To post a photo, it must be hosted at a site like photobucket.com or tinypic.com. Then you copy and paste the link code here.

Getting back to draperies, there doesn't seem to be an easy way to use sheers with drapes hanging on drapery rings for the reasons you mention.

Sheers serve several purposes regarding light control, fading, and obscuring the view into your house. If none of these are issues for you, then skip the sheers. However, if you need another layer besides the drapes, most people seem to go for blinds, either wood blinds, Silhouettes or cellular shades.

You could try putting the sheers on a tension rod and putting them inside the window frame. You might have to hem them, though.

I've done what you describe in my master bedroom where I did need the privacy and light control of layered WTs. I used a traverse rod for the sheers, since I did want to be able to (very) occasionally draw the sheers which are covering a seldom used patio door. Since the sheers are almost always closed the traverse rod is essentially invisible.

These pics are from a few years ago, but should give you an idea how it looks:

Thanks so much for the replies!

graywings - My husband and I did discuss the blind/shade option and I looked today at Lowe's. That might still be a really good option!

camlan- Thought about the tension rod, too. We're going to have to hem them anyway b/c they are the same length as the drapes (83") and since we have to lower them a few inches...well, you get the picture. Luckily my manly husband's mom was a seamstress, so he knows his way around a hem! (unlike me, who was generously given a "C" in one of my college design/sewing classes. The teacher, a very old ex-pattern maker at Vogue, said, "Honey, I'm giving you this grade on a silver platter. My advice is to marry a rich man so you never have to make your own clothes." :)

I digress...

valinsv: Thanks SO much for the photos - that's exactly what I'm looking to accomplish. Yours puts me to shame though, much more formal drapery and sheers. My sheers aren't pinch pleat, they are just generic BB&B type. Drapes are kind of a crumply raw silk.

Also, is there another way other than a link to put pics in here? I noticed you've embedded them. I tried to do that but the "paste" option was not available when I right-clicked.

You can embed a photo as valinsv did, but it still first has to be hosted on the net somewhere. If you right click on one of Val's photo and then click on View Image Information, you will see that the photo is stored on photobucket.com.

You said that when you hung them on a secondary rod the sheers stuck up above the rings. Another option is to use the secondary rod, and put the rod through the very top opening of the sheers, not using the sew-in rod pocket that's about an inch down from the top of the sheer. If you do it this way, there is no gathered fabric above the rod to show above the rings of the drapes. This will make the sheers hang lower, and it may be necessary to shorten the bottom hem, but you said you had to do that anyway.

Thanks, graywings! I tried to copy from Photobucket to embed but it still wouldn't give me a "paste" option on this page, so I'm just including the link. (Keep in mind this is when we just hung them out of the package - they haven't been steamed or anything yet.) I'm starting to like them without the sheers, to be honest. It's nice to be able to see greenery out the window and then just close them at night, and I also like admiring my freshly painted bright white window mouldings and new base moulding :). My only concern is our new and pricey hardwood floors getting direct sunlight half of the day...argh...

nanny2a - I misspoke on the sheers - I should have said because the sheer rod was the same height as the drape rod, the sheers were showing from the top of the drape up to the rod. You could see them through the rings.

Here's the "sheerless" look:

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/af149/kylerubysmom/DSC_0116.jpg

{{!gwi}}

Once you have the photo posted at Photobucket, look for the SHARE icon above the photo. You might see
SHARE or SHARE THIS IMAGE or EDIT MOVE SHARE DELETE.
click on SHARE
click on GET LINK CODE
look for "HTML for websites & blogs (MySpace, Hi5, Orkut, Friendster, eBay & more)"
then click in the first block below and copy/paste theh link code here. It begins with OR, do what I did. I copy/pasted the photo's web address from your post then added this in front of it:
img src= (no space after the = sign)
then I put carets on either end of the string

It's easy to do, hard to explain. If it works in the preview, then it works. If not, then you did something wrong.