drapes

Projects: 18-24 October

Tchad

Week 18-24 October is going to be a rebound & recovery week after we (yes, all of us) spent the week only focused on classes and otherwise in bed sick. The only web work done was for the disambiguation page, and that was a little fuzzy-focused and needs some review.

So with that in mind, here is the agenda for the Workrooms at Tchad for the week of 18-24 October. We are recharged, though the list may be a bit rehashed:

  1. A number of new posts to the classes page, including part 2 of 3: Buying a Sewing Machine.
  2. Finalizing the Winter, Spring, and Fall 2011 session schedules, announcements for schedule changes.
  3. General cleanup.
  4. Two fittings Friday morning.
  5. Finalize the links for these blogs and get the website a little more functional.
  6. Drapery for the workroom’s offices.
  7. About 1,000 emails (actually 322 as of right now, but after you pass 60, it all seems like 1,000)

Workroom Schedule for the week:

  • Monday: 3-6 p.m,, classes 6-9 p.m.
  • Tuesday: 12-3 p.m., classes 3-9 p.m.
  • Wednesday: 12-6 p.m., classes 6-9 p.m.
  • Thursday: 2-6 p.m., classes 6-9 p.m.
  • Friday: 8 a.m. – 10:30 p.m.
  • Saturday: 8 a.m. – 12 noon, classes 12-6 p.m.
  • Sunday: Classes 12-6 p.m.

Projects: 11-17 October 2010

Tchad

Some of our projects at the workroom the week of 11-17 October:

  1. Our email inbox has become a mess. If you expect an email, look for it by 3 p.m. Tuesday the 12th.
  2. We should have the Design blog built out.
  3. The tchad.biz site will be updated with new links and filled out with some images.
  4. There are about five posts to write across the blogs:
    1. Sewing machines you should never buy.
    2. Sewing machines that are a great value.
    3. Reviewing the “Pattern Magic” book’s new English edition.
    4. How to build an ironing table from a large 4×8 foot piece of plywood
  5. Toward the end of the week, we will be at the fabric store to buy white fabric for the workroom’s office drapery.
  6. What seems like thousands of little business details – CPAs, attorneys, &c.
  7. Fittings Friday morning for two of the Berlin series (this is VERY exciting).
  8. Rescheduling and updating the class schedules for Winter & Spring 2011.

So that is what HAS to get done. If we can squeeze in a few hours to finish cleaning out the closet and install a new communications system in the workroom, well, great.

One of Our Most Interesting Projects

Tchad

One of our favorite projects was this drapery job.
Our client showed us a 16th-17th century wooden candlestick that had been turned into a table lamp and said that she would like to have rods and rings that matched the piece as well as nice formal drapes for her Lake Shore home.

She ordered the fabric from Italy – a nice silk damask, and we got to work.

The wood is oak. We began by distressing them and then soaked them in tannins for a month. When we pulled them from the vat, we distressed them some more and covered them in ochre ground.

Three layers of silver paint, lots of lampblack and grime, and some more distressing gave them a nice feel.

We suspended the silver in purified linseed oil mixed with a bit of aluminum powder. This way, the finish will develop a bit of patina as it ages, but should remain fairly bright. The gold is a gilt paint we made with gold leaf ground with a mortar and pestle and suspended in the same artist-quality purified linseed oil. To keep the rings sliding easily, they were waxed after being installed

The drapes are standard pinch-pleat panels that have a 10 inch pool. Lined with pima cotton and hand finished at the hems and edges, this was some of our best work.

Some pictures as we worked:

After we were finished with the drapes and rods, we were commissioned to make some softlines with leftover fabric and antique fabric that she had collected.