How to Make a Roman Shade
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I recently made a Roman shade for my kitchen window and thought I would share how I did it. It was not the first one I made, but it was a vinyl clad window which required it to be mounted differently. The way the window was trimmed also made it a challenge. I didn’t find out until after I put it up that I couldn’t open the window panes inward to clean them, so I will have to either remove the shade in the spring or wash the window from the outside!
The first Step to make a Roman shade...measure
Measure your window. Determine if you will be mounting it inside the frame or out. If the windows are wood you can mount it inside the frame. If they are vinyl or other material you will need to mount it outside the frame. When you know where you want to mount it you can determine exactly what you will need. There are many ways to make a Roman shade but for this one I used cord pulleys and a cord lock that I got at a fabric and drapery store.
My window was 37 3/4″ wide by 31″ high. I used 3 dowels that were 3/8″ and 1 that was slightly larger. Because it was not too big, I also only used three cord pulleys. I re-purposed the mounting board and dowels from the blind I made a few years ago,and cut them to size.
Supplies needed to make a Roman shade...
- Fabric – enough to cover your window plus a few inches more for seam allowances and to cover mounting board (unless you paint it).
- Lining – enough to cover the window plus seam allowances and 2″ for each dowel.
- Thread that matches the fabric.
- Double – sided fusible (iron -on) interfacing strips 5/8″ wide
- Mounting board – 1″ x 2″ by width of window, depending on where you will mount it.
- 3/8″ or 5/16″ wood dowels cut 1″ shorter than mounting board – how many depends on height of window and spacing.
- Thicker piece of dowel, slat of wood or metal strip for bottom piece (needs to be weighted down) – cut same width as other dowels.
- Blind cord
- Rings
- Cord lock or cleat
- Cord pulleys or eye hooks
- Pull End (optional) *I didn’t use this. Most of these supplies are available at Fabricland.
Tools needed to make a Roman shade...
- Scissors
- Measuring tape and/or ruler
- Hand sewing needle
- Fabric marker or pencil
- Staple gun and staples
- Drill and screws
- Hammer
- Iron
- Sewing machine.
The next step is to...
Prep all your materials:
- Cut your fabric 3″ wider than finished width and 5″ longer. Add a few more inches to top to be safe.
- Cut lining 1″ narrower and same height as fabric.
- Cut mounting board and all dowels to required widths.
- Pre-drill holes on mounting board for where they will be mounted.
- Cover mounting board with fabric with staples (or paint it to match window frame)
- Screw cord pulleys and cord lock or eye hooks on to mounting board on seamed side. (Cord pulley and cord lock will overlap and share a screw on whichever side you want your cords to hang down.)
- Cut your interfacing strips for dowel cases 5/8″ wide by finished width of shade.
Putting it all together...sewing
- Sew lining to fabric at right and left sides, right sides together.
- Center lining on back and stitch across bottom with a 1/2″ seam allowance.
- Center lining on back at top, pin and press it but don’t stitch it.
Putting it all together...dowels
- Calculate spacing for dowels from 8″ to 12″ depending on how big your window is. Mark the bottom dowel first, 5 1/2″ up, and then mark the position of the other dowels on both left and right sides with a fabric marker or pencil. I spaced mine 9″ apart.
- To make the casing pockets for each dowel, using the 2″ lining strips, fold and press each strip in half lengthwise. Use a 1/4″ seam allowance to stitch along the raw edges. Iron on fusible interface strips to one side of casing along folded edge. Pin casing with a ruler or straight edge to marked positions for dowels, fusible side down. Iron into place. (* It is very important that it fuses securely and you may have to go over this a few times with the iron on high heat with steam.) By using the fusible strips, you will eliminate thread from being visible.
- Insert dowels into casings.
- Clip bottom corners on diagonal and carefully turn shade inside out. Poke out corners and iron the edges.
Next you will need to hem the bottom up 2 1/2″ with either a straight stitch, as I did, or with a blind hem. One edge is then hand stitched closed, the larger dowel, strip of wood or metal is inserted and then the other edge can be hand stitched closed.
Putting it all together...rings
Measure evenly the placement for rings at the ends of each dowel, to line up with the cord pulleys on the mounting board and hand stitch vertically. I have placed rings in the center of each dowel and at each end, but if you have a larger window you may want to add a few more rows of pulleys or eye hooks.
Putting it all together...attaching to mounting board
Measure shade from the bottom finished edge and mark the height of the window. In my case the window was 31″. Place the mounting board center on the shade along the marked line and staple with staple gun. Hammer in the staples that don’t go all the way in.
Putting it all together...string cord through rings, pulleys and cord lock.
Attach the first cord to bottom ring on the opposite side of the cord lock. String cord up through each ring at the edge of the dowels, and across through all the cord pulleys and cord lock and cut cord about 2′ past cord lock. Attach the next cord the same and thread through the center rings, center pulley, end pulley and cord lock and cut about 2′ past cord lock. Finally for the last cord on the cord lock side,attach it to the bottom ring, thread the cord up through the other rings and the final pulley and cord lock, leaving about 2′ extra.
To thread them through the cord lock ,tilt the lock forward so a space is created between the wheels and guide each cord through its own slot.
Thread the cord through the pulleys and cord lock.
Finally...put it up!
Screw the mounting board where you predetermined to mount it. As I mentioned before, I will have to remove the shade when I want to wash my window or wash it from outside. Oops. I also decided to add a cord cleat from an old blind so they wouldn’t dangle too low.
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2 Comments
Deborah Montgomery
They are beautiful and you did such an amazing job!!! You are so talented ?
Carole
Thanks so much.