Hunter Douglas is now making custom Roman Fold shades. This product is available exclusively through a limited number of Hunter Douglas dealers, and we are lucky enough to be one of those dealers!
The Roman Fold is similar to the well known Vignette, which Hunter Douglas has been manufacturing for a number of years now. The Vignette has the feel of a roman fold in that soft folds are fixed on the face of the shades. The drawbacks to the Vignette are that it offers only a limited number of fabrics and colors, and the traditional head rail is a little bulky. The tiered Vignette was a move closer to the new Roman Fold in that the head rail became smaller, and the fabric is stacked under the head rail, but the fabrics offered are still from the same limited selection. And there are no prints, other than a few tone-on-tone patterns.
What makes the new Roman Fold different is the way in which it is manufactured. It is made to (and even above) the industry standards for table-made roman folds.
As beautiful as it is, the Vignette does not have this type of finish. The new Roman Fold has double turned side hems, weighted bottom hems, and stitched on trims. All shades, excepting those made of a sheer fabric, will be lined with your choice of light filtering or room darkening linings.The lift control can either be the standard cord pull, or it can be the EasyRise (cord loop) system. The EasyRise is a particularly effective lift system for large shades, although sometimes it is preferred for even the average sized shade. Another benefit to the EasyRise system is that there will never be a cord "puddle", which means that the cord will always be under control. This lift system is better by far than the basic Rollease system offered by traditional workrooms because of the resulting smooth lift movement.
The Roman Folds are made in 4 different styles. These styles are flat (no folds remain when the shade is lowered to the sill), batten front (a rib of sort is sewn to the face of the shade), batten back (rib is in back resulting in a horizontal stitch on the face), and hobbled (folds remain when the shade is lowered to the sill). Offering still more options, a valance is available in 3 different designs- flat, flat with a kick pleat at the corners and an inverted box pleated style. Shown below is a flat Roman Fold with a flat valance.
What really makes the Hunter Douglas Roman Fold great though is the selection of fabrics. Coming from a fabric-aholic (whoever dies with the most fabric wins!), this is a sort of paradise! There are 76 patterns and prints to choose from, in multiple colors, totalling 320 combinations! Better still, the fabrics come 103"-118" wide, which means that there will be no vertical seams on shades up to 96" wide! There are fabric choices for many different tastes. And the fabric books are arranged in color coordinated collections, so finding complemented patterns and solids has been made easy. Whether your preference is traditional, contempory or transitional, there is a fabric here for you!
The fabrics used on the Roman Folds are of cotton, polyester (including blends), and silk. Additionally, there is a wonderful selection of fringes and tapes. Also, we can purchase both fabrics and trims as yard goods to be made into coordinating drapes, bedding, pillows, etc.
We have received all of the fabric and trim samples for the new Roman Fold line by Hunter Douglas and are so thrilled with the options and potential of this program! The icing on the cake is that the Roman folds are manufactured in 10 business days! But don't wait to make your selections!
Enjoy them as soon as it is possible! Roman folds are huge this year and the introduction of this new product has come at a very opportune time!
