Making custom draperies for your home - Part 1

For those with good sewing skills - and I know there are many of you out there! - making custom draperies for your own home can be a very rewarding project. I have a home-based drapery workroom and have been making custom draperies for my own clients and interior designer's clients for over 25 years. I will not be one to try to sell to you that this is an easy project. Like many people, I enjoy watching the Home Design cable programs that show projects you can complete quickly. However, that is NOT what you will learn here! I have worked hard to create and perfect techniques that make my work a quality product. I have learned through the years that when people are purchasing a custom made product they expect perfection - and they should because custom draperies - and I include all products here from valances and shades to bedding - can be VERY costly.

If you have worked hard to hone your sewing skills and have always wanted to learn how to make draperies and other custom fabric treatments for yourself, I can teach you from this site. I will start with making drapes because these techniques are used in other products such as roman and balloon shades and many styles of valances. So if you can learn the drapery technique you will be ready to move on to other projects.

There are many types of styles to choose from. You have to determine what will work best for you and the windows you are dressing. I suggest that you keep a file of magazine photos that catch your eye as you plan your project. It is also helpful to keep this file with you when you begin your fabric search. I will not spend time discussing the art of interior design on this site because it is too much information to add to the mix! What I suggest is finding books either on-line through Amazon, or at your local book store that talk about the techniques of interior designing for windows. It is not difficult but there are things about your window style, room size and life style that will help determine for you the correct type of treatment for a particular room. There is a lot of good advice in design books so I highly recommend purchasing some and doing some research before starting your project.

In my first few blogs I will discuss what you need to get started. In future blogs I will begin the lessons.

One of the most important aspects of a custom drape is the proper fullness. This is determined once you have correctly measured your windows and have the finished width and length your drapery will need to be. I go into many homes where drapery hardware has been mounted directly on the window frame. That is NOT the proper place for it. It is very seldom (if ever!) that I have installed hardware on a window frame. I work in homes that have anywhere from 8 foot ceilings to 20 foot ceilings and regardless of the ceiling height, or how tall the windows may be, a drapery hung on the window frame -- with empty wall space between the top of the frame and the ceiling -- will "squat" the room and make the room feel small. Taking the rods up - and they do not have to go all the way to the ceiling - will add a feeling of height to any space. If you are unsure of where to place the rod, the safest thing to do is to split in half the space that is above the window frame and make that your rod placement. For example, you have 8 foot ceilings. The measurement from the top of the frame to the floor is 86". The wall space from the top of the frame to the ceiling is 10" (or perhaps you have crown moulding -- either way the formula is the same). You split that 10" in half and determine that the top of your rod will be 5" down from the ceiling or the crown moulding. This is also where your file comes in handy. Look at the pictures you have chosen and see where the drapes in those rooms are hung. I find when people start ripping pages of ideas out of magazines, the styles they are drawn to are fairly consistent.

Taking correct measurements will assure that you get the look that you want. Since I do all my own measuring for my clientel, I have developed my own measure sheets. This helps make sure I do not miss taking an important measurement. In my next blog I will go through the details of proper measurements and (if i can figure out how!) I will include a measure sheet.

The next thing you need to decide on is your fabric. Most interior designers do the draperies at the end of a large room project. I always refer to drapes as "the icing on the cake". The theory is that you work from the bottom up. Many rooms are designed off of a beautiful oriental rug. But more of us than not do not have the money to purchase an oriental let alone design a room around it! But I will assume you have furniture in place and wall colors chosen or wall paper hung. If these are decisions you have not made, start with that and leave the window design for the end of your project. There are hundreds of thousands of fabric choices for window treatments. So starting with wall color and furnishings is the best idea. Once you have settled on that you can start your fabric search with samples of your furniture fabrics and wallpaper swatches or paint chips in hand so you can find the fabric that works with everything. Remember - you want it all to compliment. The drapes should blend in nicely with the rest of the furnishings and not be the first or only thing you see as you walk into the room.

Once the fabric has been chosen the hardware will be your next project. Again, there are so many choices available and going back to those pictures you have in your file will help you determine what will work in your room. In future blogs I will discuss what is available and how it all works. Some people just want drapes that are called "side panels" and are there just for the design element and are not functional. Some of you will need a drapery that opens and closes. These are all the things you need to consider that will lead you to the proper hardware for your project.

As you can see, custom draperies give you much to think about! But trust me - there is a process and I will be as clear as I can be to help get you to the perfect look for your room. Check back soon --- Kristen