How To Make Swags

The French connection

The designer of Kate Middleton's wedding dress, Sarah Burton, was keen to emphasise the "Britishness" of her creation - but a group of lace-makers in France are also very proud of their contribution.

The net curtains are twitching in the French town of Caudry.

The modest town south of Lille has been known for centuries in certain circles for its exquisite lace-making.

Now it is known as "that" exquisite lace-making.

Kate Middleton's gown had "Caudry" stamped all over it - at least, if you have the eyes of an expert lace-maker.

"I knew as soon as I saw it," Christophe Machu told me at his family company, Solstiss.

The bodice also had the distinctive pattern of Sophie Hallett, the town's other international lace-maker.

The lace was worked into the gown by skilled hands at London's College of Needlework, but the French link needs a bit of detective work.

Some 2,000 lace motifs from both of Caudry's lace-makers were used to make the dress even more uncopyable.

Couture lace-making, I learned, is a hush-hush world of closely guarded patterns and generations of worker loyalty.

Utmost discretion

Grace Kelly's wedding dress featured lace from Caudry, and it is rumoured Kate was keen for her designer Sarah Burton to take that as inspiration.

Today the world's leading designers still come for intricate embellishments - Lanvin, Balmain, Gucci - all worked on in utmost discretion. While I was waiting for Christophe, someone shut the sample cupboard doors.

To my surprise, given the secrecy, I was ushered past reception, along with my entourage of two officers from the tourist board and two staff members from Caudry's lace museum.

Then through a portal and into an industrial scene from the early 19th Century.

Ker-lash, ker-lash, bash, bash - a vast room resounding with original Leavers lace-making machines.

This technology was brought over from Nottingham in England. A mechanic, John Heathcoat, invented a machine to do the labour-intensive work of female lace-makers.

Meanwhile in France, Joseph Marie Jacquard was inspired by a street organ to design the weaving "metier" - a machine based on punch-cards and a forerunner of computer code.

Fairytale images

Two hundred years on, this noisy part of the process is still a male domain.

Workers manning the machines fixed gimlet eyes on bobbins as thin as knife blades, between which wound even thinner thread.

How To Make A Rag Swag Window Treatment - DIY Projects With A ...

What could be more shabby chic than a window swag made from burlap, lace, floral fabric, pearls and vintage cowbells?  That is exactly what I put together when I made, what I like to term, my rag swag, since the base and ties are made up with scraps of fabric.

  I had just purchased the cowbells and was looking for something fun to do with them.  On top of that, I had a window, in my office, that was in need of a little dress up.  It didn’t take me long to put two and two together and come up with window swag.

Of course I needed a little bit more to make up a whole window swag!

 Since the cowbells were on the shabby side, I began looking around for items on the chic side.  I found a string of faux pearls that I think were old Christmas tree garland.  Then, I combined fabric remnants of burlap, lace and a coordinating floral that blended with my sofa pillows and chair cushion.  I also threw in some shear white wired ribbon and some jute string.

My plan was to make a window treatment that was a completely no sew option.  Everything is just simply tied together with sections of fabric, string or wired ribbon.  It was super easy!

  First, I cut to length two pieces of fabric, one floral and one lace, that were each about eighteen inches wide.  I made the the width of my window plus a little extra for draping.

My plan from here on out was to just tie sections of ribbon, fabric and burlap garland all along the length of the two fabrics.  This was to add different textures and colors and it also provided me with loops for draping my faux pearls through the length.  As I tied a section together, I pulled and twisted the two sections of fabric apart slightly. 

I also tied some jute string around the fabric and different sections, which is where I attached the cowbells.

For a little extra chic, I made a few silk roses out of gold wired ribbon.  All I did was take a section of ribbon about eight inches long and began rolling it together.  The center was rolled tighter and I made the twists a little looser as I went around.  I placed a drop of hot glue, every few twists to secure the rose.  I did secure these to the swag with just a little hand stitch.

  Here you can see the detailing of the rose and the shabby and chic elements together.

  The full picture gives a better idea of how the rag swag ties in with the rest of the room.  It adds just a little bit of dressing to the otherwise plain white window panels.

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