No-Sew, Faux Roman Shades | i should be mopping the floor
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No-Sew, Faux Roman Shades


If you stop by this site regularly, you can probably tell I'm on a window kick...with this fabric! It's all been in my kitchen. It was way overdue for a window treatment makeover. 

I ADORE roman shades, but, well, you know me and sewing machines. Um, no. So, I've been tickled to run across several tutorials for roman shades that don't involve sewing. My absolute favorite is from Richella at Imparting Grace. Although mine's not 100% like hers {I decided to keep my blinds up for privacy reasons}, hers worked the absolute best for me. And her tutorial was wonderful.


Again with the curtains hung on door knobs...I liked it for not too long at all. 
I'm so happy with my new {faux} shades!

For this project, I used my fabric and three tension rods per window (so I had nine in all). I would go ahead and get the nicer tension rods (bypass the $2 ones). The cheaper ones will sag in the middle under the weight of the fabric.

I used the same method from my tutorial for cafe curtains to "hem" my fabric. And again, be warned...I don't sew...I do some insane things to fabric to hem it (no judging, please...we all want/deserve cute window treatments. I just go about creating mine a little differently.). You'll need to hem your two sides and the bottom. The top can be left raw (I even left the selvage on mine because I'm lazy like that).

For these shades, I used the valance boards from the blinds that were hanging there to measure my widths. You do have to be precise as possible on your measurements width-wise. You'll want to conceal certain hardware that's used and to do that, your fabric has to come exactly to the edges of your windows. But, you don't want any over hang, either...that would be a mess to have to deal with.

This tutorial I'm showing is designed to keep your blinds in use with the shades. There's a couple of reasons I'm keeping these up. The biggest is that when we bought this house five years ago, the realtor told us that the previous owners spent quite a fortune to have these custom blinds installed throughout the house. They're fine for blinds...kind of plain jane. Honestly, for what they spent (the realtor told us the dollar amount and we were like "Wha?!?"), I would've preferred hard wood floors or granite counters (seriously, who spends that kind of money for blinds?). But, even though I'm sounding like a whiney brat, I am grateful for these (amazing?) blinds. Kind of. So, I felt the need to keep them. And, until I also install panels over the shades, we do prefer them for the privacy. When I get the panels up, I'm having one heck of a blind sell on Craigslist. Cha-Ching. I digress.

See that green arrow up there? It's pointing to the valance on the blinds that you'll need to remove. I'm sure there's a proper tool for removing these (and their annoying little clips that hold them in place). However, my method involved yanking and pulling and tugging and yelling at them until they popped off. Very professional.

You will use the first of your three tension rods at the very top of the window, on top of the blind mechanism. Mine fit so snuggly...I was worried it wouldn't work. But, they've stayed up there and the first shade's been in place for three days now.

Drape your fabric over the rod (you may have to remove it and play with it to get it in place). You can see my unfinished part there...it won't show in the end. It tucks itself into the top fold...it can't even be seen from the outside. My fabric hung down about three quarters of the window's length from top to bottom. You don't need it to hang down over the entire window.

Install your other two tension rods. I kept the working assembly on the wrong side so I could adjust as needed....it's covered completely by fabric so that didn't matter. It's your choice how far you'd like to space your rods apart...it depends on how wide you like your folds apart from each other.

You'll pull your fabric on top of each rod to create your folds. You will have to play with them to get them just right. They were much easier to work with on my side windows. The big window in the middle was a bit difficult to work on. I finally gave up and waited on my husband to come home from work....it was definitely a two person job for such a wide window.

And they match those cafe curtains over by my kitchen sink that I showed you last week.

I'm so excited about them!! Again, I'm planning to do floor-to-ceiling panels (maybe from drop cloths?) between them and on the sides...hopefully hanging on one of those nifty bay window rods. But, for now, I kind of want to enjoy them by themselves.









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34 comments:

  1. What a cool idea! So clever!! Love this.

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  2. These look fabulous. We are moving soon and I'll keep this in mind for my new home. Thanks for the idea!

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  3. that is so cheating! I totally love it :)

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  4. You did it again for all us who can't sew. YYYYYEEEEAAAAAHHHHH!

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  5. This is great! I've had this same fabric since August 2011 to do curtains for my daughter's new classroom... (no worries we have a temporary curtain up for now)... but I don't know how to operate the sewing machine I inherited from my mom.. this is a great idea! Hope you don't mind but I "pinned" it for her to see ...

