As many of you may know when it comes to sewing the main expert on that in this family is Jon! Last summer I tried to conquer the sewing machine and even made a couple of toss pillows, which came out great, but in the end me and the sewing machine decided we were better off as friends.
Which means I leave all of the sewing in the hands of my seamstress or my husband.
For weeks now I’ve had fabric sitting in my craft closet just waiting to be turned into a roman shade. Now for my seamstress to do it that would be around $130 bucks and Jon is not that handy to make one from scratch so I took matters in my own hands last night.
Here are my supplies:
- Iron
-Heavy Starch
-Spray Glue
-Stapler – That’s right an office stapler! I said no sewing!
-Striped Fabric
-White canvas fabric to use as a backing
-Scissors
-Ribbon Trim
-Hot Glue Gun
-Piece of wood cut to the size of your window
-Wooden or metal dowels
-Tape Measure
Step 1: Measure your window. My window was 34” wide so I added an extra two inches on each side and made sure I had a 38” wide piece of fabric. The length of it is up to you and how many folds you want to make. I made my piece 60” long.
Step 2: Iron everything with heavy starch.
Step 3: Get a nice fold on each side of the shade and secure the white backing to your fabric with a light mist of spray glue.
* Before you spray glue measure you piece one more time and make sure that you still have the right the width. We had an extra 2” on each side to fold over.
Step 4: Start making your folds. Due to the heavy starch your fabric will be nice and stiff so it will help you make your folds. Once you find a size you like just staple away!
* Use a tape measure and make sure each of your folds are equal.
Here are my 4 folds all finished and individually stapled:
Step 5: Is optional. Since I had extra fabric I decided to wrap my mounting piece in fabric so that you didn’t see exposed wood on the sides of the shade.
Step 6 is attaching your faux shade to the mounting piece of wood. We had a bit of extra fabric so we decided that we just wanted the shade to cover 23” of the window. So that is where we stapled the shade to the wood.
Step 7: After stapling our faux shade to our mounting piece we realized we need a little bit more support in the folds so we stapled the folds to each other.
Step 8: We also added metal dowels to hold the space:
Step 9: To make sure our folds weren’t going anywhere we also flipped our shade over and spray glued each fold to the backing.
These folds aren’t going anywhere and we didn’t have to use a needle and thread anywhere!
Step 10: To hide our staples simply use a glue gun and add some decorative trim.
* Don’t you love my manicure? I got my nails done on Friday and come Monday night they were trashed.
Voila all finished! To hang you faux shade you can either use the mounting piece to screw it directly in your moulding or ceiling or pick up some L brackets and use that instead.
Here is a side shot:
We used existing hardware from an old shade we use to have in the space. I think I want it to lay a bit flatter to the window so we are going to mount it directly to the moulding this evening.
Because this is a faux roman shade it will not go up and down. This is not a problem, because we have a roller shade installed behind it that can easier be rolled up or down.
I know there are bunch of versions of faux roman shades, but I wanted one with absolutely no sewing, because for me even a straight line can be tricky. This fit the bill and works great in my space.
I luv the simplicity of it. I have fabric staring at me for the same project. I'm armed and ready now!
Oh my gosh. You and Jon are geniuses. I will definitely be trying this at home!
You and Jon are so talented! It looks fabulous and you make me want to try this.
Oh, where were you seven years ago when I shelled out way too many clams for window treatments?
These look great. Can't wait to try them in the last few windows I still have bare.
I love it! I also love the tin treatment on the ceiling. Can you explain how you did that?
You go girl… that was amazing and I am with you, with the no sewing needed – OMG!!! I hate sewing and I have pillows to do before my mother comes to visit – I may even tackle the drapes, except our windows are floor to ceiling and when its two story tall, I dread to wonder how I will complete that…..
XOXO
Kiki
I love that!! I may have to try this on my bay window int he new house!
Looks great! And I love your tin ceiling!
Looks great – what an amazing diy – and no one would ever know!
Fabulous! It looks so polished and chic.
Love these! They are gorgeous!
looks great!!
