Austrian Blinds/Festoon Blinds

[Julia]

Hi,

I have been asked to make an Austrian Blind/Festoon blind, she is letting me have a pic of what she wants. I haven't made one before, but have been looking into it. Seems to me to be similar to a Roman Blind, but strung vertically rather than horizontally and obviously no rods. I think I can probably work out the making up of it from M&D book etc, but any advice would be greatly appreciated. What I am concerned about is the regulations, can it be made up on a Roman Blind cassette system and strung up that way with the orbs etc? I have looked on the other posts on the site and there is friendly Velcro mentioned, is that pleated heading tape with velcro on one side? Could you not use sticky velcro on top of the tape, or maybe sew it on somehow? As you can see not quite sure!! Just want to make sure it looks good.

Thanks
Julia

[Louise]

Re: Austrian Blinds/Festoon Blinds

Make sure the customer is clear what they want - Austrian and festoon are not the same thing......

Austrian blinds gather up in little 'swags' from the bottom when raised (or partially raised) but look flat when dropped apart from the gathers at the bottom (you make them over-long).





Festoon blinds are gathered down the drop all the time.......



You need tape for festoon to create the gathers down the drop.

Velcro friendly heading tape has a slightly soft back so that when you pull the cords up to gather it creates a surface that will grip on to the hook side of Velcro,

[Kate T]

Re: Austrian Blinds/Festoon Blinds

Julia, I have MASSES of the velcro-friendly 3" heading tape. If you wanted a sample or even enough for the actual blind, drop me a PM and I'd be glad to pop some in the post for you!

[Julia]

Re: Austrian Blinds/Festoon Blinds

That's so kind of you Kate. Customer coming over tomorrow so hopefully will have more of an idea of what she is after.

[Julia]

Re: Austrian Blinds/Festoon Blinds

Thank you Louise. Hoping it is the Austrian. Do you know if I can use a roman blind kit to make this up?
Julia

[DianaM]

Re: Austrian Blinds/Festoon Blinds

Hi Julia, I made some Austrian blinds for a customer earlier this year and used good quality roman blind cassettes with rings sewn down the length and compatible orbs for the cassettes so it would comply in the same way as a roman blind. Just be careful with the weight of the fabric if the blind is large as you will have more fabric in both width and length than a roman blind for the same window. I used two cassettes next to each other on a large window in a bay for that reason.