Roman Blinds

We recently finished our basement and I have been slowly decorating. We have a large family room down there with two big windows. Since this is our main TV viewing area I decided to make roman blinds in a dark fabric for ultimate light control. My mom has a pair of roman blinds in her house so I studied the construction and this is what I came up with.



Not to shabby huh?



It even looks great when its folded up at the top.



When I went shopping for fabric I fell in love with the print. Of course it was a remnant and they only had about a yard and a half. So I decided to use it as an accent along the bottom and do the rest a solid color. Although I love the final outcome, it would have been much easier to use only one fabric.

So do you want to know how to make your own? Well, okay then. Here is a diagram I made that should help you understand the basic construction.


(you can click on the diagram to enlarge)

Step 1: Measure your window and determine the size you want your blind. You will want to add a couple of inches to the width for seam allowances and about 20 inches to the length. Cut your fabric. *Because I did the accent panel at the bottom I decided to make my blind two layers so there would be no raw edges in the back. I cut out two panels per window.



Step 2: Hem the sides and bottom edge. If you are doing two layers, sew the right sides together and then turn.

Step 3: Now we need to make pockets for the dowels. This is where the blind will fold when it is raised. You need to determine how many you want for your blind and space them evenly. I used five. Using the dowels as a guide, fold your fabric so that a pocket is formed on the back side of the blind, pin in place and sew.



Step 4: Next trim your dowels down. They should be about an inch shorter than the width of your blind. Put them in the pockets and hand stitch closed. (For those who read my family blog, this is what I needed a hacksaw for.) This is what the blind should look like from the front at this point.



Step 5: Hand sew three plastic rings on each dowel. One should be in the middle and the other two about 4 inches from the edge.



Step 6: You need to get a 1x3 wood board cut to the width of your blind. Measure the exact height of your window and transfer that measurement to the blind. Place the narrow edge on the fabric at the right height and than wrap the fabric around and staple.



Step 7: Screw in a eye hook even with the plastic rings and an additional one a couple of inches from the edge you want your cord. (see diagram)

Step 8: Tie a knot on the bottom ring with your cording. String the cord through the rings above it and through the eye hooks and out. Do this on all the bottom rings. You should have three cords. (once again, see diagram) Place a blind pull on the end and tie off.

Step 9: Place the blind in your window and screw into place. We used three screws and pre-drilled holes to be sure we got it just right. Than place an anchor hook on the side of your window. When you open the blinds simply wrap the cord around the hook to keep in place.



There you have it, custom roman blinds.

Vertical Blinds Alternative

I have a design dilemma. I have a bay window with a sliding glass door that leads to my back yard. When I moved in it was dressed with VERTICAL BLINDS. Yuk! I told my husband when we were house hunting that those would be the first thing to go. Well, that was three years ago and they are STILL THERE! Why didn't I get rid of them right away? Well, it was a little more complicated then I imagined.

Because I was dealing with a bay window, I couldn't hang regular drapes over the door without addressing the windows that flank it. I had to consider the bay as a whole and I ended up placing two panels of curtains flanking the bay itself. I was able to hang them about a foot above the actual window which added much needed height to that side of the room. I felt it was the best solution for the bay itself, but I still needed to cover the door for privacy reasons. Whatever I put in its place had to be fully and easily functional. Those doors are the only exit to the backyard and are used daily. Ideally I would have just used blinds or shutters but they just don't work with a sliding door. I even considered making my husband rip the whole thing out and put in a pair of french doors, but that was cost prohibitive. So the vertical blinds stayed and I just lived with them because they were functional.

Well, my kids forced my hand. The other day they thought it would be fun to pull EVERY SINGLE vertical slat down and broke at least half! I had two choices, buy more vertical blinds (which I couldn't bring myself to do) or finally come up with a good solution. Well, they say necessity is the mother of all invention and it hit me.
HANG CURTAINS ON THE EXISTING VERTICAL BLIND HARDWARE!

(sorry about the picture quality. I wanted to get a "before" image but it was the worse lighting imaginable. As you can see, the blinds were looking pretty sorry)

Here's what I decided. White sheers were going in its place. White because I wanted them to relate to the other blinds in the bay and sheer so that I could have some light filtering through. The fabric was actually very tricky. I wanted something that allowed some light but they needed to still provide privacy so they couldn't be too sheer. I also had to consider texture. I didn't want it to end up looking like a sheet! I found a nice, white gauzy fabric (it also happen to be on sale for $2 a yard!) and I was set.

* Please note: I am a very beginner seamstress and a very lazy one. I only measure when absolutely necessary and will cut every corner possible. If I can do this, ANYONE can do this!

Here's what you do. Measure the height and width of your door. Mine was seven feet high by five feet wide. You need to add extra width to give it some fullness so I added an extra three feet. (Remember to add a couple of extra inches for seam allowances) My fabric was four feet wide so I was going to have to piece two panels together. I placed the right sides together and did a simple zigzag stitch and then trimmed my fabric as close to the seam as possible. (Yes, I have a raw edge but it made the seam the least noticeable.) Then sew a simple hem on the two sides and the bottom. In order to hang my panel to the blind clips, I was going to add rings to the top. To reinforce where the rings would go I folded the top down about a inch and hemmed. (A) This made the area double thinkness. I then did a top stitch above where the rings would go to reinforce the top. (B) For the rings I got 3/8" eyelets and a setter. I took the width of my panel and divided be the number of clips I had and determined I needed twenty one rings every five inches.(C) Follow the directions on the box and set the rings. I placed a cutting board beneath me to protect my counter but please consider the surface you are working on. DO NOT do this on top of a stone/tile counter or floor! You have to hit your setter with a hammer fairly hard and several times.



Once your rings are in place you can hang your curtain. I clipped each ring into the clips alternating the direction so that it made a wave. Thats it! It was so simple...



Ahh... and so much better!



The best part? Fully functional and cost less then $30! Gotta love it!