Chiffon panels transform a plain arch or a bare wall, and the difference between elegant and improvised is a few techniques.
Work With the Weight
Chiffon is light and semi-transparent, which is why it moves and catches light. It also means it shows every crease and every fixing.
Steam or hang panels the day before. Creases from packaging are the single most common reason draping looks cheap, and they do not fall out on their own.
Never iron directly: synthetic chiffon melts. A steamer, or an iron on the lowest setting through a cloth.
The Basic Techniques
- Swag: a loop between two fixed points, the simplest and most effective
- Cascade: gathered at the top and falling free down one side
- Twist: two panels wound around each other along a frame
- Full wrap: a frame entirely wound, which needs a great deal of fabric
- Asymmetric is generally better than symmetric
Panel sets sold in the same shade range as the flowers, of the kind at floroom.net, remove the matching problem, which is otherwise where draping and florals clash.
Hide the Fixings
The detail that separates professional from homemade.
Cable ties, clips and pins should sit behind a bloom, inside a gathered fold, or above eye level. A visible cable tie undoes an hour of work.
Attaching the florals after the fabric means the flowers can cover the fixings.
Order More Length Than the Span
Drapes need slack to hang properly. A panel pulled taut between two points looks like a sheet.
Roughly one and a half to two times the span is a working rule for a swag, and more for anything cascading to the floor.
The Wind Problem
Draping outdoors is a sail, and it is what topples arches.
Anything draped needs its structure weighted or staked far more thoroughly than a bare frame, and a decision agreed in advance about wind.
Fire Safety
Synthetic chiffon burns readily and fast. No candles, lanterns or naked flames near draping.
Public venues frequently require certified flame-retardant fabric for temporary decoration, and it is worth asking before ordering rather than after.
Trailing on the Floor
Beautiful and a trip hazard in a walkway. Keep it out of routes people use.
Practise Once
At home, on anything, before the day.