Want a fancy set of Ready Made Roman Blinds in your house but don’t want to pay top of the range prices? If the answer to this is “yes” then it’s your lucky day. You might not know it, but they are really simple to make and can be produced on any budget.
Firstly, you should decide upon a fabric to use. You don’t have to be an interior designer to realize that the front fabric should match or compliment the rest of the décor in the room. Working to a tight budget? Fear not – you could even use old drapes or bed sheets to save yourself a few pounds and also do your bit for the environment. The next step is to choose a back fabric. Ideally, this would be a UV resistant curtain lining. For the non-curtain experts out there, this can be easily picked up at your nearest fabric store. It is not recommended to use unprotected fabric like plain muslin, as this offers no sort of protection against fading for other fabrics.
Once the fabric is chosen, measure and cut it to window size plus one inch on the sides and plus four inches on top and bottom, allowing for seams and hems. Also ensure that both fabrics have a three inch hem so as to allow for the metal strip to fit in. Next, you should sew the right sides of the fabric together, placing the metal strip into the front fabric hem. Naturally, you then sew the other side together to trap it inside. Avoid using plastic rings as they are not very durable over time and in sunlight. Instead, use brass rings as these will not crumble or become worn out. You also need to get battens – shade ribs or wooden dowels will suffice and ensure you get the best possible folds in the blinds. The distance between the rings is crucial to how well the blinds hang and fold. It isn’t wise to have an equal distance between each ring, instead have a gradual increase in distance from top to bottom. Obviously, the size of the gaps depends entirely on the size of the blind, but an example would be to start with a three inch gap between the top two rings, working your way down to around seven inches. The battens provide support for the rings. Each ring should have one as an aid and there should also be an extra batten halfway between every two rings in order to offer additional support to the folds. The choice of glue when securing the battens is also vital. Hot glue and white glue will not offer sufficient stickiness, gem glue is recommended. Glue the wrong side of the front fabric and the battens together, allowing them to dry overnight. Once this is done, turn it round so the correct sides are out and press the edges together, sewing each brass ring to the other battens. Whilst doing this, ensure that you sew through both fabrics, sealing them together. It should go without saying, but make sure that the thread is a color corresponding to the front fabric! Next up, fold the top of the fabric over by about an inch, getting rid of outstanding edges and sew the soft side of the velcro to the top of the blind, covering the raw edge. One of the final steps is to fit the shade bracket. In layman’s terms this is simply a piece of wood made to measure the same distance as the window frame and is usually around one inch thick. To mount this, simply put eye screws on the left hand side, right hand side, and center of the wide face board and staple the remaining side of the velcro to it. Finally you need to create the pull string. Take three strings, make sure they are each attached to a column of the rings and are tied at the final ring of every row. The order of the strings is of great importance, with the closest one being thread through only the first screw, the middle string through the first two, and so on. Be sure to knot all three strings together, and you have your pull string which controls the length and position of your blinds. With this, you have your very own hand-made set of Roman Blinds.