September 14, 2011 Newsletter

I have an advanced degree in Physics. Who would have guessed that would be of benefit in designing Roman shades. Perhaps one of the reasons I have gravitated towards this particular window treatment is due to the requirement for both math and mechanical skills. Every window is different and I thoroughly enjoy figuring out how to cover each situation with a stunning Roman shade. A day seldom goes by that I don't get to give advice to a home sewer on designing her shades. What a fun way to run a business. Today's articles concentrate on one very important design aspect: Stackage, which is the length of the fully-raised shade.

When you receive this Newsletter, I'll be bicycling around the Dordogne Valley in France with my husband and eleven other couples. The wonders of technology allowed me to write the articles in early September then set up an E-Mail Campaign to send out this Blast on September 14th. And yes, I'll be checking out the window treatments at each and every hotel and restaurant.











Stackage for Roman Shades




Stackage is a very important property of a Roman shade. Stackage is defined as the length of the shade when it is completely raised. When I work with an Interior Designer, they always specify the Stackage. Our online Hardware (and Folding) Calculator helps you determine the Fold Size of your shade. It does that by asking for the Shade Length and the Ideal Stackage. It then attempts to fold the shade such that your Actual Stackage will be equal to your Ideal Stackage. Have I lost you yet? Let's look at some pictures.

This first photograph shows a Bay Window. The inside length of the windows (and also the shades) is 46 inches. The Stackage is 10 inches. There are 6 folds (3 up-folds and 3-down folds), or 3 flaps. Since the shades are mounted inside of the window, the longish Stackage blocks a fair amount of the view. Still, I really like the fabric and I think the window treatment looks balanced for these windows.

This second photograph shows two corner windows. The inside length of the windows and shades is once again 46 inches. This time the Stackage is 7.75 inches. These shades have 10 folds, or 5 flaps. That is one of the major trade-offs with a shorter Stackage. You will have more folds.

Usually you will add at least one flap (which is two folds) to be able to raise the shade by one more inch. As you add folds, the shade tends to protrude from the window. These shades are mounted on windows that have a shallow space in front of the glass. The shade folds back into the window opening. If the opening were deeper, as is the case with the bay windows pictured in the first photograph, the shades would have stacked out of the way. You can read more about Stackage in the Measure and Sketch your Pattern Section of my web site.

Designing your Custom Shades

All windows are unique, which means making a truly custom Roman shade makes great sense. I recently got these questions from a customer who was in the designing phase of her project.

I have decided to tackle my living room 'bay window' with inside mount Roman blinds and have a few questions. The windows are as follows: left and right: 16" wide x 46.5" high; center: 61" wide x 46" high; these are set at right angles to each other forming a rectangle 'alcove' about 3' deep. The house was built in 1928 and nothing is uniform or square!

Question 1: For the center window, how crucial is it to make the mounting board 60.75"? Can't I get away with 60" and therefore use a standard 5' length board? The mounting board is usually cut 0.25" shorter than the Finished Width of the Shade. The shade overlaps the board by a mere 1/8-inch on each side. If a 61" shade is mounted on a 60" board, it will overlap the board by ½-inch on each side. That will work just fine, but the lifting hardware (pulleys and cord lock) will be further in from the edge of the shade. Remember that you have to hold the cord and swing it in or out to engage or release the cord lock. It is particularly important in this case to make the mounting board first and use the actual position of the pulleys to mark the location of the lift rings.

Question 2: The internal battens theoretically need to be 60.5". Can't these also be 60" long? Will an extra 1/4" less on each end of the battens create issues with the hang of the folds? It is recommended that the internal battens be cut 0.5" shorter than the Finished Shade Width. The battens are available in 2-foot, 3-foot, 4-foot and 5-foot lengths. If your shade is wider than 60", you purchase extra battens and use batten splints to join multiple units to achieve the required length. This customer requires battens that are only 0.5" longer than a standard size. If she uses 60" battens, they will stop 0.5" from each edge of the shade instead of the recommended 0.25". The main concern is that you sew the lift rings "around" the battens. Since the mounting board will also be a bit short, the outside columns of lift rings will already be further in from the edge.

Question 3: I was thinking of using a 7" Stackage. The shades should have a Stackage closer to 10" but I think that would be too much on the narrower windows. I don't want to lose any more view than necessary. What do you think? I played around with the Hardware Calculator using the shade sizes. I had trouble getting a Stackage of 7" without having a very large number of folds. I did get a Stackage of 7.75" with 10 folds, or a Stackage of 9" with only 6 folds. The comment "should have a Stackage closer to 10 inches" refers to the recommendation that you start with a Stackage of 15% to 20% of the Finished Length of the Shade when doing your design.



I ALWAYS draw the windows to scale when designing shades. After getting several Stackage options using the Hardware Calculator, I draw in the fully raised shades. The drawing above depicts the shades with the shorter Stackage of 7.75". The drawing below depicts the shades with the longer Stackage of 9". I had so much trouble telling the two apart that I placed the two narrower windows side by side. That drawing is at the beginning of this article. What would you do? If it were me, I'd go with the 9" Stackage since there will be fewer battens and lift rings. Six folds versus ten folds wins out for me.