It is Wednesday, already October. The leaves are beautiful in the neighborhood and I still do not have anything done on the window treatments.
The hardware is in. There was a back order on the cafe rings until yesterday. I will stop by my supplier this afternoon to pick them up. Hardware is the last part anyway, but now I can confirm my ring allowance before cutting into anything. It all works out.
Maybe I can explain all of the allowances for determining cut length.
First Measure where the top of the rod will be to the finished floor or sill.
My rule of pleasing window dressing design is this...
If the drapery is going to be outside mounted (hardware and fabric extending beyond the window casing/trim) the length is to the floor or to the apron if there is a sill. If you are good with proportion you may adjust this finished length to anywhere between the apron and the floor. If the panels will be stationary, you may opt to brush, break or clear the floor.
Clear the floor means the drapery panels come up just above the floor and never touch. You need a good installer and a level floor. The first drapery workroom I worked for we did very high end drapery for very high end designers and were very custom... we loved a challenge and had a reputation for meeting and exceeding those challenges. Our standard clearance was 3/8" and we had very accurate precision. Workrooms I have worked at since then, their standard clearance was 1/2". I personally prefer 3/8".
Break the floor means the hem edge breaks on the floor a minimum of a 1/4"and up to 4" (anything over 4" is considered a puddle and suitable for stationary panels ONLY! We never did puddling draperies on traversing panels and if the designer insisted, they were inevitably cut down within the first three months that the homeowner had them. Dressing out the draperies was a nightmare for the homeowner every time they opened and closed the window treatment.)
Brush the floor means the hem edge is touching the floor and brushes the top of the floor.
If the drapery hardware is to be inside mounted, the hem edge clears the sill. This is accurate for where ever inside the frame the hardware is mounted. At the top, three-quarters from the top or one-third from the top. (It is not good proportion to have cafe curtains at the half way point. The window dressing looks very out of balance.) I have yet to see a drapery treatment inside mounted that goes to the floor. I have seen designer attempt it and the finished look is just odd. It looks like the draperies are mounted way too low and don't fit the window..(i.e. they may be toooooo short?) It makes people wonder what you were thinking...
That is hem clearances. The next clearance is the ring allowance. This is the Outside diameter of the ring less the inside diameter plus half the difference. For example.. and you would never see a ring this size... but lets just say the ring has an outside diameter of 2" and an inside diameter of 1"the ring allowance is: 2-1+1/2=1 1/2. This will give you the top of the rod to the top of the drapery panel. The hook set for rings is 1/4". So the top of the drapery hook slides into the eyelet of the ring and the fabric covers the hook in the ring eyelet. The fabric glides across the rod like butter if you have really nice hardware.
So far: the top of the rod to the bottom edge + or - clearance, - ring allowance will give us our finished length.
Later I will illustrate some of this and go on to share how to figure cut length on a drapery. Sharing the processes keeps me active in completing projects and not just endlessly designing them. There are so many creative ideas it is overwhelming to comprehend... so I just map them out in freemind and I am closer to getting them actualized...
Have a beautiful wednesday everyone and check back later for more details on the drapery math...
The next couple of days are packed with client meetings so the post for friday will be short. Monday's post will most likely continue on this thread of thought.. drapery math... If I put that as a post title how many people would check it out? ...
The hardware is in. There was a back order on the cafe rings until yesterday. I will stop by my supplier this afternoon to pick them up. Hardware is the last part anyway, but now I can confirm my ring allowance before cutting into anything. It all works out.
Maybe I can explain all of the allowances for determining cut length.
First Measure where the top of the rod will be to the finished floor or sill.
My rule of pleasing window dressing design is this...
If the drapery is going to be outside mounted (hardware and fabric extending beyond the window casing/trim) the length is to the floor or to the apron if there is a sill. If you are good with proportion you may adjust this finished length to anywhere between the apron and the floor. If the panels will be stationary, you may opt to brush, break or clear the floor.
Clear the floor means the drapery panels come up just above the floor and never touch. You need a good installer and a level floor. The first drapery workroom I worked for we did very high end drapery for very high end designers and were very custom... we loved a challenge and had a reputation for meeting and exceeding those challenges. Our standard clearance was 3/8" and we had very accurate precision. Workrooms I have worked at since then, their standard clearance was 1/2". I personally prefer 3/8".
Break the floor means the hem edge breaks on the floor a minimum of a 1/4"and up to 4" (anything over 4" is considered a puddle and suitable for stationary panels ONLY! We never did puddling draperies on traversing panels and if the designer insisted, they were inevitably cut down within the first three months that the homeowner had them. Dressing out the draperies was a nightmare for the homeowner every time they opened and closed the window treatment.)
Brush the floor means the hem edge is touching the floor and brushes the top of the floor.
If the drapery hardware is to be inside mounted, the hem edge clears the sill. This is accurate for where ever inside the frame the hardware is mounted. At the top, three-quarters from the top or one-third from the top. (It is not good proportion to have cafe curtains at the half way point. The window dressing looks very out of balance.) I have yet to see a drapery treatment inside mounted that goes to the floor. I have seen designer attempt it and the finished look is just odd. It looks like the draperies are mounted way too low and don't fit the window..(i.e. they may be toooooo short?) It makes people wonder what you were thinking...
That is hem clearances. The next clearance is the ring allowance. This is the Outside diameter of the ring less the inside diameter plus half the difference. For example.. and you would never see a ring this size... but lets just say the ring has an outside diameter of 2" and an inside diameter of 1"the ring allowance is: 2-1+1/2=1 1/2. This will give you the top of the rod to the top of the drapery panel. The hook set for rings is 1/4". So the top of the drapery hook slides into the eyelet of the ring and the fabric covers the hook in the ring eyelet. The fabric glides across the rod like butter if you have really nice hardware.
So far: the top of the rod to the bottom edge + or - clearance, - ring allowance will give us our finished length.
Later I will illustrate some of this and go on to share how to figure cut length on a drapery. Sharing the processes keeps me active in completing projects and not just endlessly designing them. There are so many creative ideas it is overwhelming to comprehend... so I just map them out in freemind and I am closer to getting them actualized...
Have a beautiful wednesday everyone and check back later for more details on the drapery math...
The next couple of days are packed with client meetings so the post for friday will be short. Monday's post will most likely continue on this thread of thought.. drapery math... If I put that as a post title how many people would check it out? ...
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