Making Roman Blinds
Making roman blinds can be a rewarding way to add a unique touch to your windows.
These blinds consist of a panel of fabric with laths encased in channels. A string goes through the laths and the blind can be pulled up to the top of the window during the day and let down to form a panel in the window for privacy at night. You can
make roman blinds from any medium weight material, and can match them to the materials or colors in your room.
How To Make Roman Blinds
Materials
Medium weight fabric
Curtain lining fabric
1/2" wood laths
2 X 1 wood batton to fit across the window
Plastic rings
Angle brackets
Screw eyes
Nylon cord
Tools such as a square, ruler, pencil, staple gun, cleat and screws
Measure the height and width inside the casing of the window you will install the blinds in. Cut the roman blinds material 2 ½" wider and 4" longer than that measurement. Cut the curtain lining fabric the same width as the blinds fabric and 2" longer.
Decide how many pleats you want to make in your blind. 6" pleats are typically what is seen in a Roman blind, so you’ll want to divide the length of your fabric – 4" by 12 since 6" pleats would have the channels spaced 12" apart. So, if you are making roman blinds for a window that is 48", you should have cut the fabric to 52" (since you added 4" to the measurement). Now you want to divide the original 48" by 12 which comes out to 4. This means you will have 4 pleats in your Roman blinds.
Now take the lining material and mark a line 1 ¼" up from the bottom edge. Make another line 2" down from the top edge. Next, mark your channels for the roman blinds. These will be lines spaced 2 ½" apart. Make your first set of lines 6" above the hem line. Measure up 12" and make your next set of lines. Continue measuring up 12" and marking the 2 lines 2 ½" apart until you get to the top of the blind. Make the channels by bringing the 2 lines together, pinning them and then sewing them to form the channel for the lath.
To assemble the roman blind, put the blind fabric and lining with right sides facing each other and lower edges matching. Stitch the lower edges together. Turn right side out and sew across the blind at the hem line. Pin the lining and roman blind fabric together along the channels and stitch them together. Baste and stitch the sides together, making sure not to stitch up the channels.
To make the pleats in the roman blinds, slip the laths into the channels and slip stitch the openings. Sew the plastic rings on the lining 4" in from the ends of the laths on each side. Cut the 2 pieces of nylon cord twice the length of the blind plus the width. Tie a cord onto each of the bottom rings and thread up through the rest of the rings to the top of the roman blinds and let hang loose.
To hang the blinds, attach the upper part of the blind to the batten with a staple gun. Attach the angle brackets to the top of the window and attach the batten to the brackets. Attach a screw eye to the batton on each side above the rows of plastic rings. Thread the loose cord through the screw eyes and over to the right side of the window. Slip a lath into the very bottom of the blind to finish it off.
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