FABRICATING & FINISHING THE SWAG

This article contains two basic sections:

Fabricating the swag. Detailed instructions for assembling and pleating a swag.

Quality checklist for troubleshooting the pattern and finished swag. Just before you lock the pleats into a finished top, you need to inspect the swag to ensure the quality of the finished product.

 

Fabricating The Swag.

Pin lining to the face fabric, right sides together along the bottom curve. If interlining, lay the interlining on the wrong side of the face fabric and secure it along the bottom edge also. It is VERY importance to smooth these layers together and pin to a perfect one-to-one correlation.

Sew or serge the bottom curve. If you use a straight stitch, trim the curve to 1/4". There is no need to clip this seam.

Turn right side out and lay flat on the table, face fabric down. Press the bottom seam line, rolling the face fabric towards the back of the swag up to 1/8". Smooth the lining (and interlining) up and outward along the length of the pattern. It is very important that you have no excess lining (or interlining) between the top and bottom of the swag. If anything, you should push the lining (and interlining) up past the top and sides of the swag just a fraction of an inch. In doing this, you will be making the lining (and interlining) slightly smaller than the face fabric. This will help tremendously in preventing droopy lining on the finished swag.

Secure the top and sides of the swag with pins. This will hold the layers in place as you take it from the table to pin to your board

NOTE: Many pattern instructions will have you serge the edges of your swag at this time for a neater finish on the pleats. I recommend that you do not. As the swag is pleated, the lining (interlining) and face fabric do not maintain a perfect relationship. Especially with heavier face fabrics and/or interlining, the take-up on the fabrics will shift with the direction of the fold in the pleats. For this reason, you must be able to manipulate the face fabric and lining independtly of each other when making final adjustments to the lay of each pleat.

Turn your swag right side up. If your pattern does not have fingers cut into the sides for the pleats, mark the sides for the pleats. Follow the directions in Swags: Options & Variables for marking the sides of a swag.

Pin your swag to the board and pin up the pleats. If your pattern has fingers cut from the sides, the pleats will form a straight line across the board. If you do not have precut fingers, your pleats will form points on the board. Refer to Drawing the Perfect Pattern for illustrations on how to pin the pleats to the board.

Once the swag is pinned to the board, you begin the inspection and troubleshooting process using a Quality Checklist.

Quality Checklist for a Perfect Swag.

This is a checklist of points to check on the swag before permanently securing the pleats.

Note: When making adjustments to individual pleats, be sure to make the same adjustment to the corresponding pleat on the other side. Perfect symmetry is the key to swag making. Only under very specific circumstances will you adjust one side of a swag differently from the other.

Check 1: Swag Picture:

Too Small:

Shift the first pleat on each side up to an inch inwards towards the center. This will make the picture slightly longer. Adjust all other pleats to even out the space.

Or, unpin the swag, table it and remark so that the first pleat is up to 50 percent larger (example: if first pleat was 5 inches, remark so that it is 7-8 inches). Remark all of the subsequent pleats slightly smaller to absorb the difference. You must distribute the fullness evenly between all of the pleats. If you do not, the folds on the front of the swag will be uneven.

Too Large:

Shift the first pleat on each side up to an inch outward from the center. This will bring the bottom line of the first fold upward. Readjust all the pleats on each side to even the spacing.

Or, unpin the swag, table it and remark so that the first pleat is 2-3" smaller. Remark all of the subsequent pleats slightly larger to absorb the difference. Once again, it is important to distribute the fullness evenly among all of the pleats.

Too Shallow:

On larger swags, if the first pleat is not big enough, the first fold may be too shallow, almost disappearing on the front of the swag. If this happens, repin the first pleats higher than the board allowance. Move them up as high as you need to without distorting the lines of the picture frame. Repin each additional pleat slightly lower than the previous pleat. The last pleat on each side should not move. Your line of pleats on the board will follow a downward slant from the inside pleat to the outside pleat. If you pin both sides the same, your swag will still be perfectly symmetrical. By not moving the last pleat, your finished length and width will not be altered.

Too Deep:

On smaller swags, if the first pleat is too big, the first fold will be extremely deep. If it looks awkward in relation to the rest of the swag, you will need to remove some of the fullness from it. There are two solutions to this problem:

If the swag does not have a pattern picture in the frame, you can unpin the top edge of the swag and pull it upward, increasing the board allowance. You will be pulling fullness out of the first fold. You should only need to pull it up an inch or so to bring the first fold into balance with the rest of the swag. Cut away the extra board allowance.

If the swag has a picture you wish to preserve, you will need to unpin the swag, table it, and remark the first pleat smaller. Then remark all subsequent pleats to absorb the difference.

