Below are our favorite 17 practices when undertaking any Drapery Fabrication project:
- Check to be sure that all fabrics are right side up and right side out.
- Center pattern prints in all sections of the same treatment and/or all treatments in the room.
- Make sure the tops of all print draperies in the same room match.
- Ensure that the print is straight across the tops of treatments with no drifting.
- Ensure that all spaces that are intended to be equal are visibly equal, e.g., spaces between pinch pleats and grommets in a shower curtain.
- Avoid putting a seam in the middle of a treatment.
- Ensure that all stripes and/or plaids are as straight and centered as possible.
- Place seams in pleated draperies beside the pleat at the junction of the pleat and the space.
- Seams will need to be hidden wherever possible, e.g. box pleated valances.
- Use odd numbers whenever possible, e.g., number of swags on a window, number of scallops in a valance.
- Cover all boards with either fabric or paint.
- Fabricate double 1¼ inch or 1½-inch side hems in drapery panels and avoid seaming the lining to the face along the sides.
- Abide by 2½ times the width as the minimum standard for custom fullness.
- Use weights at the bottoms of corners and seams in draperies.
- Achieve even lengths.
- Hem face fabrics in window coverings with a true “blind-stitch” machine or by hand and avoid straight stitched hems or domestic machine-hem stitches. (Lining hem can be straight stitched)
- Abide by the safety standards for corded treatments, i.e., draperies and soft shades, and apply the labels and hand tags as required in the American National Standard.
*reprinted with permission from Kitty Stein