A sheer swag is a wander of filmy color or cloud-white vapor topping a window. It functions best with light, flowing curtains or drapes in a delicate, romantic room. Pastel voile, chiffon or another sheer fabric or net — material that doesn’t possess a “straight” or “wrong” side — is suitable for a sheer swag since both sides are visible in the light. There are various methods to design a swag, from the simplest curve of drape over a curtain rod to your fancier rosette-gathered treatment. The secret is to tweak and arrange the folds so they drop correctly.
Measure the width of the window and the dip length to get a tail of fabric on each side. Add extra yardage for a drape; let the tape measure drape to the lowest point of the swag to estimate how much extra fabric a drape will require. A double-rosette swag needs up to an extra yard of fabric per rosette, depending on the fragility of the fabric, because heavier fabric takes more yardage. A easy drape needs just enough material — or a long-enough scarf — to dip upon the center of the window and hang down marginally at every side.
Fold the sheer material just like an accordion so you have one long skinny length of fabric, compressed to folds. Locate the middle point and mark it with a pin. Line up the middle of the cloth with the middle of the curtain rod, and spread one side to reach the outer edge of the window. Fold the cloth in half and mark the place on either end of the cloth with pins.
Put the sheer fabric, still accordion-folded, on a flat surface and gently pull on the part between the two outside pins into a soft drape. This will fall over the window once the substance is swagged over the rod. Adjust the side pins to preserve that draped shape; you may need to add a couple of dressmaker’s pins to each side to hold the cloth.
Hang the fabric over the curtain rod, if you are draping a simple swag only. Wrap each end of the cloth once over the end of the rod at the bracket to hold it in place and adjust the middle drape, removing the pins.
Knot one end of the cloth loosely over your wrist at the side pin for a double-rosette swag. Using the slack in the brief outside end, knot the cloth again, under your wrist this moment, and slide the knotted cloth off your wrist. Tighten the knots very lightly. Repeat the knotting on the opposite side of the cloth.
Adjust the 2 knots to resemble loose cloth rosettes; eliminate the curtain rod to your swag and end a thick rubber band around each end, only in where the rosettes will chant. Remove the side screw and pins each rosette over one end of the rod so the majority of the knot faces the room. The rubber bands will catch the sheer material so it doesn’t slide toward the middle of the rod. Replace the rod in its brackets.
Arrange the middle of the swag to stretch across the top of the curtain rod and drape softly down over the window. Remove the middle pin. The 2 rosettes frame the drape, and any remaining sheer fabric slid down in a loosely gathered tail on either side.