Custom drapes shrunk - what to do?

[Anonymous]

OP, I wonder if someone is playing a practical joke. 3" difference is huge, with no puckering or other signs of shrinkage.

Is it possible your husband or someone else had the drapes switched while you were not home? Or even sent them out to be shortened?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, I wonder if someone is playing a practical joke. 3" difference is huge, with no puckering or other signs of shrinkage.

Is it possible your husband or someone else had the drapes switched while you were not home? Or even sent them out to be shortened?

No, that’s not possible. He wouldn’t be interested in anything like that.

Also, the installer already came out a few months ago to move the pole since the drapes were up off the floor.

So this means someone would have had to play a practical joke on me 2x now.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Drapery workroom owner here. To clarify, is it just the face fabric that appears to be shrinking, or the liner also (i.e., is that bottom of the liner closer to the bottom of the drape than it used to be, or is the distance the same)? Are you seeing any puckering in the side seams?

Is this a high humidity room? Are there wall or floor vents behind or directly under the drapes?

I asked about the side seams and she said no puckering, which seems impossible? Or maybe they’re only shrunken in the middle?

Yeah, I saw that and it didn’t make any sense to me either, which is why I asked for clarification.

I agree, if the face fabric shrunk 3 inches, but not the liner (which is blackout liner like in 100s of other houses where it doesn’t shrink), wouldn’t the liner now be showing from underneath? And wouldn’t the side seams now be a big mess? 3 inches is so much. I think something else must be going on I just don’t know what it could be.

If a face fabric were sewn to a lining 3” shorter, there would be puckering. But if the face fabric has shrunk after seaming, not necessarily. The seam is stabilizing the fabric there. Also fabrics often behave differently along the selvage (where they are stretched during manufacturing).

Okay but surely then the face fabric would be making an arc, higher in the middle? And the liner would now show in the middle?

But the seam is on the back side of the drapes, so not where OP is measuring or visually assessing. Yes, selvedge are cutaway, but fabric may not behave the same nearer the edges. Regardless the only point is, 3” of shrinking would not show up as puckers after the fact.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Drapery workroom owner here. To clarify, is it just the face fabric that appears to be shrinking, or the liner also (i.e., is that bottom of the liner closer to the bottom of the drape than it used to be, or is the distance the same)? Are you seeing any puckering in the side seams?

Is this a high humidity room? Are there wall or floor vents behind or directly under the drapes?

I asked about the side seams and she said no puckering, which seems impossible? Or maybe they’re only shrunken in the middle?

Yeah, I saw that and it didn’t make any sense to me either, which is why I asked for clarification.

I agree, if the face fabric shrunk 3 inches, but not the liner (which is blackout liner like in 100s of other houses where it doesn’t shrink), wouldn’t the liner now be showing from underneath? And wouldn’t the side seams now be a big mess? 3 inches is so much. I think something else must be going on I just don’t know what it could be.

If a face fabric were sewn to a lining 3” shorter, there would be puckering. But if the face fabric has shrunk after seaming, not necessarily. The seam is stabilizing the fabric there. Also fabrics often behave differently along the selvage (where they are stretched during manufacturing).

The selvage would have been cut away before makign the drapes. No one uses the selvage in a finished product.

OP here. There doesn’t seem to be any disagreement from the designer or me that there has been shrinkage. The curtains have been measured and the designer has seen photos of how they are now off the floor.

My question isn’t about if the curtains shrank, but what can be done about it?

I think the question you should be askingn, if you want someone else to pay to replace them, is why did the curtains shrink? The only chance you have of someone else paying to replace them is if you can figure out why it happened, and then presumably, identify the party that made the mistake that caused the shrinkage. If you can't figure out who made the mistake, I don't think it's reasonable for you to expect anyone to pay to replace them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:Drapery workroom owner here. To clarify, is it just the face fabric that appears to be shrinking, or the liner also (i.e., is that bottom of the liner closer to the bottom of the drape than it used to be, or is the distance the same)? Are you seeing any puckering in the side seams?

Is this a high humidity room? Are there wall or floor vents behind or directly under the drapes?

