Braiding help

[JoanE]

I am not a professional curtain maker, but have made lots of curtains for my house and my daughter's, having taken a soft furnishing course and used the wealth of knowledge on this site, managing to produce half decent curtains.

I have been asked to make some curtains with braiding on the leading edge, (these are for a friend) she is having coloured lining but does not want the conventional hem bottom and sides. I thought I would do the sides and bottom like you would a pillowcase (bagging I think it is called)and attaching the braiding between the face and lining fabric but I don't know how to finish off the top and bottom of the braiding. She is undecided on the heading yet, eyelet, universal tempo or triple pleats. I also thought I would make a small sample first and will of course charge her a small amount.

Any help would be appreciated.

JE

[thecurtainmaker]

Re: Braiding help

Do you mean twisted cord on a flange?

If you bag it out and stitch the lining to the edge, the lining may show - I would cut a strip off the leading edge to use as a facing and enclose the cord.

At the bottom, mark the hem line on the leading edge. On the cord, unpick about 4cm of the flange, and untwist the three cords so that they lay flat side by side over the flange. Pin the cord to the fabric, edge of flange level with raw edge of fabric, with the end of the cord just above the hem line, so that all the raw ends will be enclosed. Pin facing on top of this and stitch, using a zipper foot, just into the cord. Repeat at the top. Turn facing to wrong side and press.

Hope this helps.

[JoanE]

Re: Braiding help

Yes on a flange.

Many thanks I will try this on my sample