DIY Roman Blinds

cjoxford

I'm glad I'm not the only one who is questioning this!! Clearly there's a gap in the market... I think the roller blind idea might be the most practical solution. What I was thinking was getting a rectangle of fabric (with the pattern on both sides) and sewing tapes/ribbon on to the bottom as 2 "tails" and then sewing 2 equivalent tails on the top bit (I have seen this in a sewing book so so far so good). I would then add little loops of matching tape/ribbon half way down and on the bottom sides of the rectangle (the long side). Once I have affixed it to the wall I could use the little loops to hook onto little brass hooks (keep up people you know the ones I mean!!) so the fabric stays flat against the wall rather than hanging down. The loops in the middle would stop it billowing out...

Having no curtain making/sewing experience I am not sure if this is just a pipe dream and in reality I'll end up sticking a piece of frayed fabric to the wall with a staple gun...

Tescodealqueen

Hi I made curtains, lined with blackout material and threaded on to old fashioned curtain wire top and bottom to keep in place. It looks fine and works well although the windows are quite small so don't know if this makes a difference.

Mrs_Flittersnoop

I did actually make two roller blinds for my sister's velux windows in her attic flat, it wasn't that easy but I did pretty much just do as Seakay suggested. I bought some blind stiffener spray (from John Lewis I think, this was several years ago now) and sprayed the fabric within an inch of its life to try and make it more rigid. Then OH attached three hooks to the bottom centre and each end of the window frame and I *think* (can't remember for sure) I attached three cords to the bottom of the blind.

She still has them up in her room and they worked OK, wouldn't say they were marvellous but better than nothing. Unfortunately over the years the fabric has faded (it was bright pink) so as she's about to redecorate her room I suspect I shall be roped in to do the same thing again :mad:

HTH a little
Mrs F x

mkbean

Velux ones are expensive, but you can get them at quite a discount and they are absolutely fantastic - the blackout blinds are a 100% "can't see your hand in front of your face" darkness.

nickiboop

Where can you get them at a discount from?

mocolo

Hi guys,

I am making a roman blind and just want to double check something- the blind is 130 cms high- how often and how many rows do I need to put it for the dowelling rods? I used to make these but have had a long break and my brain won't work well and to be honest I don't trust it!

thanks in advance and hope y'all are having a great bank holiday

mocolo

spendaholic

I don't think it matters so long as they're evenly spaced. I usually decide how many rows I want and divide the space evenly between that number. If I've been doing it wrong all these years, they've looked ok, and they've worked. I suppose you need to decide on how big a fold you want and then double that for the distance between rows.

mocolo

Thanks spendaholic,

I have always graduated my folds before but this is for the inside of a window so needs to be able to pull up as much as possible so I think I need more rather than less folds.
Cheers, I'll go and get on with it.

adarynefoedd

I have a cheap Roman blind (Argos) I want to interline and cover with a decent fabric. I have been on line to try and get my head round how to do it. The pockets of the cheap blind have metal rods and at the two sides are loops for the cords. If I attach to the sides , top and bottom will this work? I would interline with light bump I think. Any thoughts anybody?

rockie4

It might not fold up correctly
I have HM roman blinds, all interlined and I sewed the two layers across the pockets IYSWIM so that they would fold up properly.