WINDOW SHADES AND BLINDSPART I.

Modern decorative thought has been directed to almost every article in the equipment of a house with more or less artistic result; but with few exceptions the articles on the market for the purpose of excluding the sun or shutting out the vision have been plain and ordinary in the extreme, despite the fact that the treatment of the windows as presented to view from the exterior has much to do with the general appearance of a house.

From the day when the housewife made her own shades out of green paper or white cotton up to the present, the chief requirements seem to have been opacity and the faculty of being easily rolled, folded, or in some way put easily out of sight when not in use. One of the oldest methods, still recommended and manufactured for this purpose, is the rolling shade, made of thin slats of wood, laced together with twine to form a flat flexible curtain or shade, rolled from the bottom by means of a cord passed over a pulley.

For public institutions, offices or verandas, where usefulness and efficiency may be desired more than decorative value, they serve the purpose very well; but it can never be claimed that they tend to beautify the room in which they are used.

The tilting slat blind, which gathers from the bottom, and tilts with a touch of the hand as a child’s Jacob’s ladder, is also used for the same purpose, with the same limitations.

The sliding or folding inside shutter, illustrated in figures 79 and 80, came near to accomplishing the purpose, but had such a knack of getting out of order, and presented such a jail-like, uninhabited appearance, that they, too, have been almost altogether discarded.

In rare cases we find them still in use, and where adverse criticism would not be well received it is best for the decorator to adjust his schemes so as to include them, and, if possible, hide their unsightliness.

Figures79and80illustrate how this may be accomplished by using a lace-trimmed shade between them and the glass, while sash curtains of almost any kind are equally effective for outside appearance.

Where the shutters are so constructed that they open into the room, as Figure79, the curtain pole must be projected forward from the frame a sufficient distance to allow the shutter to swing clear of the curtain without interfering, and if the curtain is looped or caught up with a rosette at the side, the point where it is tied must be projected forward in a similar manner.

These blinds, so far as their manufacture and installation are concerned, rest perhaps more with the carpenter than with the decorator, and will, therefore, interest him little except as to their after treatment.

The rolling shade, made of painted cotton or glazed linen, as illustrated in Figure79, is perhaps most commonly known of all expedients for seclusion and sun protection, and the ease with which these shades can be made to order in any size is so well known that nearly every upholstery shop is equipped with a cutting table and the necessary material for their manufacture.

The table illustrated in Figure81will be found to possess a combination of many good points in cutting tables for this purpose, although one less elaborately planned and constructed may serve for a small shade-order business. The top is made of clear white wood, and is six feet wide by twelve feet long. At one end is a half round, trough-like receptacle, the bottom of it composed of two-inch rollers with pin heads (see Figure81Afor detail); these rest in iron brackets, and revolve when necessary with the action of rolling or unrolling shade cloth.

A flat steel plate about one inch wide and a quarter of an inch thick (or slightly thinner if more convenient) is fastened to one edge of the table to form a solid straight-cutting edge. It should be all in one piece and free from any irregularities, and a similar plate is fastened to the end on which the bracket is attached. Saw-cuts about one-eighth of an inch deep run across the table, perfectly true and at right angles to the side of the table, dividing it into feet from end to end. At the bracket end, and included in the first twelve inches, a six-inch strip of hardwood is let into the top, flush with the rest, and has saw-cuts (as illustrated in Figure81A) one-half inch, two and a half inches, three inches, three and a half, four and four and a half inches from the outside edges of the steel plate.

These are scoring lines for marking the hems, and should be half an inch deep and about one-eighth inch wide. The cuts marked one to eleven are filled in smoothly with dark putty, and are for measuring purposes, while cuts A to F are cut with a fine-tooth saw and left as cut. In addition to the lines every twelve inches it is necessary to have the inches between these spaces.

Fig 79

Fig 80

Fig 80A

Fig 81

Fig 81A

END of TABLEright hand of above

END of TABLE

right hand of above

Fig 82

Fig 83

Fig 84

Fig 85

Fig 86

Fig 87

Fig 88

Fig 89

SHADE KNIFE

Fig 90

Fig 91

Fig 92

Fig 93

Fig 94

Fig 96

Fig 96A Fig 96B

Fig 98 Fig 99

A convenient way of providing these is a flat steel rule about one-eighth inch thick, three inches wide and eighteen inches long, marked with inches from one to twelve, and with a small button at the end for convenience in moving it. This will be heavy enough to lie where placed, and by placing it at the side of the table between the lines, as in Figure82, the measurement of a piece of cloth can be accurately gauged.

The other sections of the table and their purposes can be readily understood from the illustration, the shelves being used for rollers, drawers one, two, three and four for shade hardware and accessories, and drawer five for tools.

The trough at the right end of Figure82is made so as to slide in out of the way when not required, and is used when cutting the ends off rollers. It is marked in inches along its entire length, and the cutting end is faced with metal, or has a true saw-cut a short distance back as a guide for the saw. In the latter case it should be made of hardwood, and the saw-teeth should have very little set.

The table should be placed so that the operator faces the light, and his stock of materials should be as convenient as possible to the cutting table.

