DIY Roman Shade

Fabric is a such a great way to inject some color, pattern and personality into a room.  One great place to use the fabric that you love is in a window dressing.  Last week I promised that I would share with you how I made my simple kitchen window shade,  so here are the step by step instructions although I kind of just winged it!

I have never made a shade before and Roman shades always struck me as being quite difficult to make .  I knew that with this window I wouldn't be pulling the shade up and down,  I still wanted as much light flooding into my kitchen as possible.  I decided to make a faux Roman shade as I pretty much just wanted some fabric to break up the empty wall space and to make my window look larger. 

You will need: Enough fabric to fit window, A long piece of timber the length of your window, Scissors, Pins, Needles, Cotton Thread, fabric chalk (I used one of my sons crayons), measuring tape, super tac glue and a sewing machine.

1. Make sure that your timber is the right length for your window. Cut to size.
2. Mark fabric with about 1 cm extra around to allow for hems.
3. Iron the hems and pin into place.
4. Sew a straight line.  (Are you with me so far?)
5. Along the top you want to make a larger hem so that you create a pocket for the wood to slide into.
6. Cut two small scraps of fabric and glue to either end of the timber pole.  This will stop the timber from being visible when the shade is hanging.
7. This is where is got a bit tricky.  Pleat the bottom edge of the shade to create the billowy look of a roman shade.  You have to make sure each of these pleats is very straight so that your shade isn't lopsided when hanging.  Pin the pleats into place and hold up the shade to make sure it is straight and looking lovely.  I then went ahead and hand stitched the pleats into place.
8. Fold the top edge around the pole to create a flap. screw the shade through the timber pole straight into the wall.  The top flap that you have created will sit over the screws so they are not visible.

I love the way this turned out and now I am thinking about making curtains for our living room.  Do you have any curtain making tips?  Have you ever made curtains for your home?  I will keep you posted on how mine turn out.

Love Yels xox