Duitall Window Treatments

Michael Holigan: When you walk into a model home, you may notice that great window treatments and you think, "I have to have that in my house.", but after spending your last dollar, you don't want to go around spending five or six hundred dollars per window treatment. We've got somebody who can help us out. We've got Stu Fraker here with us today from Duitall. Good to have your here Stu.

Stu Fraker: Hi Michael, how are you? Great to be here.

M.H.: I'm doing great. The window treatment looks great and I know you did not spend five or six hundred dollars on that.

S.F.: That's correct. In fact, over all, we probably have a little bit over $100 totally with the drapery, bracket systems, design rings and no rods or no sewing towards that treatment.

M.H.: Can you show me the brackets?

S.F.: Sure, the bracket system is clear, polycarb. Now what happens, it becomes invisible in the actual treatment. And what we do to make the designs is we use a design ring and all you need to do is snap that right on to the front of the bracket and it makes over 50 designs, this little design ring.

M.H.: No kidding.

S.F.: Yeah, it's terrific isn't it?

M.H.: Well, I've have to see it Stu.

S.F.: Would you like to see how we did this?

M.H.: Can you do the window next to us there?

S.F.: I sure can. Here's another fabric, a more contemporary design. Now we've already pre-mounted our brackets, about an inch to an inch and a half out from the side of the window, and if you notice this, this is a stripe. Now stripes are a little bit more challenging. However, if you fold it right, and it doesn't take very long to learn how to fold, you'll have a perfect swag and top treatment every time. Now, here I take the folded fabric and lay this over the top part of the brackets. Now once that's done, I take my design ring and snap that on the front. And I do the same thing on the other side. Now this gives me an opportunity to refold any pleats that I might have missed. I bring it down to the depth I want, and refold this. And you can do any width, it doesn't matter. You can do arches, angles; you can do bays or bows. You can do canopies over beds. There's no limitation with regard to the type of window covering or wall design that you can do. This is our connector cap and what we've done here is we've mounted Velcro to the front part of the connector cap. It just snaps right on to the front. I take my design and I put that right on the front part of that Velcro. What we haven't done here, is we haven't created our hem. So let me show you how you can angle the hem. I just gather the fabric at the end. This also can work for puddling on the floor. If you wanted fabric actually draped on the floor, it keeps all the fabric together. Once the rubber band is put around and, by the way, if you wanted a more permanent type of rubber band, you can use the pony tail reinforced typed of rubber bands that are available in many stores. Now if you notice, it created a nice angle hem to that design.

M.H.: Can you show us how you did those bows?

S.F.: I sure can Michael. Here we're taking the fabric apart and as you can see this was made with a two hole design ring. Here I take my fabric and I accordion fold the fabric. Now there's my salvage edge, so the first thing I do is put in my magic hem. I accordion fold the fabric all the way up, and don't be afraid to fold it. There's about six different ways to fold, so you can fold it anyway that's comfortable for you. Since it's folded, and what that enables you to do is flare the fabric very nicely. I take my design ring, and I put the fabric through one hole of the design ring. You could do knot designs, rope designs, single designs, double designs, triple designs, all with the same method of folding and unfolding. I pull the fabric taught against the design ring. I accordion fold the fabric from side to side. I double up the fabric and push it through the design ring. I pull up the proportion of fabric that I need, and by the way, if it's too thick a fabric, you can use a larger design ring. I repeat the process on the other side, pushing this fabric through and pulling it up with the same proportion pulled out on each side. From here all that's necessary to do is reach inside and pull out that fullness. Once that fullness is pulled out and flared out, we hope to have a beautiful bow. In the back, you'll notice a slot. That slot slips right over the top part of the bracket. And it snaps in. Now what do we do with this? There is a way to actually just tuck this in and loose that extra fabric. And there it is.

Episode 013 1995 - 96 Season

| Sheetrock Wood Frame | Sheetrock Steel Frame | Repairing Drywall | Duitall Window Treatments | Winterizing Your Lawnmower | Wall Textures | Mortgage Index |LIST |

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