Having gauged the length of the shade with the small steel rule, as Figure82, place the roll of cloth with the end of the material resting at the mark. Weight it with a small weight and unroll the cloth until the roll reaches the receptacle at the end; a touch of the hand will tighten the slack by revolving the roll; adjust it evenly and run the knife along the steel edge, severing the piece from the roll. If more than one shade of the same length are to be cut from the same roll, allow this length to lie as cut and unroll over it as many more pieces as you need, cutting each one as you get the cloth adjusted evenly.

When the lengths are all cut, if care has been taken to have the cloth running true with the edges of the table, the cut ends will have been trimmed square by the action of severing them from the roll. Adjust the edges nearest the cutting side of the table so that they lie even and project about a half inch over the edge of the table, as Figure82, and the cut ends lying true and even with the table end, the cloth is securely weighted at each end and the projecting edges trimmed true by running the knife along the cutting guide, as illustrated.

The knife should be held perfectly true with the flat of the steel edge, allowing no play sideways, and with the handle slightly slanting toward the shoulder of the operator (Figure82).

While the weights are still in position measure with a six-foot rule the width the cloth is to be cut, measuring from the trimmed edge, and mark it at each end as x x (Figure82). Now remove the weights, and without allowing the trimmed edges to shift, change the cloth end for end on the table, bringing the pencil marks at each end directly above the side cutting edge of the table, and with the ends of the cloth projecting sufficiently beyond the end cutting edge; weight as before, and trim the surplus off end and side.

It is more difficult to trim a number of pieces than to trim one, but with a little practice it can be done quite easily and considerable time saved thereby.

As the cloth now lies it should be even with the steel edges at end and side, the left hand ends lying over the scoring lines, and as they lie one or more may be scored at once, according to the weight of the cloth. Roll back the rest a sufficient distance, and holding the rounded corner of the back of the knife in the position indicated by Figure83, draw it across the first score line A; do not bear too heavy on the knife, but make sufficient indentation so that it can be folded over without trouble.

If the shade is to have the regulation two-inch hem score also at the second line B, if for a two and a half-inch hem score A and C, for three-inch A and D, and so on according to the width you desire to make the hem. All ordinary shades have a two-inch hem, but special cases require a variation from the rule.

Fold the hem over as illustrated in Figure84, and press it flat with the side of the knife; it is then ready for stitching.

While almost any sewing machine will stitch a window shade, perfect results are only obtained by using a special shade-stitching machine.

Care must be exercised in stitching the hem so that it does not slide or pucker, but lies flat and even, with the line of the stitching as straight as possible.

If lace is to be applied to the bottom of the shade, as Figure79, the knife is run over the bottom of the hem after stitching it to press it flat, and then passed through it, as Figure85, and the laceinserted between the edges and stitched, as Figure86.

If insertion is used without lace, as Figure87, the top edge of the insertion is placed between the cut open edges of the hem, as above described for lace, and a separate hem (A—A, Figure87) scored, folded and sewn on, as illustrated. If both lace and insertion are to be applied the bottom of the separate hem (A, Figure87) is split and the lace inserted and sewn in, as above.

This separate hem is made the same width as the ordinary hem for shades, but need not have the little turn in indicated by arrow in Figure84.

When cutting lace or insertion measure it so that the pattern will balance nicely, and if both lace and insertion are used be careful to have the pattern of the insertion in line with the lace. After these trimmings have been cut the size of the shades, the cut ends are bound by sewing them between the edges of a piece of the same cloth as the shades, say half an inch wide, folded in the middle, and for convenience a number of the ends can be stitched into the same piece of binding, as illustrated in Figure88, and afterwards separated by cutting the binding.

Motif patterns, as Figure90, are applied to the shade by a double row of stitching, about one-quarter of an inch apart, all around the outside edge of the motif, after which the cloth is carefully cut away from the back, just below the stitches and following the outline. Should the pattern prove too large to work beneath the arm of the sewing machine, pin it carefully in place on the shade and sew it on by hand, passing the needle down and back as neatly as possible. This is a tedious job, and should only be resorted to when no other way seems possible. Applique lace edges, as Figure91, are sewn on in the same manner, and the cloth cut away from the scallops behind.

The shade illustrated in Figure80is a combination of the bonne femme and motif shade, and is constructed like the foregoing Figure91, having in addition a frill eight or ten inches deep, composed of étamine, madras, mull, muslin or net, and trimmed with a lace. This is applied to the scalloped edge of the motif, and has usually an allowance of as much again for fullness (two feet of unshirred frilling to one foot of space), or if very fine a little more.

When applying the shirred frill to the scallops, have the greatest fullness between the points B and C (Figure80A), and decrease the fullness from B to A, for as the material follows the curve up into the angle at point A, it will be found that the bottom edge of the frill becomes more full according to the elevation of point A above point C.

Lace motif and scalloped bottom shades may be made with a hem and slat, as illustrated in Figure80, or the slat may be dispensed with and the shade operated by a cord which passes through a screw eye at A (Figure90), and winds around the roller, which is left long enough for the purpose. The cord is wound around the roller the same number of times as the shade and attached by a fair-sized tack. The roller need not be provided with a spool unless the shade is extra long, as the screw eye at A will guide the winding and confine it to a small space. Figure90shows the cord and ball pull attached to the left end of the roller; but the tack which fastens the cord would be likely to penetrate to the spring on that side, and it would be best to attach it to the right end of the roller.

The shade is operated by pulling the cord, and works the same as with the tassel in the regular way, as Figure92.

Back to Index Next