Bedroom Sheers

This project is to make sheers and drapes for 4 bedroom windows.  In this post, I describe the sheers project.  The sheers are for tall windows in a room with a 10' ceiling.  We decided on a length of 109".  The sheers will be stationary (non-moving), with one width of fabric evenly pinch-pleated across the width of the window. 

    

 The materials included 14 yards of sheer voile fabric, about 13 yards of sheer header tape, and thread.





After measuring and measuring again, I tore the fabric for each panel about a half-inch above the desired cut and then cut a clean edge with my rotary cutter.  Before doing anything else, I also cut off the selvages to prevent that slight bit of puckering you get with sheer voile.

 The hem was to be a double 6" hem.  Voile is famously slippery and hard to work with.  To help make the hem accurate, I placed some masking tape at the 6" mark and used it as a guide to turn up the hem twice, pin and iron in place.

To secure the hem, I stitched along the top edge  very close to the fold.  It needed to be pressed one more time, stretching and holding the stitching area each time until it was cool.  I think of voile kind of like hair - after heating (with the iron) you need to hold it in place until it cools so it will retain its shape.

Below - pinning the hem, the stitched hem being pressed.

 

To attach the header, I sewed the edge of the header to the wrong side of the voile, one half inch below the top of the panel, as shown below.  Then folded the header over twice and pinned it to the panel, pressed, stitched, and pressed again.

 

 The side hems were a double 1.5" fold, pinned, stitched, and pressed.

  
 
The pleats were done in the usual way, marked, folded and stitched, then pinched and tacked at the bottom.  I felt I needed an extra tack at the top (see above) to keep the pleats from popping out.

 Here are the finished, installed sheers, hanging on sheer rods with standard drapery pins.  They are hanging with drapes that had just been installed but not yet trained!  My next blog post describes the drapes.

Pinch-pleated Valence for Breakfast Nook

Wow, I have really gotten behind on my posts!  All I can say is, you  have to make hay while the sun shines, and the sun has been shining, as you will see as I catch up my blog!

Here is a project for a pinch-pleat valence in a breakfast nook with 3 angled windows.  We decided to hang the valence fairly high and make the finished length 21".

 

The cut length of the valence is 21" + 3"*2 for hem + 4"+1" for header = 32".  The pattern is Bosporus.  After determining where I wanted the pattern to fall on the finished valence, I pulled a thread to mark the top and bottom cuts.

    

The finished with of the valence is 152", so before pleating and including the seams for the multiple widths, I needed 292" of width.  This took about 6 widths of fabric!  The repeat on this fabric is 24", so as I cut each of the widths starting in the exact same place in the pattern there was about 16" of waste between each one.  Nothing to be done about that.

Next step is to sew all the main fabric widths together and repeat the cutting and sewing widths together with the lining (below).

I chose to sew the side hems next, bringing the main fabric in 2" on the edges.  I sewed each side hem by matching the raw edges of the lining and main fabric, right sides together, and sewing a 0.5" seam allowance. Once the side seams were completed, I stretched out the fabric and lining to press the sides in so that the lining was completely flat against the fabric from end to end.  Now I turned up a double 3" hem, pinned, and hand-stitched all the way across.  Did this take time with about 12' of hem?  Yes!  Looking back, I think I could have saved some work by machine stitching the top of the hem to the lining (without showing on the front), then hand-stitching the sides, which were so short.

After the hem, I placed the bottom of the iron-on buckram exactly 21" above the bottom of the hem and ironed it in place.  Then turned down the 1" tuck allowance, then turned all that over again and pressed to result in a 21" total length.  I stitched along the bottom of the header edge to give it a neat appearance from the back.

I also at this time hand-stitched the folded edges and bottom corners so everything would lie flat.




Now for the pleats!  There will be 30.  The first step is to mark the gaps and pleat widths all along the header and check to be sure there is the correct amount of gap on each end (4").  I made a marking pattern on a piece of paper and used it to place pins at each pleat and gap.  For each pleat, I folded the valence wrong sides together, matching the beginning and ending pleat pins, and sewed down 4" through the fabric, lining, and buckram.  The picture at the right shows the panel with pleat spaces sewed and pressed.

  

To make the pinch pleats, I went through the stack and pinched each pleat into 3 folds, securing the lower edge.  On the right is the finished valence, with the fabric design falling just as I planned.

 

The valence was installed using simple pleat hooks hung over three sheer rods butted up against each other to make a continuous valence.  They look nice, I think!

Costume Alteration

Here is a small costume alteration for a character in "Smoke on the Mountain" presented by Bank Street Players.  The waist of this 1930's-era dress needed to be expanded about 5 inches.  This is tricky in a cotton dress with a form-fitting bodice like this.

