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Window Dressing
Tuesday, August 02, 2005
When I was working out how to make my bathroom window shade, I consulted several resources. They all seemed to do it differently.
My Singer Sewing for the Home book had wonderful, detailed instructions, as usual. Unfortunately my eyes glazed over by the time I got to the fourth step. Those large rectangular lengths of fabric combined with math tend to do that to me.
I put the book aside and consulted my drawing of the shade they had at Mia Madonna. (You *do* carry a notebook in your purse for that purpose, right?) It looked simple--so simple in fact that I almost just winged it.
(I'm glad that I decided to keep looking, though, because my version would have been stationary.)
In the end, my shade can be raised and lowered easily, and was a combination of several methods. The sheer fabric is hobbled to the flat lining and drapes down nicely. I did not use any pre-made tapes, just attached the rings to the "hobbling" tucks with the zig-zag on my sewing machine. The lady at JoAnn's tried to sell me some labor-saving tape, but I replied "I've got a plan, *please* don't confuse me!" She completely understood.
It would have been a project of only a few hours but for my sheer fabric. Since I did not want to put a hem in the polyester sheer, I decided to use the entire width of it. My window, if you recall, was 53 inches wide. The lining was 54 inches wide--perfect after turning under the edges and hemming. The sheer was a dress fabric, 60 inches wide.
First, I marked the stitching lines on both the sheer and the lining. The hobbled effect required me to mark the lines on the lining 10 inches apart, and the lines on the sheer 20 inches apart. Then, I ran a line of basting on each of the sheer's marked lines and gathered them to match the width of the lining. Finally I pinned the layers together matching the marked lines and sewed the two fabrics together with a tuck on the back side. This gave me both a place to sew my ring and hobbled the outer fabric to the lining.
If you're interested in making your own shade, you might want to check out these web resources:
- Wright's directions featuring their products
- Denver Fabric's directions
- HGTV's directions with a video, which was by far the most helpful to me. This was straightforward and convinced me the I could do it!
DH likes the bathroom shade and is encouraging me to put some on other windows in our house since most of the blinds have seen better days. Next time I'll use two well-behaved cottons, and maybe I'll get some of that tape. :-)