I guess draping was not the right term to use. I meant it to mean the way the pleats fall---in the case of my drapes the pleats don't hold shape but flare out. I am adding a picture to show how they look. Regarding weights, do you think that adding more weights and heavier weights will reduce the flare?

Do you think there is any way to eliminate the creases? Also, it is hard to capture the "blistering" effect in the photos but if you look in the first picture you will see an example of it in the upper third of the photo just to the right of the crease line as well as an area a little below it.

Are these drapes lined? If yes, what type of fabric was used for lining...heavy/thick or thin/lightweight?
Can you take a picture of the header (very top of the drapery - underneath the valance)?
It may be helpful in seeing how they made the pleats. If possible a pic from the front as well as from the back (of the header).

A chainstitch can be done on the bottom back to help with the flair and control the folds. Also a chain weight, put in the hem, would be more helpful than the little weights.

I think taking it all apart and redoing the pleats might be the only way to hide those sharp creases. Just pressing and steaming them would probably make it worse.

Did the workroom warn you that a pleated style might be the wrong choice for a poly fabric? Another kind of heading would have been better.

Anyway, they don't look that bad, but if you have them do the chain stitch thing at the bottom to control the flare, I think you'll like them better.

I think they are very beautiful and time will probably take care of the problem--just hanging and getting used to the atmosphere in your house (humidity, etc). I'd try the chain in the hem if you just can't stand how they look now. But all in all, the look is professional enough to please me. JMHO

Laurie: Yes, there is blackout lining. I will try to get pictures.

Shadylady: No, the workroom did not warn me re polyester. Aside from the flare, the sharp creases and blistered fabric look awful. You can see the blistering along all the crease lines from quite a distance along the length of each sharp crease.

Dancingirl: From a distance, you are right, they look ok. But, as I said above, the blistering of the fabric along all the sharp creases is unsightly. Everyone has the same reaction when they see them: first, oh how beautiful; then, what happened to the fabric?; what is all this bubbling? Not good for drapes that cost $10K for 2 single and 1 double window.

The blackout lining is contributing to the problem because it's also a synthetic fabric. It doesn't train well, either.

It's just a combination of the fabric and lining.

Haved you talked to the workroom about it?

Yes but it is complicated by the fact that the workroom that the decorator said she was using measured for the drapes but without my knowledge outsourced it to a large company in the west that does draperies because her workroom was not big enough to handle the size of the job. I found this out after the fact. They are the ones who put the creases in and caused the textured fabric to blister up. I have contacted the decorator who in turn will contact the original workroom. I also talked to the fabric company and all they said was that heat/steam will cause some fabrics to ripple and that the pressed creases indicate that heat and/or steam was used. They would not comment any further nor offer any possible solutions.

$10,000 sounds like a lot of money to me. If you are not satisfied, they should make efforts to correct and/or compensate you. The window in your photo doesn't look that large. You mentioned 3 windows (1 single & 2 double). I am unsure what a single or double window is. Is the window shown in your photo considered a single?

I'm not a pro in the least, but have sewn several of my own drapes. I can tell you that I've never pressed any of my drapery pleats.

See if you have time to post those pics I mentioned earlier. I am so curious.

Laurie, will do. Thank you so much for your feedback. I have never, over 50 years of buying drapes ranging from bargain to custom, had creases pressed into the fabric. I love this forum and if nothing else thank all who have taken the time to contribute for allowing me to vent a little.

Laurie: Here are the pictures you wanted; hard to get good ones under the valance.

I don't see any creases there at all and it doesn't look like they've been pressed. I think the problem is just that the bottoms don't hold folds on account of the poly fabric, that make them look like they do.

This should be fixable and otherwise, I think they look pretty good.

You cannot see any of the creases here from the front because the pressed in creases are in the valleys of the folds which are not visible here and because they started the creasing stops about 12 inches below the header and thus not visible in the picture. They did not crease the lining.

Thanks for posting those additional 2 pics. I can see the drapes are on a traverse rod. Was the second pic (front side of header) taken when the drapes were open? I ask because I can see that there is some buckling/bending of the spaces between the pleats. If the pic was taken while the drapes were closed, that buckling should not be there.

Also, from the first pic (back side of header), I'm not certain how they "made" the pleat.
It almost appears that they did not sew the hem...along the header. Maybe it's hand stitched and there are large gaps? It looks as if I could place my fingers under the header and lift up the "hem" . Once again, not explaining myself very well.

Looking at the first pic (backside of header), I also think they may not have machine stitched the pleats. Maybe they made the pleats using the "prong" type of hooks? I've never used those prong things. I machine stitch my pleats that makes one 4" stitching line that is perpendicular to the top & bottom of the header. Then, I fold (by hand) the pleat (on the header) & then hand stitch/tack the pleat.

As shadylady said, the blackout lining has a tendency to add bulk and it's hard to "train" it to drape/hang just so.
Dancingirl also brought up a good point.. In time, drapery hangs/drapes a little better.

Your pictures are helpful and I wish I could hold, feel, & see for myself how they formed those pleats. The header has a lot to do with how a drapery hangs. Any more detailed/close up pics of ONE pleat would reveal even more.

