WINDOW SHADES AND BLINDS
PART II.
All other shades except the previously mentioned styles are provided with a slat to which is attached a screw-eye and tassel, as illustrated. Always attach the tassel above the insertion on insertion shades, as Figure [79] and X, Figure [87], as the strain of pulling the shade will stretch the insertion out of shape if fastened below. (See diagram on page 40.)
The cloth is not hemmed at the sides, but left as trimmed, and the top is tacked on to the roller in a straight line, as Figure [93]. Most shade rollers have a line drawn the length of the roller as a guide for the shade cloth, and one-ounce tacks are used to tack it to the roller. Several kinds of clips or clasps are also used, but the tacks are most popular.
Standard sizes of shade rollers in both wood and tin are guaranteed by the makers to carry ordinary cloth up to a certain size for each roller, but it is safe to underestimate their assurance by a little rather than work up to the limit.
The roller is cut to be one and a-half inches longer over all than the width of the cloth, and is mounted to allow the same play at each side, though in special cases this rule may be departed from, and a smaller allowance for play will sometimes work quite freely if hung perfectly true. It is customary to allow only one inch difference between cloth and roller for inside brackets, as they are usually made narrower than those for outside brackets, and, the bracket being much smaller, they work freely with the smaller allowance.
Dark-colored shades are most opaque, but light-colored shades give a more cheerful appearance to the exterior of a house. Combination-colored shades are frequently used; light on the outside to the glass and dark on the inside to the room. This gives the necessary density and preserves the cheerful exterior of light-colored shades. In making combination shades the bottom hem is cut off, reversed, and sewn on as illustrated by Figure [89]. The chief objection to combination-colored shades is the fact that the dark color is exposed to view in the room whenever the shade is pulled down, and the window cannot be at all obscured without this feature.
Fig. 97
Perhaps the best plan for correctly shading and obscuring a window is to use double shades, as illustrated by Figure [90]; the outer shade next to the glass made of a light-colored material, which may be ornamented and decorated in any desired manner. This may be fastened to the window stop as at A, Figure [79], with inside brackets, or at C, Figure [90], with outside brackets.