The director suggested I put a zipper down the back and add fabric there, so I went with that.

The cut down the back of the dress and widening of the waist created a diamond-shaped opening (below left).  I knew the inserted fabric following this shape would emphasize the waistline.   So I inverted the diamond, making the lower part wide enough to cover the waist expansion, with the upper part emphasizing width in the upper back instead, with the triangles somewhat echoing the triangle design on the front of the dress (right).

Below you can see the original opening.  On the right, the dotted lines show the raw edges of the dress underneath the insert.

Below I have placed the insert on top of the back of the dress, then pinned and top-stitched it on.  Note the zipper was put in the insert before it was placed on the dress.  Easier that way!

The dress originally had a side zipper.  I removed the side zipper and closed the seam.

Here are the front and back of the costume, pressed and ready to go.   The insert, cut on the bias, gave just the amount of stretch needed to fit the actress and give her room to move while retaining the form-fitted look.

Valence Mock-Up

Recently a customer asked me to work with her on drapes for her new house.  She wants some pinch-pleated drapes, some with a valence only (the lower halves of these windows have shutters), and some pinch-pleated sheers to go behind existing drapes.  She sketched what she would like to see with the valences.  Here is a mock-up I made using muslin.  I taped it to a mounting board and hung it in my work room so I could make adjustments to the pattern if needed.

An interesting thing to note is the difference between the left and right swags.  See how the left swag is a little choppy, while the right swag drapes much smoother?  It is much more obvious in real life than this picture. The difference is caused by cutting on the bias vs. cutting with the fabric grain.  I made the right swag first, as it should be, cut on the bias.  When I got ready to cut the left swag, I did not have enough room to cut on the bias, so cut it with the grain.  I wanted to see the difference because some patterns for swags show cutting on the grain.  This sample is all the proof I need that cutting on the bias is essential, even though it often takes a little more fabric.

Another thing about this is interesting to me as a former math teacher.  I designed and laid out the pattern pieces using trigonometry!  Knowing what certain dimensions of the pieces had to be, I was able to determine the angles, offsets, and pattern cut-out placement using trig functions and the Pythagorean Theorem.  Math is actually useful in real life, and was created in the first place because of such needs.  I know -- blah blah blah!  :)

The final valences will be made of some yet-to-be-chosen drapery fabric, with a plain or decorative lining and cording.  For the cascades (on the sides) and jabot (in the center), I plan to use sausage bead weights in the cording to make them hang "heavy".  It should look great.   More to come on this project, I hope!

Logo applique project

A small project last week was to applique a logo onto two t-shirts.  The customer provided these materials and emailed his logo:

This project did not take long.  I worked with the logo in Photoshop until the printed version (using 2 pages) was the right size.

After applying some Heat-N-Bond to the applique fabric, I traced the cut-out logo (in reverse) and cut it out.

I bonded the logo to the t-shirt and stitched around the edges.

The customer also wanted a rectangle appliqued to the inside back to cover the manufacturer's printed logo and size information.  Another rectangle was placed on the bottom left front (no picture).  

These are the finished shirts.  Interesting logo, isn't it?  The customer designed it.  I do not know what he does for a living, but he could be a graphic artist.

Favorite Shrek pictures featuring Lord Farquaad costumes

Now that I have received the picture disc from the Shrek performance in April, I want to share some of my favorite pictures of Lord Farquaad.  This adult role was filled by a local teenager, whose portrayal of Farquaad was spot on.  He was very much in-character and funny, stealing the show whenever he was on stage!   I would not trade anything for the experience I had working with the actor, cast, and crew!

These pictures were taken at dress rehearsals.  They feature him in his Ruling and Wedding costumes, which I designed and made, as described in earlier blog posts.   As you can see when you look closely, throughout the performance the actor is on his knees, with his lower legs and feet camouflaged by Farquaad's cape  In the last picture, the cast are taking their bows, and the actor at last can stand up!.

Pinch Pleat Method Comparison

After a friend asked me about pinch pleat drapes, I decided to research the latest, greatest techniques for making them.  This type of drape is usually hung on a traverse rod where they are opened and closed by pulling on a cord at one end.  The pinch pleat provides an evenly-spaced fullness and has been popular for years.  Making pinch pleat drapes has always been considered a pain, for two reasons:  (1) The difficulty and math involved in determining the optimum spacing and fabric for the pleats so they fit the window or use a specific panel size, and (2) the steps involved in marking, pinching and sewing the pleats themselves.

On the market today are at least two products that are designed to make the forming of the pleats much easier.  One is a header tape with strings you pull to automatically form the pleats.  The other is a header tape with evenly-spaced narrow pockets you use with a special pleater hook. When you select the pockets to use, you determine the spacing of the pleats and amount of fabric in the pleats (to a degree).

