Lining up drapery lining?

9 years ago

Hi all! I've been making roman shades and am having trouble lining up the lining so that it lays flat. I'm sewing it like a pillowcase, inside out, with the lining 4 inches narrower than the decorative fabric. I line up one long side of lining and fabric and sew a seam. Then line up the other lining side and sew a seam. That's where I have trouble.

If I line up the second long side flush at the raw edge, there are sometimes waves in the lining fabric. I'm guessing that my lining is not exactly square, but I do my best. I can flatten out the lining from the sewed seam, but then I need to pull it over the additional four inches.

Does anyone have any tips on how I can get it to match up flat? Should I mark the lining (for cutting to size) on top the decorative fabric instead of measuring? Is there something else I can try?

Featured Answer

shadylady2u

9 years ago

A little late to the party but Romans are best made using double turned side and bottom hems, rather than pillowcasing. Too hard to get it squared that way. Hand stitching doesn't take long or you can use a fusible tape if you don't or can't hand stitch.

Also, you should use a heavy, quality lining. A napped lining is good also.

To square a roman, you should be using a carpenter square or a T-square.

When you machine sew, the fabrics don't always feed thru together evenly, which could be part of the waving problem. Pinning them together, using a long stitch and holding the fabric taut, front and back of the foot is helpful.

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Comments (7)

User
9 years ago
The liner and maybe the upper fabric is "off grain". You need to square up the fabric - they get out of whack during the folding and shipping before sale - before you measure and cut. It makes a huge difference in how things hang.

http://www.makeit-loveit.com/2015/04/how-to-cut-fabric-perfectly-straight-and-square-it-up.html

For many fabrics, pulling it on the true bias in both directions works well.

http://www.sew4home.com/tips-resources/sewing-tips-tricks/fabric-grain-what-it-and-how-fix-it-if-its

http://www.thedailysew.com/2014/04/squaring-up-fabric/
pippiep thanked User
pippiep
Original Author
9 years ago
Those tips about pulling individual threads were so interesting! I spent an hour doing that with a couple of different fabric samples.

I'm going to be working with 10+ yards of fabric on a roll, which I need cut down into 2-yard pieces. Do you think I should try to square off the whole thing, or cut the 2 yards and square that off? I have several inches to play with; I don't need the full 2 yards.
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User
9 years ago
Square the whole thing, then cut square from one end to the other by the pulled thread technique. If you lose an inch on each end of a piece because of unsquareness, there went 1/3 of a yard.
pippiep thanked User
pippiep
Original Author
9 years ago
Not too late! I still plan to make at least 9 more...
User
9 years ago
You really need to pin, pin, pin that lining to the deco fabric, in all directions, length, depth and corner to corner! It needs to be dimensionally stable and evenly distributed. And, it helps to make hash marks so that you are carefully matching midlines and levels on all layers of fabric.

It is also important that the seams that hold it all together at the top be level. Level, square, level, square,etc......Your long straight edge and Tsquare are two of the most important construction tools in a drapery workroom.

I have found that it is helpful to first set the fold into the deco fabric with the iron.

So much of sewing window treatments requires a careful squaring of fabrics, and the fabrics don't always cooperate.
pippiep thanked User
pippiep
Original Author
9 years ago
I forgot that I had posted this here! (I've been posting about this in Home Decorating.) I did my most recent roman shade with double turned side/bottom hems instead of the pillowcase method, and bought a 15" square. Wow, it makes ALL the difference!! I used the blind stitch hem on my machine, and it worked perfectly. I also got the advice to use the walking foot to avoid the waving fabric for the bottom hem, where I just used a straight stitch. Also worked perfectly.

I love how it came out! I haven't hung it yet.

Odd thing, though. The pattern itself wasn't completely aligned. I used the method of pulling on a thread to try to square the fabric, but the print was not even -- it was off by an inch from one end to the other. So I used a mix of measuring plus eyeballing to coerce the fabric into squareness. Worked great!

I'm having far too much fun making these shades. I already bought the fabric for my boys' rooms (five windows total there).