Using the Hardware (Folding) Calculator

Everyone is concerned with the Stackage of a Roman shade. The Stackage is defined as the length of the shade when it is fully raised. A fabric shade cannot duplicate the small Stackage of a manufactured window treatment such as a mini-blind or wood blinds. Mini-blinds are meant to almost disappear when raised. This is a plus for this type of treatment, since they are ugly (Terrell's personal opinion). Your fabric Roman shade is beautiful and having 8" to 18" dressing your windows when your shade is raised is wonderful.

We will also be using the term "Ideal Stackage". In a perfect world, your finished shade will be exactly this length when fully raised (or lowered, in the case of a Top-Down shade). Because of the way a shade folds, this is not always possible. You will most likely be using the online Hardware Calculator which is located in every left-hand Navigation column. When you input the Finished Shade Width, Finished Shade Length and Ideal Stackage, the Calculator will recommend the number of folds, fold depth, and Lower Drop. It will also give you the "Actual" Stackage, which may be different from your Ideal Stackage. For example, if you requested an Ideal Stackage of 12", the Calculator may return an Actual Stackage of 12.25".

Let's try some examples using the Hardware Calculator.

Example 1

Finished Shade Width: 42-7/8"
Finished Shade Length: 70-1/2"
Ideal Stackage: 12"

Use the above values to fill in the top section of the Calculator. For this first example, specify: Classic Roman, "Yes" for wooden or plastic battens, "No" for Cord Lock. You can use the Conversion Table, which is inside the yellow box, to convert your 7/8" into 0.875". Now click on "Calculate". The "Your Results" section is completed based upon your input values. There is a very important paragraph titled "Placement of Lift Rings and/or Battens". We will discuss that paragraph after trying several variations of our input values.

Let's examine the results.

 

Shade Type: Classic Roman Shade	Stackage: 12.5
Shade Width: 42.875	# of Folds: 8
Shade Length: 70.5	Fold Depth: 7.25
Battens: Yes	Lower Drop: 9.5
Cord Lock: No	Top Border: 3
	# of Lift Lines: 4

You should verify that you input the correct numbers for the width and length of your shade and that you checked all of the correct boxes (type of shade, battens yes/no, cord lock yes/no). Everything checks out, except for the Stackage. You wanted an Ideal Stackage of 12". But the Calculator says you have an Actual Stackage of 12.5". That is because for this Shade Length, you cannot have a Stackage of 12". You have two choices. You can stick with a Stackage of 12.5", or you can try something else. Let's say that this is an Inside-Mount shade and you really want to minimize the Stackage so that you can maximize the light coming in the window when your shade is raised.

Example 2
Let's see what happens when you change your Ideal Stackage to 11.5". Go back up to the top of the Hardware Calculator, change Ideal Stackage to 11.5 and click "Calculate".

Finished Shade Width: 42-7/8"
Finished Shade Length: 70-1/2"
Ideal Stackage: 11.5"

New Results with Ideal Stackage of 11.5":

Shade Type: Classic Roman Shade	Stackage: 11.5
Shade Width: 42.875	# of Folds: 8
Shade Length: 70.5	Fold Depth: 7.375
Battens: Yes	Lower Drop: 8.5
Cord Lock: No	Top Border: 3
	# of Lift Lines: 4

Your Actual Stackage is now the same as your Ideal Stackage.

Example 3:
Many of you like to use a cord lock pulley. Let's look at what happens to the folding when you specify Yes for the Cord Lock Pulley. Go back up to the top of the Hardware Calculator, change the "I will be using a cord lock to "Yes" and click "Calculate".

Shade Type: Classic Roman Shade	Stackage: 10.5
Shade Width: 42.875	# of Folds: 10
Shade Length: 70.5	Fold Depth: 6
Battens: Yes	Lower Drop: 6.5
Cord Lock: Yes	Top Border: 4
	# of Lift Lines: 4

Just by specifying Yes for the cord lock, we get totally different folding results! The reason is that a very important parameter has changed: the Top Border. In our first two examples, we have a Top Border of 3". Now we have a Top Border of 4". We have to leave more room at the top of the shade because the cord lock pulley hangs down further than the flat pulley (or a screw eye). The lift rings can only be raised to the bottom of the hardware, so we have to leave more room at the top when we are using a cord lock. That leaves less of the shade that can fold up. We ended up with a smaller Stackage, but also two extra folds (remember that you will always have an even number of folds: an Up Fold and a Down Fold) and the Fold Depth is smaller. This means that you will have to sew on an extra row of lift rings (the rings go only on the Up Folds). Since you only have four lift lines, this means that you will need to sew on four extra rings. If you want to use a cord lock, this seems like a good trade-off.

You will not always get an extra set of folds when you specify Yes for the cord lock. It depends upon the length of your shade and the Ideal Stackage. You should play around with the Calculator to see what changes. Also a very important thing to realize is that there is a slight inconsistency with the Calculator when you specify Top-Down/Bottom-Up or Top-Down Only. Say "No" for Cord Lock Pulley, even if you will be using one. This is because the shade does not "hide" the mounting board hardware. You will often get "better" folding results if you do this.


Example 4:
Now let's look at changing one other item. What if you have never used battens in a Roman shade. Perhaps you want to make your shades the "old-fashioned" way. To see what effect this has on your Pattern, simply change the statement "I will be using wooden or plastic battens" to "No" and click "Calculate".

Let's examine the results without battens:

Shade Type: Classic Roman Shade	Stackage: 10.5
Shade Width: 42.875	# of Folds: 10
Shade Length: 70.5	Fold Depth: 6
Battens: No	Lower Drop: 6.5
Cord Lock: Yes	Top Border: 4
	# of Lift Lines: 6

Everything is the same except now you have 5 lift lines. Your results when you said you were using battens had only 4 lift lines. Since you have 10 folds and half of them will have lift rings, you will have to sew on 5 more lift rings. Now you are getting concerned. Why are there so many lift lines? The battens not only assure that the shade will fold perfectly, but they allow you to space the lift lines further apart since the shade won't sag between the lift rings.  

TIP: The Hardware Calculator is in a Pop-Up window. If nothing happens when you click on a link, you should check if you have blocked Pop-Ups on your Internet Browser. The Hardware Calculator is a pop-up window. If you are using Microsoft Explorer as a browser, you can check by clicking on the Tools tab at the top of your screen. Then click on Pop-Up Blocker. If it says "Turn Off Pop-Up Blocker", click on it. Now it should say "Turn On Pop-Up Blocker".  If your browser is allowing pop-ups and you still can't access the calculator, you may have another program that is blocking them. I have the Google toolbar on my computer and it also has a Pop-Up blocker. However, I can click on the little icon (it looks like three little overlapped rectangles) when I am in a web site and it allows pop-ups for that site. Another item to check is your anti-virus and/or firewall program.

Continue the instructions by scrolling up and clicking on "Sketch Your Pattern" in the left-hand navigation column.