Do it yourself: patterns and a detailed workshop

Want to make a beautiful lambrequin, but don’t know which shape to choose? Make swags with your own hands. Patterns can be taken ready-made or built independently in size. A semicircle with pleats is a classic that never goes out of style. Salons of curtains offer such products, but it is not always possible to choose the right model, but it happens that custom-made is too expensive. If you are interested in how to make swag with your own hands, read on.

Types of products and their main parameters

This element of the lambrequin is a semicircle with folds. Swag consists of a middle, two shoulders and has a depth. The shoulder is located along the cornice, and depth refers to the distance by which the fabric falls from the top line down.

Swags are of the following types:

• symmetrical;
• asymmetric;
• with a vertical shoulder;
• mechanical;
• sagging;
• rolling in de jabot.

You can try to make a simple symmetrical swag even without a pattern, and for a mechanical fold, use a curtain (mounting) tape.

Sequencing

Whatever product option you choose, usually sewing a swag with your own hands consists of the following steps:

1. Choosing the right model and charting.
2. Making measurements and calculating the size of the swag and the amount of material.
3. Building patterns or scaling the finished template.
4. The location of the part on the fabric (this is always done diagonally) and cutting.
5. Creation of folds.
6. Stitching seams, edging, hemming curtain tape or Velcro for attaching to the cornice.

The work at each stage may differ slightly, but in general the scheme always remains approximately the same.

Size calculation

To make swags with your own hands (patterns according to the finished template or independent constructions), you need to correctly determine all the parameters of the product. The calculation can be carried out using equations or a drawing on a scale.

If you are supposed to have a lambrequin (swag), you need to know:

• the length of the cornice;
• half the length of the lower sag (arc of the hanging edge);
• depth, that is, the distance by which it "hangs" from the top line.

All this needs to be simply measured by a window or a scale diagram.

If the lambrequin will consist of several swag, you will have to do some calculations. Suppose the length of the cornice is 3.6 m, and you want to arrange 4 swags that overlap the adjacent one by 1/3. This is the minimum intersection value. If you do without them, you need to divide 3.6 m by 4. In the case of overlapping parts, three overlays of 1/3 occur, that is, in fact, this is the size of one swag, so the length of the cornice is divided by 3. The size of the element is 1 , 2 m.

For symmetrical swags, a pattern of half the product is built, which is superimposed on a double folded fabric.

For asymmetric, a single workpiece is performed, but the dimensions of each part, if there are several, must be calculated in advance.

Scheme

It is worth making a rule to make sketches of future lambrequins. This helps to choose the best option for the arrangement of elements and their proportions in accordance with the size of the window, cornice, curtains. The scheme is best performed on a scale, for example, 1:10. In this case, a three-meter lambrequin on paper will be 30 cm.

If you adhere to this rule, it will not be difficult for you to find out any size of the component of the lambrequin. To do this, you just need to measure it with a ruler or calculate the number of cells of graph paper and multiply by the scale value.

You can perform all the construction on the computer in a graphical editor or a specialized program NanoCad, which allows you to get drawings, patterns of curtains and their components with dimensioning.

How to make swag without a pattern

Want to make a round pelmet? DIY swabs are easy to make. For beginners, you can offer this option:

1. Fold a square of light tissue (organza, veil) diagonally and mark the middle fold.
2. Take the rail on which mark the width of the swag, the middle and the shoulders. Hang the fabric observing an angle of forty-five degrees. To see the center, hang a weighting compound.
3. Carefully shape and secure the first fold with pins. Make a "roller" measuring about 10-15 cm.
   
4. Perform all other folds, maintaining symmetry and the same distance between them.
5. Cut off the excess fabric and often pin the top edge along the crease line.
6. Work the bottom with an oblique inlay or in another way.
7. Sew Velcro or curtain tape on top.

Getting flat folds for the first time may not be so easy, but worth the effort.

How to build a pattern

If you don’t want to cut off a lot of excess tissue, you should use another method to sew the swags with your own hands. Patterns will help cut the finished part and already form folds from it.

The following constructions are performed:

1. Mark the point and draw a right angle from it.
2. Set aside to the right the distance equal to half the middle of the swag, adding 3 cm to the treatment.
3. Measure the depth of the product down by a factor of 2 for hard, hard-draped fabrics and 2.5 for soft, easy-draped fabrics.
4. From the starting point, draw an arc of a circle with the radius of the vertical segment obtained in the previous step.
5. From the bottom point, set aside the arc equal to half the bottom sag with the addition of 3 cm per treatment. With the resulting mark, close the loop.

This is how the workpiece is made, for example, for mechanical symmetrical swag.

Use a ready-made template

If you are new to this business, in order to properly sew swag with your own hands, it is better to take ready-made patterns. Now computer technology has greatly simplified the search and work.

You can print the option you like on the printer to the desired scale. There are two ways:

1. Make a pattern in parts on the landscape sheets of home printing equipment.
2. Order at a company that provides services for the production of large-format images.

In the first case, you will do everything without leaving your home, but you will have to glue the sheets with tape. In the second option, you don’t have to connect anything, but you will need to spend additional money.

How to cut swag with your own hands

So, you have chosen a template or built it yourself, cut out of paper. Now the most important thing is to correctly position the parts on the fabric.

This is done diagonally. On the pattern, as a rule, the direction of the shared thread with the arrow should be indicated. So do the following:

1. Fold the fabric diagonally in the shape of a scarf.
2. Attach a pattern to the fold line.
3. Pin it with pins.
4. Circle the edges with chalk or remnant, do not forget about allowances in the right places.
5. Cut the workpiece.

Work is done. Now you know how to cut swag with your own hands. You can proceed to the formation of folds and the sewing process.

DIY swag: master class

The previous sections gave examples of equilateral symmetrical products, below you will read the manufacturing technology of an asymmetric version with a perpendicular shoulder. These species are also often used and look elegant and spectacular.

To make an asymmetric swag with your own hands, you will need to build or find the appropriate pattern.

Next, the sequence of actions will be as follows:

1. Cut the details in the right amount.
2. Place the workpiece on the assembly rail, on which mark the necessary dimensions of the product in advance. Secure both ends of the fabric with pins.
3. Begin to form folds from the first from the middle, securing each with pins. Try to get equal elements. If necessary, you can correct the work.
4. When the result suits you, trim the excess fabric from the bottom edge.
5. Take a basting thread along the wide side of the folds, then along the narrow one.
6. Remove the swag from the stick, cut off the excess from the top edge, leaving 2-3 cm for processing the seam.
7. Process the middle and bottom of the swag with a slanting inlay.
8. On the machine, go through the seams on each side of the folds.

The product is ready for assembly.

There is another version of this jewelry - with a perpendicular shoulder. How to sew swags with your own hands of this kind is described below.

This element is characterized in that the folds are not collected on the cornice line, but remain arranged in a vertical line perpendicular to it. The lambrequin of several such swags arranged in series looks very beautiful.

The principle of operation corresponds to the previous one. The difference is in the pattern of the product and the method of assembly. Folds are formed not on a stick, but on a surface on which it is convenient to fasten their vertically arranged edges. When they are formed, pass on both sides with a basting thread, remove from the surface and grind.

So do with each swag, then connect them one with the other and sew them into a ready-made lambrequin.

So, you have learned several ways in which you can make swags with your own hands. Patterns are better to use ready-made, but it is easy to build them yourself. Always try to perform the scheme and preliminary calculations, as well as use patterns that already have folds.