Roman Shades ∙ How To by SlashnYaoi on Cut Out + Keep

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Published 9 months ago

Time

Time:8h00

Difficulty

Nice & Simple

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SlashnYaoi

Unknown Location

2012

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Home Made Roman Shades using miniblinds and fabric!

We're re-doing our kitchen but our windows are very large and therefore hard to find nice blinds for. That being said, I somehow stumbled onto the linked blog and thought I'd give it a go!

Crafts

Sewing

Instructions

Project Cost: Reasonably Priced

1

Measure your window's length and width. Make sure to add a few inches for seam allowance.
2

Select, purchase and prep your fabric. My dog as seen here is helping me refold the fabric after washing it.
3

Trim said fabric
4

Iron said fabric - it's ok if it's wrinkly
5

I used a narrow hemmer to hem to whole fabric at once, which would leave me to just hem the bottom as I cut the 'units' off.
6

For those not familiar with a narrow hemmer, it rolls and folds the fabric for you...
7

leaving you with a nice flat, narrow hem!
8

the 'right' side of the fabric
9

Grab some fabric or craft glue - do NOT use super glue or hot glue!
10

laying your miniblinds down on your fabric, cut the 'web' part- the part that twists the blinds to narrow or widen the actual blind opening. DO NOT CUT THE LARGE CORD IN THE MIDDLE!
11

Pop the little white/clear things at the bottom and pull out the knotted cord - cut the knot and...
12

Remove all the slates
13

Figure out where you want the 'folds' to be and how many. the more slates. the more fold and less fabric between each fold. most of all, make sure it's evenly spaced!
14

Paint the glue on the slates using a paint brush to avoid glue lines and glue the slates and fabric together
15

String the cord back through the slates - if the slates pull away a bit, it's fine as long as the majority of the surface stays on the fabric.

Again, I had help
16

I used a little yarn needle to help the process along
17

re-run the cord through the bottom slate, knot it, and glue the clear 'tabs' back down.

Glue the bottom slate down, so that the 'tabs' are glue to the wrong side of the fabric.
18

here's the tricky part, depending on what type of blinds you bought, your pully string may not allow you to do this the same way I did.
19

Basically you need the string available, but you need to cover the top bar with fabric
20

The linked blog suggested attaching the main fabric to the back and a separate sheet to the front but mine aren't built like that.
21

Instead I just glued mine down directly to top and 'back' of the shade.
22

Allow to dry and you're done!