Love love love this! By far the easiest faux roman shade tutorial I've seen! I'll be making one for my bathroom window. Thanks for the inspiration!.
oh there's nothing I love better than NO sewing. I'll do anything in my power to not sew. These turned out just gorgeous.
Great idea!
Looks great! By the way, never noticed your pressed tin ceiling before but it's lovely!
Camila you are a DIY Goddess!!!
Love the fininshed porduct and the ship pictures!! once again – great job! KG
PS still recovering from yesterday when I went from 150 followers to over 200 thanks to you! xox
A cheaper and easier version that actually works can be found over at littlegreennotebook. I know you love her because i've seen you comment there sometimes
Mine came out beautiful and all I used was a bit of glue and some sissors.
A cheaper and easier roman shade that works can be found over at Jenny's littlegreennotebook.
Thanks for all your creative ideas. I made her shades with sissor and glue. They are gorgous.
I know you love her too because sometimes I see your comments on her blog!
the shades are gorgeous but I also noticed that gorgeous purple/yellow dress you were wearing in the background! so funky fresh? where did you get it?
I love how easy it was and how cute it looks. Great project!
AMAZING…thank you for the step by step directions! I have to make one now!!
PLD
Cool! V. cool! It looks fabulous! Btw, I love you artwork – it all looks so great together!
So happy you are all enjoying the post!
I love the way they came out.
Anon,
Thanks for the comment. I do love Jenny and all that she does!
I have never made her shades before, but I have heard of them.
Since I wanted my shade to be mounted on the moulding and not inside the window I didn't think mini blinds would work. Plus I already have a roller blind in there. So this is just another way to skin the cat.
guess what is next on the project listnow!!whooo
Awesome job girl! They look great.
They look so good! I really want to learn how to sew, but will definitely be putting this to use until I learn!
Oh also this totally wasn't pricey.
They only thing I paid for specifically for the project was 2 yards of fabric.
The other stuff was just supplies that I already had and I'm sure many of you have as well.
Also with the addition of spray gluing the folds to the back of the shade the dowels aren't needed.
Great job! I have to save this project in my files for the future!
I love it! I also love the tin treatment on the ceiling. Can you explain how you did that?
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I spy tin ceilings!! Are you going to share the rest of the room with us, or just make me beg??
I love that beauty is in the eye of the beholder poster! where is that from?
Saving this one for the archives, Camila, because I'm not even friends with a sewing machine, yet!
Great job – looks fantastic!
BTW – You sure are teasing us with these shots – can we see the entire room, soon?
WOW!! I've seen alot of roman shades via blogs – but love yours the most! I love seeing your husband and you taking on projects as a team!!
I'm saving this for the a future project!!
Brilliant! Completely!
You just changed the lives of renters everywhere.
Whaat?? Seriously?? I LOVE it! Definitely have to try it out!
Btw – I've used a fabric you've blogged about a while back in my latest project (the laundry room).
xx
dagny
That is great! I love all your projects — so creative!
Awesome tutorial and great looking blinds. But, where did you get that "beauty is in the eye…" print? Seriously in love with that…
I'm with Kyl. Where did you get the Beauty is in the eye of the beholder print? I love it!
Can't wait to make these for my husband's office. We converted our "formal" living room to his office. It's not like we ever used it. Plus, I didn't want the kids playroom to be the first thing you see when you walk into our home.
I love that this is no-sew- its fantastic! Thanks so much, I'll eb linking.
I do NOT like sewing, this is perfect!
great job, great tute!
gail
Looks great! Can you please share where you got the "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder" print? Thank you!
Wow! Absolutely stunning. I love your fabric choice and your entire guest bath. I'm def. going to be trying this project out. Thanks for the tip!
Love the beauty is in the eye of the beholder print! Can u let me know where you found it? zuzuscrate@bellsouth.net
fab.fab.fabulosa. bookmarking, memorizing, trying for myself. love it!!!
I just saw your shade on Pinterest and I just made a very similar one last week! http://ckandnate.blogspot.com/2012/01/inexpensive-diy-roman-shade.html