Dawn Sewing and Crafts: December 2014

What?? ME have a little time on my hands and just enjoy the moment? Rare! This was just the dangerous situation I found myself in last week. After all, there are so many projects at home needing to be done. For one thing, the drapes in my den have needed a makeover for some time. They are too long for a recessed area two of the windows are in. And they let in too much light around the top for this room, which we watch TV in. And they were hard to open and close because they were gathered on the rod. I have actually thought about what I wanted to do for a long time, and decided to just take care of it this week.

My solution was to cut off the drapes to the correct length and use the cut off part to make a valence. I'll just describe this part because I should NEVER be trusted to be the one that takes pictures of everything that needs pictures, and I'm afraid I fell down on the job again this time.

I knew I would have about 13" to cut out. To preserve the existing hem of the drapes and lining, I took this 13" out at the bottom edge of the rod pocket at the top. After cutting out the piece and putting it aside, I attached the long bottom piece to the rod pocket heading. I knew that piecing seam would not be noticeable there. At the same time, I inserted interlining to give the drape body and add insulating qualities -- this room tends to get cold in the winter.

After attaching the lower drape to the header, I put in pinch pleats so the drape could be opened and closed easily and retain evenly-spaced gathers when closed. I did not use a header tape because I wanted it to be soft and stay open when opened. Plus, the pinch pleats themselves will not show under the valence and did not need to be so crisp and perfect.

The drapes finished, I hung them using cafe rings on the same inexpensive sheer rod they were on before. The cafe rings and sheer rood will not show under the valence.

To make the valences, I planned to hem the strip I removed from each panel and staple it to a 1x4 board, and mount it above the drapes. But I felt the valence needed some decoration or interesting feature. I had heard about appliqueing Celtic designs or monograms using bias tape and decided to be my own guinea pig so I would be experienced should a client request this feature.

I went online and found what is a fairly typical Celtic design. I printed it out, enlarged it to the size I wanted, and made a pattern. After completing the valence, I positioned the design in the middle.

I punched holes in the key turns and used a fabric marker to mark the design and then connect them to form the entire design.

Next I prepared the bias tape. I had wanted to take the easy way out and find a packaged bias tape, but could not find one in the color I wanted. I couldn't find cotton either, which would have been the easiest fabric to make bias tape with. I did find a really pretty gold heavy satin. The satin was a beautiful choice for this, but not friendly for making bias tape!! I eventually figured out a method that worked for me and got busy applying it to my prepared valence.

I used a mini-iron (shown here) because I needed something small to work with this 3/8" wide tape. The mini-iron I purchased - the Clover Mini Iron II - is really the only choice out there. And it is a piece of junk! (Not to put too fine a point on it!) Within 20 minutes, the metal rod coming out of the handle (inside the plastic guard you see on the left) came loose and wiggled around in the plastic housing! It was not usable that way. I discovered the rod does not go all the way down the handle but is "anchored" only about a 1/4" inside it! After much frustration, I found a way to have it held centered inside the plastic guard and was able to keep working.

The finished design!! I thought it turned out well after all the frustrating twists and turns.

This picture shows the updated drapes. By the way, I added blackout lining inside the valences so light wouldn't come through and interfere with the look. I'm sorry I don't have "before" pictures, because this is a 100% improvement!

I'm starting on a baby nursery for a client this week. I'll keep you posted!

This project was to create the window and bed curtains for a soft, "marshmallow" guest room. All of the treatments were to be hung from ceiling height (10') and made with white voile - nearly 50 yards!

There were two tall windows, with the sheers to be hung just under the crown molding and puddling slightly below. There was to be a panel on each side of both windows. The queen size bed was to be surrounded with sheers hung from the ceiling, two panels of sheers per side. That is a total of 12 panels of sheers! Yikes!

The window panels were hung slightly lower that ceiling height, but needed to puddle. The bed panels were to go from ceiling to floor. The window panels were going to be pinch pleated with a 5" header, using tabs behind to go over the rod; the bed panels were going to have a sleeve go over the rod, with a ruffle at the top. The first step was to cut all of the panels, the window panels just a couple of inches shorter than the bed panels. I marked and numbered each piece with a bit of masking tape. One complication was I lacked enough fabric to cut two of the panels to their full length. I ended up suggesting these could be the bed header panels, where the pieced part would not show. My client agreed and we purchased some additional fabric. I cut the pieces so that both header panels would be pieced at the same level - which was about 24" above the floor, then pieced the two panels, using a French seam. This saved several yards of fabric!

The hems came next. All were 6" double hems. Since voile is so slippery slidey, I started with just pinning at the 12" mark. Then I folded hem up where the pins were and ironed that edge. Then I folded the 12" inside the fold all the way to the bottom fold and pinned and ironed. Much easier said than done with this loosey goosey fabric! Final step was stitching along the very edge of the hem fold all the way across. By very edge, I mean ideally within one thread of the fold!

After the hems, I cut the selvages off the sides (because they pinched slightly and would show through the hem) and turned in a double 2" hem. This was done just like the bottom hem, but I didn't pin first, just turned 4" over and pressed. In turn, I folded the edge inside, pinned, pressed, and stitched to give a 2" wide side hem.

With all hems and sides done, I addressed the window panel headers. They were to be pinch pleated, and be able to open and close, with a tab on the back so that the panels hid the rod. Since these were to have a very soft feel, I decided not to use a header tape or buckram. I simply folded the header over 6", folding the last inch under again and sewing close to the edge.

After marking the gaps and pleats and sewing the pleat seams, I took an extra step to give the pleats support, as well as a place to sew the tabs on: I folded the header around the each pleat seam and stitched about 3/16" from the edge. This created a ridge behind each pleat.

To finish the pleats, I pinched each one and tacked at the top and bottom. Then I sewed a strip of selvage I had cut off the sides to the ridge behind each pleat (shown to left and below).

Now to the bed curtains. Originally they were to be pleated and hung from rings, but the new plan called for them to be threaded over the rods with a sleeve, with a 3" ruffle on top. This not only softened the look, but saved purchasing nearly 100 rings! This required a little extra length, so I purchased a little more fabric and pieced extra length to the tops of the panels so that the piecing seam was along the top fold, where it wouldn't show. The two panels at the head of the bed were going to stay closed, but the other sides needed to open and close. When the panels were closed, it was desired the panels retain even gathering. I solved this by making a tack at the top of the sleeve every few inches, just like the spacing would be if they were pinch pleated. Pictures above show the opened and closed look.

The installation was somewhat time-consuming, since it involved ironing each panel before hanging. And let's not forget dealing with the ceiling rods over the bed! Let me tell you, threading on panels, cutting gaps for the brackets, tacking the corner edges together, and doing the other arranging needed was not easy with a 10' ceiling! I am tall, but still had to stand on the 2nd step from the top of this ladder. Fortunately, I made it through without any injuries! And so did the chandelier!

Here are the finished window sheers. Very full, with two panels per window. The panels open and close with 60" clear plastic batons attached to the inside tab of each panel. Works very well.

Why is one picture mellow yellow and the other white? Ask my phone! Maybe I'll bring my nice camera next time.

I'll include several pictures of the bed curtains, since the room is a little small for a comprehensive picture of the entire thing. The first pictures are before the bed was put inside.