The function of these drapes must be amazing. With blackout lining, I love how it darkens the room and provides insulation, as well. Your fabric is pretty. I like tone on tone prints. I wish they did not iron/press the pleats. Pressing drapery fabric for me is necessary on the hem, the header, and the side seams. I always test out my iron on a scrap piece of the fabric I'm working with. Many times, I'll use a press cloth between the iron & the fabric to protect the fabric from damage.

Laurie, thank you so much for your comments. I am away for a few days but will check out the issues you mentioned. The fabric rep is coming to take a look as is the workroom person who outsourced it to the workroom that did the job. They did a terrible job of the seams where they pieced the fabric widths together---patterns match but seems bulky. I will look for the bulging you mentioned with drapes closed---they were partially closed when I took the picture. I am going to take a look at what you explained about sewing the header hem. Will try to get a picture next week. Thanks again.

I switched computers and see I have a different name now. Same person, same problem.

I just want to go over some of the things Laurie was discussing above, the top hem as she calls it or header is not suppose to be sewn down, you are not suppose to see stitching on the front, that is very unprofessional. I have used this fabric on several projects that I have done for clients, and the blistering as you call it is the nature of the fabric. The creasing can come from the folding and shipping of the product or even from when they where training them. The flaring is the nature of the fabric chosen and can be brought under control with weights and other methods, and I am sure the workroom would be willing to use those methods. Back to the bubbling of the fabric, it is a 2 ply fabric and will naturally do this, I look at it as being a 2 dimensional or texture look to the fabric. Many workrooms send out their larger projects to larger workrooms it is not an uncommon occurance. It might help to raise the rod so the panel header is below the rod to allow it more room to fold back and forward better. You would need the installer to move the rod up a bit, and the old holes won't show because it is behind the valance. Take a deep breath and relax!

As I stated last Thursday, "I'm not a pro in the least, but have sewn several of my own drapes".

My headers are stitched along the bottom. Likely unprofessional, yet they hang nicely and look fine to me. I learn from books & online videos which don't always show the pro way but they turn out fine to me. My "workroom" is my living room floor with all furniture moved out or to the sides. My machine is an old Singer 221 featherweight.

It's nice that Chrystal is responding with helpful suggestions and ideas. Always good to get several different thoughts and perspectives....and encouragement : )

Thank you, Chrystal. Appreciate your comments and giving this input. I guess, if the blistering is the nature of the fabric, I would expect the decorator/workroom to have pointed this out. Have worked with other decorators/workrooms for many years where I used to live and I guess they were just more knowledgeable and communicated better----this is my first drapery disappointed and an expensive lesson to learn. Regarding the creases, there is a difference between how creases look from the fabric being folded and how they look when they are pressed in. I can assure you that these are sharply pressed in and not just from folding or training unfortunately. Anyway, I know who not to use the next time.

Chrystal, forgot to say that I thinke this site and your input is great. Next time I undertake a project I will post for help and comments ahead of time and hope that people such as you and the others who responded will be there to give guidance. Thanks again.

The blisters are part of the dimensional beauty of that fabric. Did you pick it out or did a designer bring it to your attention. The mix of the blackout liner and the polyester fabric enhanced the billow which is natural to polyester anyway. Did you discuss these properties with your designer? This is a design issue, not a workroom issue. The workroom works on what the designer specifies, so you must have agreed with the designer. The workmanship looks very good from what I can see.( as a workroom owner for many years.) Now I do see that crease. This is a mystery. Fan folding would not create that crease, for it would have been a soft crease at best and fall out in time. That crease appears to have been ironed in. So who ironed it in? Maybe a day worker who wanted to surprise you by fixing the curtain?...that may seem rude, but anyone with a workroom who had worked with polyester ( and that is hard to avoid these days) would know better than to iron a sharp crease in a polyester drapery. I suggest you leave those creases alone, or you may do damage to the fabric. If you apply a lot of steam up close, you may cause shrinkage.

I think I finally figured out where you're seeing the creases. I think you're talking about in the spaces, between the pleats. I'm going to assume there's buckram in the header, and where the 'spaces' are folded it's called 'breaking the buckram', and this is where you're seeing the creases. They're caused by the buckram and not from pressing. This is normal and how it's done.

If the rod were mounted higher up and the panels hung under, instead of in front of, like Chrystal suggested, the spaces can then be folded to the back, which should then make those creases not visible.

I don't sew the header either, unless it's a rodpocket or if I use shirring tape.

You wouldn't want to see any stitch lines and it's not necessary.

The buckling, as Laurie calls it, in the spaces will be there if they're opened. It is fabric after all. Fabric does what it wants to do!

123bdesign: Am not sure what you mean by a day worker? If the work room has a day worker why would he/she even be motivated to surprise me or why would they even feel that I needed to be surprised???? Am totally confused as to why a work room would have a day worker and why they would be involved with the drapes. Just to recap, these creases were there from the moment they arrived at my home delivered by the installer who works for the decorator. When I saw the creases I asked the installer if they need to be steamed out and he said no absolutely not and that it would only make the billowing worse than it was.