Check 2:Finished Width:

Too Wide:

Shift all but the first pleat in towards the center of the swag from both sides until the desired width is acquired. This step will increase your swag length by about the same measure that you decrease the swag width.

Too Narrow:

Shift all but the first pleat out towards the edges of the swag on both sides until the desired width is acquired. This step will decrease your swag length by about the same measure that you increase the swag width.

If neither of these adjustments is sufficient, you may need to recut your swag. If it is too wide, you can cut it down. If it is too narrow, you will need to cut a new swag

 

Check 3: Finished Length:

Too Short:

Reduce the board allowance by shifting the entire swag forward on the board up to one inch.

If you can sacrifice some of the finished width, shift all but the first pleat in towards the center of the swag from both sides. This step will increase your swag length by the same measure that you decrease the swag width.

If these steps do not give you enough finished length, you will need to recompute the bottom curve length of the original pattern. Recutting the bottom curve with a higher rise might gain you a very small amount of length. Otherwise, it may be necessary to cut the swag again with a larger bottom curve.

Too Long:

Shift entire swag up higher onto the board. Stop at the point where the center picture becomes distorted.

Beginning with the second pleat, repin each pleat slightly higher (about 1/4") and slightly farther away from the previous pleat. Be careful not to distort the folds on the swag.

If swag is still too long, it will be necessary to recut the bottom curve length. While is it still hanging, pin two tucks, one at each end, in the bottom curve length of the swag until it is pulled up to the desired finished length. Measure this finished curve length. Unpin the swag and table it. Remeasure the bottom curve length and mark the desired curve length. Redraw both sides of the swag from the top corner to the new mark on the bottom curve and cut the new angle. Remark the pleats, pin securely and pin to the board again.

 

Check 4: Folds on front and back should be even:

Note: This is desirable on formally pleated swags. However, scarf swags, cutout/pole swags and casually shirred swags do not have to adhere as firmly to this rule. As long as they are symmetrically correct and pleasing to the eye, the slight differences in the folds will add to their more casual appeal.

If a swag is cut and marked for even pleats, all the folds should fall evenly. However, there are circumstances when the folds will not fall evenly:

-- Rise on the bottom curve is not cut correctly for this shape of swag.

-- Swag has been handled too much, causing some stretching in the sides.

In these cases, the following minor adjustments can make the folds even:

Two folds are too close together.

The space between the two folds does not have enough fullness to push them apart. Take the pleats on each side of the upper fold and roll the point of the pleat towards you 1/2" and repin in place. This takes fullness from the fold above and pushes it down between the two folds which are too close together. At the same time, it removes fullness from the fold above, causing it to move upward.

Take the pleats on each side of the lower fold and roll the point of the pleat away from you 1/2" and repin in place. This takes fullness from the fold below the folds and pushes it upwards between the folds which were too close together. At the same time, it removes fullness from the space below, causing the lower fold to move down.

Two folds are too far apart.

The space between the folds has too much fullness, pushing them too far apart. Take the pleat on each side of the upper fold and roll it 1/2" away from you and repin. This will remove fullness out of the psace and pushes it above the upper fold, allowing the upper fold to move downward.

Take the pleat in each side of the lower fold and roll the points 1/2" towards you and repin. This also takes the fullness out of the center space and pushes it to the space below, allowing the lower fold to move update.

Note that these adjustments on the folds are very small. They will impact folds above and below. It is usually best to start at the first fold of the swag and work your way down the folds, adjusting each one in relation to the previous one.

At this point, if you examine the back of the swag, all the folds should be evenly spaced there also.

Check 5: Angle & Spacing of Pleats:

Step back from the swag and study the pleats where they fall off the board. There should be equal spacing between all pleats, and the angle of their fall should be the same. If you have been making equal adjustments to both sides of the swag thru all of these checkpoints, the spacing an angles should be pretty much perfect. Minor adjustments to the pleats at this point will finish them.

Check 6: Smooth the lining and crisp the pleats.

With one hand on the front of the fold and the other behind the swag, gently smooth the lining up towards the board line. If there is extra fullness in the lining, unpin the pleat and ease the excess lining up onto the board without allowing the face of the pleat to shift. This requires a very gentle hand. Easing out the excess lining will help to prevent droopy lining at the bottom of the swag.

You can make the pleat look just a bit crisper if you unpin it at the board and very gently tug the bottom of the pleat outward.

A FINAL WORD:

For more detailed information on how to troubleshoot a swag pattern and finished swag, and how to cut and sew a swag, consider ordering The Professional Workroom Handbook of Swags, Volume 1. The chapters on Fabrication and Troubleshooting contain much more detail with pictures and diagrams on the information given in this article. The chapter on fabrication contains information on calculating fabric requirements, and different options for finishing and mounting the swag. It is a valuable source of reference for new and veteran workrooms alike.

 

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