Ok, so back to this Roman shade from hell. I used Aleene's fabric fusion glue to attach the wooden battens to the fabric. After the glue dried and I turned the fabric/lining assembly right side out, there are a few spots where the glue seeped through and saturated the fabric.(This didn't happen when I tested it) It appears as dark hardened spots. The fabric is a heavy velour type of drapery fabric, solid dark color.
Is there anything that can be done?
The damage is limited to the bottom 1/3 of the shade. What do you think of seaming a new piece of fabric horizontally to replace the bad piece? Will that look too weird, or do I have to go deep(er) into the hole for this job?
There's an old saying from the tech industry - "If you can't fix it, feature it!"
Now I don't do household stuff, but probably what I'd do is cut off the damaged portion and seam, as you suggest, in a location that falls inside the fold (obviously), and if it looks "off", I might add unnecessary seams evenly spaced up the shade so it's all symmetric, making it look like it was supposed to be that way in the first place. The seams might actually help the shade fold correctly as it's retracted.
It's not a "flaw", it's a "design feature". Believe me, in marine work, I've done this way more than once.
June
It seeped through the face fabric??
I don't fuse or glue anything on shades. I've been burned by fusibles on clothing one too many times to have much confidence in them, also saw too much failure of same in the course of a stint at a dry cleaning establishment. (But I'm going to have to give it a whirl since I want to try my hand at roller shades.)
Walk me through it, Jojo. I don't have a good picture of how you've constructed the shade, I'm afraid. You're using the battens to stiffen the folds? and help reinforce the folds as the shade is raised?
I would be careful about seaming on the face of the project, it's going to "show" when the shade is lowered. If you think you can do it neatly and duplicate the "seams" uniformly on the rest of the shade, go for it. Could you use the seam idea to create small casings for thin battens without compromising the finished length of the shade when fully lowered?
Bobbin, I followed this tutorial:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1Bllmkid-Y
And another one here said to do basically the same thing:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJGdLU3v2cI
You're sewing the lining to the fabric (right sides together), then based on your measurements, glue the battens to the face fabric. Then turn it right side out, close the top, sew the Velcro on, etc.
Now, both of the video producers here want you to buy the glue from them, but I just bought Aleene's fabric glue from the craft store. And it did ok, except in a few spots.
I realize the seam is going to show, but there's really no other alternative, as I don't have enough fabric to do the whole thing over. :(
I once tried to make a roman shade without the battens, and it wouldn't go up smoothly at all.
Oh Jojo! you must have wanted to throw up when you discovered the bleed through! It's no real consolation, but every single one of us has had a job that this one. You will live to make another Roman Shade!
I would never glue a batten to a shade. You can't clean them if you do that, that's why I suggested making little stitched casings for them... so they can be removed for cleaning. I use really thin, plastic ones from Rowley.
I think I mentioned that after I sew on the rings I "train" the shade for a few days by retracting it fully and finger creasing the folds. I then put a few of my cutting weights on it to really set them well. I've found that erring on the side of more rings across the width of the shade tends to reinforce the folds, too. And I don't like my rings spaced more than 8" apart vertically for the same reason.
The last shades I made were rigged the way Sailright shows in the video, but it's no longer permissible because rigging that way can choke a kid (or a pet). I have to get with the new rigging guidelines... you guessed it! insurance regulations.