- the main fabric, opening up the main fabric outside fold as shown, lining the straight pins on the lining with the inside (1") fold and matching the straight pin on the main fabric to the point the vertical pin enters the lining. That is shown in the bottom set of pins in the picture. Then I pull out the vertical pin and use it to attach the main fabric to the lining (center set of pins), then pull out the pin from the main fabric and use it to also attach the fabric to the lining (at the top of the picture). I made this picture a little bigger so you could see.
Then I open up the seam fold and stitch on the fold line.
Now the lining is in, I tuck under the bottom corners at an angle and hand stitch in place. I have not talked about the lining, but it is hemmed with a 2" double hem, just a little shorter than the finished panel length.
For the header: I measure the true top of the panel and mark with a pin along the width of the fabric. Then iron on the buckram above the pins, aligning the bottom edge of the buckram with the pins. With the buckram now on, I tuck under one inch and press, then fold the buckram over as shown on the left and hand-stitch the bottom edge of the header to the lining.
Here are the eight panels ready to pleat. Notice that the pattern of the panels on the left do not line up perfectly as the five on the right do. They start out the same on the other end, then gradually get out of line. This must be a result of the embroidery process, which is done on top of the woven base fabric. I take this into account when matching panels to windows.
These pictures illustrate marking and stitching the pleats. On the right are stitched pleat folds.
As I pinched the pleats I experimented with tacking, and decide they look cleaner when I enter the pleat from behind, make stitches back and forth, then exit to the back and fasten off.
Here are the standard drapery pins we will use to attach the drapes to rings. This thick embroidered fabric, together with the buckram and lining, is very stiff and difficult to pin! It helped to use needle-nose pliers to hold the pins.
The finished drapes are shown below - finished except for being "trained" to hang correctly. After installing them, we arranged the drapes and loosely tied them together with scrap strips of cloth. After several days, the strips were removed but I wasn't on hand to take additional pictures! Note: I used screw eyes to attach the ends of the drapes to the wall to provide a finished outside edge.
Isn't this fabric beautiful in this room?
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