Roman Shades Begin!

 photo courtesy Robert Allen Design  Dialogue

This is what I am shooting for the Great Room windows but as a stationary valance that is a tad less formal. You have seen my fabric which I love. We now have the lumber to mount them on and DH will cut that soon. The big challenge here is the ribbon. I have ten windows, two one yard strips of ribbon on each window so I need 20 yards of ribbon. Ya think a bit costly? I sure do. So here is what I did today.

Rolls of Offray grosgrain ribbon I can afford, particularly with the right coupon from the right source. The ribbon matches the beige embroidery on the fabric. I got the idea of possibly stenciling the ribbon and spent a good part of the afternoon making samples. The room is a soft green, white trim, and assorted pieces of furniture in greens, black and grays and a bit of off white. I did stencils in those same colors and here are the results. Keep in mind this motif is not what I would use. I was just testing color here. I was also trying to figure out if I wanted a softer more stenciled looking effect or a more crisp edge to the paint.

 

After this I decided to see what Mr. Pfaff could do. I picked out a stitch motif on the machine. You all know I am not a machine embroiderer, just never caught the bug. Then I picked out the threads. I put stabilizer under the ribbons and after a few tries, adjusted the stitch to what you see here.  Here are the results.

 

On this one I used a gray rayon thread. 

Above you can see the same in a regular dual duty thread in the same green as the fabric. 

And here is my final choice, a taupe plum-y color rayon thread. I like this one as it shows but is not too garish, just enough contrast. Whatcha think? I find grays can just die and have no life so this taupe shade has a bit more life than the gray and the green washes out IMO. I want the ribbon to contrast as it does in the original and add a bit of zip.

I hope they enough ribbon at the Joanns for me...and lots of thread too! I will be at this for a while!

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Hope you are all enjoying a wonderful Mother's Day today. Mine was as good as it can be when one is so far from their children but all checked in, we skyped, and I received some lovely gifts . DH gifted me with something I think is pretty special.

A bucket of mealy worms for our bluebirds! These are dehydrated so have no fear. We are both avid birders and the bluebirds love these. Ours have returned and need a bit of their favorite treats. If you are into birding I just read a wonderful book, recently published, called "The Bluebird Effect". It is not what you think. This is the story of a woman passionate about birds who despite obstacles made them her life's work. Her knowledge of birds is like no other I have seen when it comes to understanding their behavior. The book is full of her many drawings,  many drawn right at the nest as she watched. She is an artist too! Her story and her love for birds is a joy to read about. Her name is Julie Zickefoose.