Deciding to Make a Comparison

I decided to make samples comparing traditional pinch pleats with those using the pocket header tape.  I selected a fabric that I happened to have in enough quantity to make two approximately 30" wide, 12" long samples.  It is borderline heavy for pinch pleat drapes, and as you can see in my finished samples, the gathered fabric tends to flare out because the length is so short.  But for long drapes, this weight would be fine.

For lining, I again used a fabric I already had - blackout lining.  This lining is my favorite because it prevents the sun from shining through, fading the decor fabric and in some cases making the fabric look a different color.  This lining also completely blocks outside light, especially good for bedrooms.  Again, a disadvantage is the heavy weight of the lining, making it a little bulky for short pinch pleat drapes.  So keep that in mind looking at the finished drapes below!

Pocket Header Tape Method

The pocket header tape sample started with the hemming the lining and the decor fabric separately, then stitching the sides together so that the decor fabric wraps around the sides.  Since the pocket header tape has to be sewn top and bottom edges on top of the lining, I turned under the top edge and sewed the header tape on top.  The first picture below shows the panel from the outside, the next shows the inside of the panel and the pocket header.  (By the way, you can see a line of stitching down the right end of the panel - I didn't need to do that, and do not know why I did!)

The good news about the pocket header is no need for calculating pleat spacing and pleat fabric, the bad news, possibly, is that you have to work within those measurements.  The pockets are spaced 1.75" apart, so your spacing between pleats must be a multiple of 1.75".  The pleats also must use a multiple of 3*1.75", or 5.25".  And the pleater hook itself makes each pleat span about 1".  I chose to have three spaces between pleats and use one space for each of the three folds in the pleats.  So my 57" finished panel width resulted in 5 pleats, 4 spaces between, and two ends measuring a total of 4.75".  Creating the pleats is just a matter of inserting the four prongs of the pleater hook into pockets.   Here are pictures of the inside and outside using the pleater hook method:

In the picture above, you can see the right two pleats look "open".  This is what the pleater hook does by itself.  In the left pleat, I stitched across the bottom of the pleat, pinching it together.  I guess the look you want will determine whether the bottom of the pleats need to be stitched.

Traditional Pleating Method

The traditional pleating method requires marking the placement of the pleats on the fabric, then pinching them together and sewing.  This gives you great control, and allows you to design your pleats to fall exactly with the curtain rod width.  Many who do pinch pleat drapes by this method use some sort of pinch pleat calculator available on the Internet.   The pinch pleat calculators you can find out there start with your panel width.  Of course, I had to design my own! 

I wanted to specify my spacing requirements and fabric width available and have it tell me not only my perfect spacing but how many yards of fabric and lining to buy.   I wanted my traditional sample to use similar spacing and pleat size as my pocket pleat sample, so I keyed in the applicable numbers to my spreadsheet.  The yellow spaces are where I enter specifications, and the blue spaces are my calculated cut widths and gap/pleat measurements.  Note that in this method the pleat itself does not take up space, so the gap and pleat inches cannot be exactly the same as the pocket method.

Using the gap size of 6 inches and pleat size of 5 inches, I laid out my completed panel, with plain header tape sewn at the top (first picture), and marked my gaps and pleats with pins (second picture):

The next step is to match the pleat pins, fold and stitch.  I marked my stitch line with a chalk pencil before stitching:

After marking, I sewed a 4" line down the mark for each pleat. The next step is to pinch the pleat in and stitch across the bottom.  It is very quick and easy, actually.   Since the fabric and lining are so thick, I tacked the folds in the upper part of each pleat with a couple of machine stitches.  

Here is the result, showing the inside and outside views of the traditional pleat (top sample) and pocket pleat (lower sample):

Comparison

Personally, I like the traditional pleat result a little better.  And I like the control you have to make the pleat fit window sizes and rods exactly.  Isn't the pocket pleat method easier?  Hardly, in my opinion.  The marking of gaps and pleats and the little bit of sewing required for the traditional method does not take much time.  The time-consuming part of making these drapes is the preparation of the panel itself, which is basically the same for either one.  

Other considerations are:  Amount of sewing:  There are different ways of preparing the header part of the panel for the traditional method, either one of which requires less sewing than the pocket pleat method.   Ironing:  Someone pointed out pocket pleat drapes can be ironed as flat panels after washing, whereas the traditional pleats have to be ironed as pleated panels.  But the pocket pleat pleater hooks are harder to reinsert than traditional hooks, so same difference to me.  Expense:  The pocket pleat header tape is more expensive - $1.99 vs. $0.79 per yard for plain header tape, and the pleater hooks are more expensive.  But for a 36" finished drape, you are only talking about a $6.00 difference.  

To me it is six of one, half-a-dozen of the other and comes down to which look you prefer.