More on my DIY roman shade project, & need help!
First, my question! Why does this happen??
When I need to hem the bottom, I fold, press, and pin. When I start to sew, both sides line up like this. The folded part lines up with the edge of the shade.
...then I get to the other side, and it looks like this. What is happening?
This is how I get there: once I invert the pillowcase-like shade so that it's right-side out, I fold up the bottom about 3 inches and top stitch about 1/2" from the top edge of that. I press and pin first. When sewing, I start top stitching on one side, and by the time I get to the other side of the shade, my folded fabric no longer lines up. The top of the folded fabric does not reach the edge. Every.single.time. I've made NINE of these!
Now for some things I learned today.
I made a very small and fully-functional shade today just to practice some other techniques. Namely, assembling the shade right-side-out instead of using the pillowcase method. I thought I could control the "squareness" better this way.
It did help, but the folded hems were ridiculously thick! I used a thicker cotton, but not quite canvas-thick, a very thin black fabric for blackout, and a sturdy cotton liner. I folded/pressed the sides of the patterned fabric 2" and then 2" again, and the black fabric & liner tucked under that hem (those layers were not folded). For the bottom hem, it was 3" and 3" again. I ended up trimming a triangle of fabric so that the bottom corners wouldn't be SO SO THICK. It reduced the thickness a bit, but the whole thing was just too much.
So... I'm going back to the pillowcase method! It looks good and I'm comfortable with it.
My mini-shade was also to try out a reverse mount. I really love the inside mount I was able to do with the above shades, but the rest of the windows don't have much clearance. It turns out they have juuuust enough room for the mounting hardware, but there will be a significant gap on the sides when the shades are down.
I really do not like valances. Reverse mounts require valances. My husband and I decided to live with the gap instead of doing a reverse mount with a valance. I might try to make the shade a little wider than the hardware, and see if I can use a piece of fiberglass rib at the top corners to hold the fabric in place beyond the track by 1/2". That would close up the gap a lot because it would then meet one of the curves in the molding (and cover up the shallower level).
Comments (10)
pippiep
7 years agoRelated Discussions
15'X28' Do-it-Yourself Greenhouse
Comments (16)7000ft, I am totally convinced you ought to write a book. Your family sounds very interesting and it sounds like you all work as a cooperative of sorts. How much of your food do you produce? The tomatoes that I grow are primarily for sauce, so I use Roma-type tomatoes. They are odd-looking, being long and quite large. The variety I grew this year was Super San Marzano. I've tried some others, but this one is the best. The sauce-type tomatoes are awesome for making sauce. They are very meaty with minimal juice and seeds. Making sauce is a breeze because you can skip the steps for squeezing the juice and seeds out. According to the catalogs, some varieties have pectin in them that helps to thicken the sauce. We ended up with 25 jars of sauce in the freezer. That is a record for us, so we are pleased! That's 25 dinners during ski season that I don't have to cook. :) I also grow a cherry tomato and some sandwich-type tomatoes. I've had good luck with Early Wonder, which is early yet tasty. (way better than early girl!) Inside the GH we enjoy our first tomatoes in mid-July. Without the GH we are lucky to get any red tomatoes at all. I'm sure it's the same for you. My gardening efforts are pretty much solo, but my husband was instrumental in building the GH and in helping look after things as needed. He is an expert at raising seedlings because I tend to travel a lot in the spring. He also built a root cellar and he is fully on board with our quest to grow as much food as possible. It's a bit of an oddball pursuit, so I'm happy that he's into it!...See MoreDesign help needed for my dry gulch project
Comments (19)Hi Jon. What an exciting project to be able to look forward to next spring. I love the way your dry bed meanders and contains rocks of varying sizes. Two suggestions that I like are: 1. to keep things natural and simple. I wouldn't put rows of the same hostas on either side of your dry stream because that usually doesn't happen in nature. 2. Moccasin's idea to put a large rock at the bottom of your stream as a landing point. I would use the larger rocks in the stream to anchor smaller hostas or whatever. You could use a few hachonechloa 'Aurea' at intervals along the side of the bed to draw your eye along the stream. I've seen this concept used along a path. Although I love astilbes, I would stay away from them here. I've used 3 goatsbeards/ aruncus and they do well in shade once established. I love the ferny, miniature Aruncus aestusifolius. I also have used Aruncus "Misty Lace' (doesn't get too large) and aruncus dioicus kneffii. They're all doing fine during drought. A perennial that does well in dry shade is Lamiastrum 'Hermann's Pride'. Epimediums also do well in dry conditions once they're established. I would put a large dramatic hosta like Majesty for example at the top of the stream to the right opposite the large tree. I envy you your zone 6 because you could also use Japanes Maples for contrasting leaf colour....See Morebeeskeepers wife--one more question about your roman shades
Comments (4)Plus Penney's makes it soooo easy to return stuff. Don't forget to use the 15% survey code that you can add on to any order. I think there is a thread on GW about all the coupon codes you can find for JCPenneys!...See MoreI need more help in deciding placement of faux roman shade
Comments (9)i would outside mount a working roman shade like the 2nd pic- 1/3 or 1/2 way between the window and ceiling... that would give you better light control than a faux shade and inside mount roller shade. i don't think i would outside mount a roller shade......See Morepippiep
7 years ago
Laurie
7 years agoWhen I make blackout lined draperies, to decrease the amount of fabric/bulk in my double folded hems, headers & side seams, I don't fold the lining into them.
I fold & press the drapery fabric, but do not stitch it. Then, I lay the blackout lining on to the drape fabric & cut the lining (to meet up with the edge of the finished edges).
Then, I tuck the lining under every folded side & header, pin & stitch. I leave the lining un-tucked along the bottom hem...the lining will not need to be stitched inside that hem.
When all done, each of my side seams and the header have only one layer of blackout lining inside of them.
I don't know if this strategy will help in your situation, but it's worth some thought.
Below are some photos that might help explain what I am trying to say. Ignore how wrinkled the blackout lining is. After pleating & hanging these drapes, the wrinkles all went away.
This shows the right side seam and lower hem double folded & pressed. Lay blackout lining on top.
Cut blackout lining to length & width - up to the edges so you can tuck them inside the side seams & header.
Header on the left, bottom hem on the right. Lining inserted into folded header & side seams. Ready to pin & stitch. Lower hem of lining does not get tucked in.
amykath
7 years agopippiep
7 years agopippiep
7 years agoAnyone want to hear more about my adventures in sewing?
Biggest Tip: Use the right tools!
- The walking foot is amazing. It worked perfectly!
- I bought a 15" square ruler. Everything is perfectly square now!
- I caved and bought the ironing pad made for my sewing table. Worth every penny!
Laurie -- I'm making this set of shades the way you described. It came out so well! No excess fabric anywhere.
The pillowcase method I was using just wasn't exact enough for me. I was ready for a more involved method. I used a blind stitch on my sewing machine for the side hems. There's a tiny bit of hem that will allow me to tuck the ends of the iron-on rib tape under. I think these will be my best-constructed shades yet. I ran out of thread and rib tape, though, so I'll have to wait a few days to completely finish up. I have several beige threads, but I strongly preferred one of them. The blind hem thread below (side) is an OK color, but very thick for some reason. The straight stitch thread is the one I liked for the seams that will be visible (bottom seam and the very top where I attach the velcro).
Laurie
7 years ago
msmeow