|
Big Picture
Swag Dressing Board
Take
the pain and inconvenience out of dressing swags.
by Cheryl Strickland
For many
years at my business, we dressed our swags like so many others do:
by hanging them off the edge of the worktable using pins to hold
them in place. Because the swag is not at eye level, it is very
difficult to see if the folds are even. You either have to bend
way over (killing your back!), or sit on a chair, which is very
inefficient and slows you down. But, we didn’t know of any
other way, and there was no commercially available equipment to
assist us.
Today, workroom stands are available from several companies. But,
where and how do you put your swags on these handy stands? Well,
I’ve come up with a simple, easy-to-build, very inexpensive
piece of equipment that I call a Swag Dressing Board. It is a breeze
to use, eliminates all bending over and can be adapted to workroom
stands from many suppliers or placed on a wall with angle irons.
WHERE YOU DRAW THE LINE
The Swag Dressing board is made of one- by four-inch board cut to
a length equal to the widest swag you typically would make. Most
are 50 inches or under, so I made mine using a five-foot board (that’s
60 inches).
On top of this board I placed a piece of R-board, a scrap of left
over from covering my workroom tables. R-board is an insulation
board that is easy to pin into and doesn’t fall apart with
repetitive pining. R-board is a two-inch thick foam insulation board
used in building homes and usually available from building supply
outlets. It is similar to a product known as “blueboard,”
but with an important added feature: each side is coated with a
thin layer of fiberglass. This shell, however, is easily penetrated
by typical drapery pins or pushpins. R-board comes in four- by eight-foot
sheets just like plywood. Having a pin-able surface dramatically
increases its use and value in a workroom. It will not disintegrate
with repeated use like cork or other pin-able surfaces. Over this
I stapled a scrap of canvas, which also was left over from my worktables.
On the front edge of the board, I marked a dark line with a permanent
market indicating the center. (The center of the swag is placed
at this mark and is dressed outward from there to the desired finished
width.) I then marked every inch to the left and right of the center
mark, but the marks are not labeled in one-inch increments. They
are labeled as if they were two-inch increments. This eliminates
the need to calculate what half of the finished width of the swag
would be. For example, if the finished width of the swag is 30 inches,
the user dresses the swag to the 30-inch mark, which actually would
be 15 inches out each way from the center mark. If the marks were
labeled in once-inch increments, that same mark would read 15 inches
instead of 30. Using this method eliminates one step of math and
saves a little time and confusion.
Below the dressing board I placed marks indicating each inch of
length. The numbers are written in one-inch increments, not two-inch
increments because we are not working from the center out as we
were with the left and right measurements. The marks are measured
from the top of the board because this is the where the swag will
hang from, of course.
If the board is permanently attached to the wall, the marks and
numbers can be written directly onto the wall. If the board is designed
to be movable, I use another one– by four-inch board attached
vertically to the bottom of the dressing board with an angle iron.
The marks and numbers are then written directly on the vertical
board.
Both the marks on the face of the board and the vertical board eliminate
any need for measuring. The user can instantly read how wide and
how long the swag is.
TAKING A STAND
To use the Swag Dressing Board it should be mounted onto a workroom
stand. How that is done depends on what type of stand you have.
On stands with one vertical support, such as those available from
Patterns Plus, simply drill a hole into the top board and slip it
over the post. A wing nut will hold it in place. For the greatest
stability, use two stands. Other workroom stands have one or more
horizontal supports, such as those available from M’Fay. For
these, you might use two one- by-six-inch boards, one slipping down
past each side of the horizontal supports.
Some workrooms dress swags directly onto the actual mount board
on which the swag will be permanently placed. I find it very difficult
to push pins into hard wood. Also, if the customer wants to remove
the swag from the board (for cleaning, for example), the pleats
will all fall out. I feel that swags have a more professional, finished
look if the top edge is encased into a tack strip like the waste
band of a skirt or a pair of pants. The tack strip also serves to
hold the pleats into place if removed from the board.
Cheryl Strickland is owner of Professional Drapery School, Swannanoa,
NC, and is an internationally acclaimed speaker with 20 years experience
in the window coverings industry. She is the publisher and editor
of Sew WHAT?, an international monthly newsletter for professional
drapery workrooms.
 Cheryl
Strickland is owner of Professional Drapery School, Swannanoa, NC,
and is an internationally acclaimed speaker with 20 years experience
in the window coverings industry. She is the publisher and editor
of Sew WHAT?, an international monthly newsletter for professional
drapery workrooms. |
