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Making an Arch Top Pleated Drapery

Don't let arch top pleated draperies scare you! With a little practice and patience you can make these impressive draperies.  After you have made them once, you will jump in and do it again! It does help to have experience in making draperies.

Arch Top Pleated DraperyA few months back Mary with Mary's Custom Workroom contacted Precision Draperies Education and asked for our full scale pattern service.

The full scale pattern service makes your work easy.  We asked a few questions, and Mary provided a few simple answers.  From those answers we knew what she was looking for.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

D-012 Three Finger Pleat Top TackThe type of pleat Mary used was a D-012 three finger pleat top tack. Notice the spaces between the pleats; this is how the drapery shapes to the rod, not to the pleats. That's the key in making arch top draperies.

In the old days you would need to make the pattern of the window and chop up the pattern to allow for the pleats. With our AutoCAD service, we can draw the window and draperies to scale.  We print full scale patterns with all the spec's included on the pattern. This process saves you several hours of time and provides confidence that the final product will fit the application. 

 

AutoCad Plot of WindowFirst we plotted out the window only.  We confirmed a few drapery measurements with Mary i.e. how far above the window they will hang, how far out they will extend from each side of the window, fullness etc.

Once we had all the information needed, we went to work plotting out the scale pattern

To make sure the rod fits the drapery we plotted a full scale pattern for the rod company.  This extra pattern ensures the drapery will fit the rod perfectly.

In the pattern on the right, the blue lines indicate the spacing of the drapery.  The green lines indicate the hardware, or rod, placement.

 

 

 

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Once we have the spaces in place it's time to break apart the pattern and build out for the pleats, returns, overlaps, side hems, while staying within the # of widths allowed. With our pattern service we place text and measurements to help clarify what is where. Full scale pattern of arch pleated drapery

Full scale pattern of arch pleated draperyThe pattern was then shipped to Mary's Custom Workroom where she began the process of making the arch top pleated drapery.

That’s it!  Our pattern service simplifies a complicated process prone to error.  Let us partner with you on your next arched drapery! 

Here is what Mary with Mary’s Custom Workroom had to say:

Living in southern California, having a workroom for 18 years I have had my fair share of arched windows to make window treatments. Including the dreaded pinch pleated style. It would take me a good  3-4 days to draft up just one pattern. This was making a template figure the pleats and spaces cut into stripes (hope everything stays in place).Re-cut another template. If more then one size arch window spending more time making another template, sew everything up hoping it will fit.

I was never really happy with the results. No matter how much I charged it never seemed like I made a profit. The thought of spending so much time on this and having a large back log of work already was not to appealing. Then I remembered hearing about Kirk from Precision Draperies Education from the DraperyPro group.

I can not thank Kirk enough. His expertise and knowledge made what could have been a long and very challenging job into an effortless project with a beautiful result.

 

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Kirk Axelson

Precision Draperies Education

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