Roman Shades

Home Made Roman Shades using miniblinds and fabric!

Posted by SlashnYaoi

About

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!

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You Will Need (5 things)

  • 3 yd Fabric quantity will vary
  • 2 bottles Fabric Glue
  • 1 Sewing Machine
  • 4 However many Mini Blind s
  • Scissors

Steps (22 steps, 480 minutes)

  1. 1

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

  2. 2

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

  3. 3

    Trim said fabric

  4. 4

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

  5. 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. 6

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

  7. 7

    leaving you with a nice flat, narrow hem!

  8. 8

    the 'right' side of the fabric

  9. 9

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

  10. 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. 11

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

  12. 12

    Remove all the slates

  13. 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. 14

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

  15. 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. 16

    I used a little yarn needle to help the process along

  17. 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. 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. 19

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

  20. 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. 21

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

  22. 22

    Allow to dry and you're done!