No, the decorator did not share any information with me as to characteristics of the fabric. Unfortunately I have learned after the fact that the decorator is probably not familiar with these things---mea culpa, poor choice of a decorator. Regarding the work room, the woman who owns the local work room did come to my house to measure and discuss the drapes but never mentioned anything about the fabric.. Then she turned around and outsourced it to a huge work room all the way across the country and yes, as you said, their job was just to make the drapes. I was never made aware that she was going to outsource the job. Another mea culpa, poor choice of a local work room by a decorator who was a poor choice. As I said above, this has been a very costly learning experience.

shady lady2: I don't know what you mean about mounting the rod higher up. The creases would still be there and still very obvious because the fabric billows and so what might be folded to the back with a different fabric does not occur here. With the billowing there are very few back folds----so the creases are all pushed out to be visible. Hope I am explaining myself. I have given up with this job and my only recourse is to post an honest review of the decorator and work room on the local angie's list and move on.

Shadylady meant that if the rod were higher the drapery could be pinned so low that the buckram would fall behind the rod instead of the buchram having to be bent forward to accommodate traversing . There is nothing technically wrong with the method the drapery is hung...Also those creases would still be there. When I said day lady, I meant maybe you had some house hold help that endeavored to press the drapery for you. If a workroom took the trouble to farm out a drapery, it would most likely be due to size constraints. It is not reasonable that a local workroom would care that much about your project so as to farm it out and then once they get it in house to to press in those creases. Workrooms know the less a fabric gets handled the better. So these creases are a mystery. That being said, I think if you can get some help controlling the billowing, you have lovely fabric. This is a most unfortunate thing to have happened to you.

I will tell you I have been in this business for many years...fabrics have changed...they are not as manageable as they once were. The synthetic fabrics look beautiful, but they don't behave as designers and workroom wish they would. I hope you can have some peace with this.

On Saturday, you mentioned "The fabric rep is coming to take a look as is the workroom person who outsourced it to the workroom that did the job". Have any of these people come out to look, yet?

Thanks, 123design. I love the term day lady, but no I don't have one. It's only me.

Laurie: The rep will not be out until week after next.

Everything looks well made to me and the problems you have are due to the double layer synthetic fabric. On behalf of your designer and workroom it is almost impossible to know what a fabric will do until you've made something with it and each project is different.

You will find that most designers use various workrooms to do various aspects of the job, and they don't feel the need to explain that to the client. It is all part of a business. Because something was made in a different location - does not mean it was made incorrectly or poorly made. I'm sorry - I'm not trying to lessen your disappointment, but your drapes appear to be well made and I believe your billowing problem is due to the fabric not memorizing the folds. The blistering (which IMHO is not a problem) is due to the double layer fabric. Like 123design mentioned - the fabrics being milled today are mostly synthetics and not as manageable as plain old cotton! (Even linen has its own issues!)

In answer to one of the posters at the top - NO - the top hem (header) shouldn't have been sewn down - your header is done correctly and the pleats are sewn in and tacked at the bottom (through the pleats) - which is correct.

Did your designer choose and supply this fabric?

Agree that the panels have been fabricated properly. And raising the rod so that the curtain can lay below the rod, and therefore pushing the spaces to the back can help. One other thing, I don't see how the face fabric could be steamed/ironed without the lining behind it being creased? That's just not possible the way professional drapery is fabricated.

Honestly though, sometimes it is just the fabric, and something we don't find out until after the fact. This happened to me once in all my years in business. It sounds like your designer and the local workroom are willing to work with you to solve this problem. How could you give them any kind of review on Angie's list when they have not even had the chance to remedy the problem yet? Let the fabric rep come out and allow the designer and workroom to work together to help you first.

JM Designs: Thanks. The only thing I can think of is that the lining fabric did not take the crease as well as the drapery fabric and/or the creases fell out in the lining fabric which is very heavy and has a very thick feel to it. Believe me, the creases, about very 6-8 inches or so across the panels are not my imagination.

Thanks also, VanessaDowns.

As others have said above, your drapes have been professionally fabricated to industry standards. Your fabric is a 2 layer polyester....the top layer will bubble when it is manipulated. Yes drapery are ironed when they re being fabricated for the most part!!!!. Those creases appear in the folds between the pleats as that is how they were probably folded for transport..again this is industry standard. Your drapes look perfectly fine to me..the only thing I would say is that they need to be dressed properly and the billowing needs to be controlled...again....something that is inherent in some polyesters is that they resist the linings, but that can be controlled. No one has done anything wrong here. Sometimes when choosing a fabric from a 6x6 sample we do not up front see the true nature of a fabric. I have worked on those double layer fabrics before and the "blistering" is just part of the nature of the 2 layers in your fabric repelling each other...so there is repelling all around here. Most designers make design choices based on pattern and color, as workrooms it is our job to do the best we can with fabrics . To my eye your workroom has done nothing wrong, they look beautifully fabricated. Yes custom drapery is expensive!!! . In my years of fabricating drapery I've yet to meet the "perfect" fabric.

spunkybelle/sierrashopper - Any updates for us? Did the rep come out and take a look?