So as part of our bedroom makeover we needed to get rid of our awful green curtains that came with the house we bought almost 4 years ago. I was very excited, and so was my husband...he hated those curtains. I found several tutorials on Pinterest for DIY Roman Shades but the one I liked the most was from Terra over at Simply Mrs. Edwards. She does an excellent job with this tutorial. Honestly, if you don't understand my directions, please ask me or hop on over to her page.
Here's what I used:
Cheap mini blinds (got 'em from Lowe's for about $4 each)
Fabric for the curtains (I got a cotton floral pattern from JoAnn's)
Lining fabric (I used a blackout liner which was 50% off [also from JoAnn's] so I bought the entire roll because my husband wants these throughout the entire house)
Permanent Fabric Glue (which later I ended up touching up with hot glue)
sewing machine & thread to match your top fabric (or iron-on hem tape)
Fabric Scissors
Fabric Marker
Pins
Iron & Ironing Board
Yard Stick and/or Tape Measure
Butter Knife
First thing was first...measuring the window. Of course the window within the frame was an odd width, like 28 inches or something. Well on Lowe's they came in 27 or 29 inches (for the cheapies). I went with 27 so they would fit inside the frame. The length was 58 inches.
Now it was time to measure the fabric and liner. I ironed them first. Then measured and cut my fabric. The decorative cotton fabric should be 2 inches wider and 6 inches longer than the window measurement (so mine was 29" X 64") and the blackout fabric should be the exact measurement of the window (that made mine 27" X 58") I then laid out the fabrics, patterned fabric face down and the liner white side up (to blend with the mini blinds) with the liner being smack dab in the middle of the cotton. That left the cotton fabric to have 1" on each side and 3" on the top and bottom bigger than the liner.
Next fold the cotton fabric over the liner 1 inch on each side (so the fold is against the liner). Pin it and then iron it to crease that edge.
Then sew along those edges. I finally got to break out my new sewing machine I got for Christmas!!!
Now, let's work on destroying disassembling those mini blinds. Stretch the blind out. Cut the thin strings that control the angle of the blinds, leaving the thicker cord attached! If you cut that thicker cord, then you cannot lower and raise your blinds! So please be careful. If you have any questions refer to Terra's image.
Next comes the removal of the mini blinds. On the bottom weighted bar you will find 2 buttons which you can easily remove with a butter knife. Once you remove them, untie the string inside and remove all the blades EXCEPT for the number of folds you wish to have in your finished shades plus the weighted bar. I decided to have 7 folds, so I kept 6 blades + the weighted bar = 7. Once you have the number of blades remaining pull the cords back through the weighted bar and temporarily tie it so the blades don't come off. Once you have the blades glued in place you can tie them off and plug up the holes again.
Now it's time to mark the distance between the folds. You do this by dividing the length of you blinds by the number of folds you have. My windows are 58" and divide that by 7 gave my 8.285 and so on. I roughly measured them to be about 8 1/4 inches between each blade and marked it with my fabric marker. Then I placed my blind on top of my face down fabric lining my blades up with the marked spots.
Then it's time to glue those blades down. It's VERY IMPORTANT to keep the glue away from the strings! I mean, that is if you plan on raising and lowering these soon-to-be gorgeous blinds. When gluing the top, just glue the front and do not place glue to the edge. The blinds get held in by placing a plastic piece in front. You want to leave room to move the fabric out of the way to get those pieces in and cover over them with the fabric.
The weighted bar should have fabric glued around it tightly, but don't glue the string. Cut slits in the fabric so that it goes around the pull cord. Cut off any excess fabric.
Allow the glue to set up on your blinds. I allowed mine to sit overnight.
Next, recruit a handsome man to climb up on a ladder or step stool to install your brackets. Honestly, you did the hard work already, right?!?!
Now Terra says to attach the brackets to the side of the window...well that didn't work for me because my windows were an odd width and I bought smaller blinds so we had to attach them to the top. So if you can do the side attachment, then please do, but you can make it work if you attach them to the top too. You just have to finagle the fabric over it...it worked for me! If you attach them to the side, slide in you blinds, place plastic piece to hold it in place then take the extra fabric and tuck it up and over the top and you're done.
Hope yours turn out as great (and maybe even better) than mine! Thanks for stopping by!
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