Roman Shades

Many years ago I made Roman shades for my Kitchen in our house in Indy. My daughter just bought a new house in Texas and asked me to make her shades for her new kitchen. We went to Joann Fabric and bought some beautiful fabric from the Home Decor Fabric section of the store. The fabric was 55 inches wide, and our finished width for our shade will be 27 inches. It will have a finished length of 58 inches. With a four inch hem and an extra six inches on top for the mounting board we needed a length of 68 inches for each shade.  We bought 4 yards of the chosen fabric.

I cut two panels of fabric 33 inches wide and 68 inches long. Then I turned the side seams in 3 inches on each side. I then turned the raw edges of the sides under one inch and pinned. I measured 4 inches from the bottom and marked the measurement with a fabric pencil. I then measured 6 inches from the top and marked that measurement with the pencil.

The folded sides and hem with the lining in place. 

I had leftover curtain lining fabric and was able to cut that in half to line both panels. I laid the lining piece on the back of the panel and tucked the sides under the pinned side seams.  I folded the hem up so the fold was on the 4 inch pencil mark, I turned the raw edges under an inch, and tucked the liner under the hem and pinned.

Sewing the side and bottom hems with the lining in place.

I made sure the lining went above the 6 inch pencil mark at the top of the panel. I then sewed a seam down both sides and then across the bottom hem.

Now it was time to mark the panel for the dowel rod casing and string loop strips. These came in the kit we bought at Joann Fabric. Also included in the kit was 4 brackets with screws, cord, 4 eye screws (we bought more), and the hook to tie up the cord. I marked the panel every 6 inches from the bottom. I measured and marked across the width of the panel. Then I pinned the dowel casing along the markings and cut then about 1/2 inch from each side.  I put 6 rows of casing on each panel. I pinned and then sewed them onto the panel with the sewing machine according to the direction on the kit.

Some of the items in the kit

The pinned dowel casings and string loop strips.

Sewing the casing in place.

We cut 2 mounting boards  (1 x 4's) 26 7/8 inches long. Then laying the board on the pencil mark at the top of the panel, I wrapped the top fabric around the board and stapled the fabric in place. Next, we decided what loops on the casings we were going to use for the cord, I tied the cord on the lowest casings loop, and threaded it through the corresponding loops on all the casings above it stringing the cord to the top mounting board.

An unwrapped board and a finished one.

The casings were sewn in place and the 1/2 inch  dowel rods were put in the casings. The cord was tied to the bottom casing in a loop about 6 inches  from each side, then strung through the corresponding loop on each casing strip.

Next we cut 1/2 inch dowel rods to 26 to 26 1/2 inches long and then installed them into the casings. We also put a dowel rod into the hem section and sewed the side seams of the hem closed.

Once the cord was in place we knew where we needed to screw in the eye screws to the top board to string the cord through. There were two eye screws about six inches from each side, and then one at the very end to keep the cords together and to let them hang down the side of the shade. You can see the eye screws two pictures above.

My Son in-law installed the brackets onto the mounting board and then onto the window. We used an old skeleton key replica to tie to the end of the cords as a cord pull.

The finished product.

They really did turn out great, and we all just love the colors in the kitchen.