How to Make Flat Roman Shades

You can make a Roman shade easily.

Roman shades add a designer touch to any room in the house. Hang a shade in your home for substantially lower cost by making your own. While the look of a Roman shade is expensive, the materials are reasonably inexpensive. The finished look is well worth the few hours spent making your shades.

Things You'll Need

• 1 mm cord
• Small plastic loops
• Shade fabric
• White cotton fabric
• Hook and loop tape
• Thread
• Sewing machine
• Tape measure
• Wooden dowel rods, 1/4 inch diameter
• Disappearing ink pen
• Scissors
• Hold down bracket or large wing bracket
• Wood board, 1 inch by 1 inch (same length as the top of the window)
• Straight pins

Instructions

1. Measure the length and width of the window to get the measurements of the finished shade. Add 1 1/4 inches to both measurements to account for the seam allowance.

2. Cut the shade fabric according to your measurements. Cut strips 3/4 inch wide from a piece of white cotton and hem it on the long ends. You'll use the strips, equal the width of the window, to encase the wooden dowel rods. Cut enough strips to equal the number of sections in the shade.

3. Divide the length measurements by 8 or 12 inches. The answer equals the number of sections in the final shade. Mark the sections with a disappearing ink pen to prepare the back of the shade for the dowel rod sleeves. Finish the outside edges of the shade with a rolled hem using a sewing machine.

4. Pin the cotton strips horizontally to the back of the shade with straight pins, using the disappearing ink markings as a guide. Machine stitch the long ends of the strips to the shade, creating a long, narrow pocket to encase the dowel rod. Leave both ends open so you can insert the wooden dowel rod. Cut the rods to size. Insert them into the pockets and stitch the ends closed at the right and left side of the shade, encasing the rod completely.

5. Stitch in small plastic rings just above each rod pocket on both ends. Make-Roman-Shades.com notes that you may machine stitch these in, using a long zigzag stitch. Thread the cording through these rings.

6. Mount the board to the top of the window. Cut a length of hook and loop tape the width of the shade. Pull the tape apart and affix one section to the board that is attached to the window. Attach the matching tape to the top of the shade on the inside. Hang the shade by reattaching the tapes.

7. Thread the cording through one of the bottom loops and tie in a knot around the plastic ring. Feed the cording up from the bottom through the other loops up to the top of the shade. Keep threading the cording across the top of the window and through the top loop on the other side. Let the cords fall down the side of the window. Thread the other side of the shade through the loops the same way. When you pull the hanging cords, the shade should raise, folding up in neat, flat folds.

8. Screw the hold down bracket or large wing bracket into the side of the window. When raising the shade, wrap extra cording around the bracket.

Tips & Warnings

• You can launder Roman shades like any other fabric.

• Back the shade with white fabric so it looks nice from the outside of the window. Do this step before adding the cotton strips.

• Terrell Design recommends hemming the lining and the fabric shade separately before attaching them together.

• If the fabric is light, insert a heavier rod into a pocket at the bottom of the shade. The weight will help the shade fall better when closing it.

References

• Terrell Designs: Make a Classic Roman Shade
• Make-Roman-Shades: How to Make a Roman Shade