I asked about the side seams and she said no puckering, which seems impossible? Or maybe they’re only shrunken in the middle?

Yeah, I saw that and it didn’t make any sense to me either, which is why I asked for clarification.

I agree, if the face fabric shrunk 3 inches, but not the liner (which is blackout liner like in 100s of other houses where it doesn’t shrink), wouldn’t the liner now be showing from underneath? And wouldn’t the side seams now be a big mess? 3 inches is so much. I think something else must be going on I just don’t know what it could be.

If a face fabric were sewn to a lining 3” shorter, there would be puckering. But if the face fabric has shrunk after seaming, not necessarily. The seam is stabilizing the fabric there. Also fabrics often behave differently along the selvage (where they are stretched during manufacturing).

The selvage would have been cut away before makign the drapes. No one uses the selvage in a finished product.

OP here. There doesn’t seem to be any disagreement from the designer or me that there has been shrinkage. The curtains have been measured and the designer has seen photos of how they are now off the floor.

My question isn’t about if the curtains shrank, but what can be done about it?

I think the question you should be askingn, if you want someone else to pay to replace them, is why did the curtains shrink? The only chance you have of someone else paying to replace them is if you can figure out why it happened, and then presumably, identify the party that made the mistake that caused the shrinkage. If you can't figure out who made the mistake, I don't think it's reasonable for you to expect anyone to pay to replace them.

How would it be the responsibility of anyone besides the fabric company? I assume this is why the designer is reaching out to the fabric company about it and not any other parties.

[Anonymous]

It would be the responsibility of the workroom if the fabric required preshrinking.

[Anonymous]

OP here. I just looked on the back of one of the pairs of drapes and DO see what I think is puckering of the lining. Something is off with the lining. It no longer is flush with the rest of the drape and looks like it was sewn unevenly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It would be the responsibility of the workroom if the fabric required preshrinking.

Good to know. Thanks

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. I just looked on the back of one of the pairs of drapes and DO see what I think is puckering of the lining. Something is off with the lining. It no longer is flush with the rest of the drape and looks like it was sewn unevenly.

Oh, well, this is huge. Supports the face fabric is shrinking theory.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. I just looked on the back of one of the pairs of drapes and DO see what I think is puckering of the lining. Something is off with the lining. It no longer is flush with the rest of the drape and looks like it was sewn unevenly.

Oh, well, this is huge. Supports the face fabric is shrinking theory.

Yes. It looks like someone sewed the lining on incorrectly. It’s not terrible, but I can’t imagine this is how it was to begin with.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It would be the responsibility of the workroom if the fabric required preshrinking.

Good to know. Thanks

If OP paid a markup to the designer, I would argue that the designer should replace them and then work out whatever with the workroom. If the designer was the retailer, it’s up to her to make it right and then go after whoever else. I don’t think OP should have to pursue the workroom if she paid any sort of markup to the designer.

[Anonymous]

OP, post a picture or link - of the front and back of the curtains at the hem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It would be the responsibility of the workroom if the fabric required preshrinking.

Good to know. Thanks

If OP paid a markup to the designer, I would argue that the designer should replace them and then work out whatever with the workroom. If the designer was the retailer, it’s up to her to make it right and then go after whoever else. I don’t think OP should have to pursue the workroom if she paid any sort of markup to the designer.

I think the designer should be the go between the OP and the workroom from a customer service perspective, regardless of whether there was a markup. The whole point of using a designer is that they're supposed to be the intermediary. And the designer should care about the quality of the work being done by the parties they bring to the table. But in general, this shrinkage shouldn't be happening, especially not at the price that custom curtains tend to cost.

[Anonymous]

My linen drapes shrank a bit as well- they are 7 years old and in a room that gets lots of sun. I would say about 1.5" shorter - they just touched the floor when we installed them. I'm just living with the short drapes now... I still like them and they were very expensive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My linen drapes shrank a bit as well- they are 7 years old and in a room that gets lots of sun. I would say about 1.5" shorter - they just touched the floor when we installed them. I'm just living with the short drapes now... I still like them and they were very expensive.

Just move the rod down.