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Monday, March 5, 2012

Second Time Around....

I re did the lambrequin this morning. I am still using strips of the black and white print. I decided to do straight drapes inside and a roman shade between them.

The two patterns that I used for this part were a positive and negative of the same print. It is on the large side, but when it is all pleated, that makes it look not so big.

I pleated the drapery part straight vertical. The stabilizing wood piece is in the center, rather than to the outside. That keeps the edges looking neat. Again, I hit them with two coats of Suave, unscented, extra hold hairspray.

For the roman shade in the center, I cut a strip as wide as I could. Then I cut index cards into that width and half inch strips. That's where 1/4" rule on index cards comes in handy.

I glued the strips to the back of the fabric, 1/4" apart. That makes a 1/4" overlap when you pleat it.

The pleating consists of starting at the bottom, folding the pleat in and putting a line of glue inside to hold the pleat. I pin that down and let it dry. Hairspray isn't necessary on this piece.

When everything is dry, assembly is started with the piece closest to the window...I know...No window. Please humor me and use your imagination....

On top of that, I glued the draperies as far apart as I could on the narrow strip of fabric.

I covered the lambrequin with a third strip of the fabric....Yes, it is in three pieces. I dare you to find the seams!

I centered one strip over the arch and then carefully lined up the other two so that the pattern matches. Then I spread glue and wrapped the fabric around the box, gluing it to the inside back.

I cut the shank off of the other half of the finding(bar and loop closing for a bracelet) and glued it to the bottom edge of the roman shade for a pull.

I am still trying to decide if I want any trim on the window. It is pretty busy without.

Don't ask me why Tessie insisted on dragging the elephant into the photo. It's not even black and white! I asked her why. Using Tessie logic, she answered, "It's blue and white. It's at least half right!"

Anyway, that's curtain #2. I am not guaranteeing that I will finish all five in a row. It might get kind of boring for the people that are not interested in curtain making.....We shall see what comes next.

Right now, Tessie is ahead by one percent in the blog race. She runs and checks every 10 minutes or so to see how we are doing...She said to tell you that she really appreciates your voting for her. Please keep doing so. She is so much more pleasant these days....Thanks for the support!

See you tomorrow.

3 comments:

dalesdreams said...

That looks incredible! :)

minwks said...

Good Morning, The technique is very good, tks for your clear explanation and photos. Interesting that the scale is quite reduced with the pleating.
The black appears very strong in the photos - what will the wall covering colouring be?
Following with interest.
Regards Janine

Caseymini said...

Janine, Right now I am thinking of leaving the background black and just have the five types of curtains in black and white. They will be hanging in my bedroom, which is mostly black and white also. The curtains stand out more in real life than they do in the photos.