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    1. How fun that you have the same fabric! I think it's so cheerful...so nice to see every morning when I walk into the kitchen. I'd love to see how yours turn out. Take pictures!! Thanks so much for stopping by!
      {HUGS},
      kristi

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  6. These look wonderful and I would never have known that you took a short cut if you hadn't spelled it out so clearly and with great pictures. Great job!

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  7. Wow, this looks great! I do like to sew, but this looks soo much easier! Nice fabric choice too :-)

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    1. These could probably be even easier for you if you do sew up the sides before you put them on the rods. I just am a hot glue mama....so that's how I roll! ;)

      Thanks so much for stopping by!
      {HUGS},
      kristi

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  8. WOW! I have always wanted to try to make my own roman shades. Thanks for sharing at oopsey daisy!

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  9. Roman shades are totally on my list. Love them! I would love if you stopped by and shared them with my readers! http://rhapsodyofcacophony.blogspot.ca/2012/04/pin-ed-it-made-it-party-0427.html

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  10. They look great, I love the fabric! I have to do something with the windows in my sunroom and this might look good. I'm stopping by from the weekend blog hop. Thanks for the idea!

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  11. I really like those. I'm going to have to remember this because I so need something great at my back door. This is something I would love to try. Thanks for sharing on SweetTalkin' Sunday :°)

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  12. I desperately need some window coverings in my bedroom, and this may be the ticket. Thanks for the great tutorial!

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  13. Ok....this is probably want of the easiest tutorials I have read! I love these shades! Even I can handle it! thank you for sharing it at Meet Me Monday! Love, Me

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  14. What a great transformation! I'm pinning this so I can remember it for my new place. Thanks for linking up!

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  15. Feature this project {that you linked up} over at my linky party today. Hope you pass by to check it out. Have a great week!

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  16. Love this! Might be tackling this over the summer!! Stopping by from HOH!

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  17. Very cute and they look great in your windows. I noticed you said you were also going to place panels of something else between them.....I would not. I think these stand alone and anything else would be too busy.

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  18. That's it! I'm totally making these for my kitchen window. Your tutorial was easy and awesome. I am not a sew-er...at all...and I can SO do this! Thanks so much!!! (visiting from HoH!!)

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  19. I love how great fabric can transform a room. I featured this project on last week's Piece of Cake party! Thanks for linking up and hope you do it again.

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  20. looks so beautiful....you did it...look so easy to do it.
    Roman shades concord, ca

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  21. Where did you get the fabric? Big love!!

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  22. That is unbelievably easy and they look great! I have a bay window in my kitchen eating area also, with the same white blinds. Poor babies have been sitting nekked for four years! Not any more!!!Thanks for sharing. I would have never thought of that in a million years. And, oh by the way, I can sew really really well but I still prefer to glue. I completely glued some new pillows for my front bench. My mom would turn over in her grave if she knew!!!

    Jaye @ Just Trying to Make Cents of it All
    http://justtryintomakecentsofitall.blogspot.com

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  23. I absolutely love that fabric. Do you mind sharing the name of it and where you got it?

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    1. Hi Francie! Thanks so much for stopping by. I actually don't know the name of the fabric {the selvages are now "hemmed" up and I can't find it anywhere}. But, I can tell you that it is from Hobby Lobby in the long-rolled decorator fabric section. It's in the "red" area. I just saw it was still there the other day. When I make a run to HobLob this week, I will try to find out the actual name of it!
      {HUGS},
      kristi

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  24. Would also like to know the name of the fabric. Saw some like it in a booth but in different colors. Would love to find it to make a lamp shade

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    1. Hi Beth! Thanks so much for stopping by. Like I just mentioned to the above commenter (sorry for the repeat), I actually don't know the name of the fabric {the selvages are now "hemmed" up and I can't find it anywhere}. But, I can tell you that it is from Hobby Lobby in the long-rolled decorator fabric section. It's in the "red" area. I just saw it was still there the other day. When I make a run to HobLob this week, I will try to find out the actual name of it!
      {HUGS},
      kristi

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  25. I think this information is totally up to date and clear some important issues of people.

    Curtain

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  26. Great idea and this could be just what I am looking for. Thanks!

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  27. The article has really peaks my interest. I am going to bookmark your site and preserve checking for new information.
    uitstortgootsteen

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  28. Hello I love the no sew valance and cafe curtains. But where oh where did u get the material? It is exactly what I am lookingin for? HELP! Toby

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    1. Hey Toby! Gosh, it's been so many years now...I *think* it was from Hobby Lobby...but there is a good chance it's been discontinued by now! Try taking a screenshot in with you and maybe one of the sweet folks there can help you locate it! xoxo

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