My wonderful and talented Aunt Pat was kind enough to have me over for a curtain lesson! We decided a roman shade for my stairway would be a good project. I picked out some fabric that I liked and made sure it was light weight as she suggested would be best for a roman shade.
I brought my window measurements, sewing machine, fabric, and lining over so we could get started!
Measuring & Cutting:
The first thing we did was measure the fabric...several times (measure twice and cut once as the saying goes!). She had a handy cutting board so this helped us keep everything nice and lined up for the task at hand. We turned the fabric face-down on the cutting board and measured the width of my window (I wanted my shade to fit inside the window so I measured accordingly) and added 2.5" to each side (I'll explain why in a little bit). We used the yard stick to measure across and made little pencil marks all the way up the fabric. Then we connected the dots to make a line that was super easy to cut! As for the top and bottom of the fabric, that was much easier. We didn't have to be exact - we cut more than we needed so that I could have some room for error when I got home and did the finishing touches.
Fabric - Add 2.5" on each side. This will give a 1/2" for the seem and 2" for the fabric so it will not show on the sides.
The Lining:
Next we measured and cut the lining. We actually measured and cut it 1.5" shorter on each side than the actual width of my window. Remember how we cut the fabric two inches wider on each side? Well this was to make it so when we sewed the two together and pressed with an iron the finished product would match the width of the window. The reason for doing this is so when people walk by the window they will not see the white lining on the sides; it really gives it a professional touch! See the below picture that was shot from behind the shade.
Lining - Subtract 1.5" on each side from the window measurement. This allows for a 1/2" seem and to match up with the fabric.
Sewing:
Next it was time to sew! We pinned one side of the fabric and lining together (fabric face-down) on top of the lining and sewed a straight line all the way down! My Aunt suggested putting all the fabric in my lap and this little trick worked nicely! Then we pinned the other side and sewed. It was time to turn it inside out and iron! We adjusted the shade so that the two sides of fabric that wrapped around the back were pretty even and then ironed for a nice, clean line on the sides. We measured the width to make sure it matched up with the window measurements. And it did not. We had measured wrong somewhere, but I was glad because I got to see how to fix it! And it wasn't that big of a deal - all we did was take my seem ripper and undid one of the sides, did some more measuring/cutting, sewed it back up and voila! When we measured again it was the perfect size. I was glad to see that mistakes happen and it's easy to correct them.
The pockets & top stitch:
My Aunt had torn out a picture of a roman shade from a magazine that she thought we could make (yep, she had never made this kind of shade before and still did an awesome job!). It had pockets sewn in that you could put a rod of some sorts into. I used a small wooden dowel, but she said you can use metal or whatever you find. My Aunt did this part so I'll do my best to tell you what she did. I know she figured out how many pockets she wanted and divided the measurements to see how far a part each one would need to be. I think she measured about 11" between each pocket and marked on the fabric. And I think she folded the shade fabric facing fabric and sewed a half inch or more to make the pocket. See the picture above. And she repeated that for all five of them. Next she added a nice little touch by doing a top stitch on each pocket right above the fold. A trick to sewing this is to press down/pull lightly with both hands on either side of the fabric so that the stitch is right next to the fold and is even. It looked nice without a top stitch as well, but this was just such a nice touch and not too time consuming! It's hard to see in this picture, but if you look close you can see the stitching right above the fold:
Well folks, we were about done! At this point, I took the shade home with instructions from my Aunt on how to hang it up.
What I needed: Rings, cording, 2x4 piece of wood cut to the inside measurement of my window (cut it a little smaller to be safe), eye hooks, L-shaped hooks, curtain pulley, and fringe.
Rings & Fringe:
First, I sewed the rings on with a needle & thread at the top of each pocket. Then I sewed the fringe on top of the bottom seem. It was hard to pin and I wasn't sure what to do about the ends because it wouldn't fit under the needle of my sewing machine when I wrapped it behind the back of the curtain. So I cheated and used a little hot glue;-)
Stapling & Eye hooks:
Next, I stapled the top of the curtain to the wood with a wood staple gun. But right before this I went and held it up to the window to make sure it would fit and fall just where I wanted it. After that I screwed in the eye hooks to the wood. My Aunt said I could just screw them in with my hands if the wood was a soft enough and that blew my mind! But she was right; it worked like a charm! I did hammer it in to give it a start and then I screwed them the rest of the way by hand. This next picture is not my curtain (since it is already hanging up), but it's my Aunt's curtain that I used as an example. We used 3 eye hooks as you can see below.
L-shaped hooks & pulley:
Next, I screwed in the two L-shaped hooks. I made sure to staple the curtain and put on the hooks so that they would work in the window. I wanted the staples hidden so I made sure they were on the very top and I placed the L-shaped hooks so I could screw them straight up into the inside top of the window (mine was set up a little differently than my Aunt's example above). After that I screwed on the pulley to the side I preferred.
Cording:
It was time for the cording. This was pretty tricky. I cut my cording into two cords. One cord was longer because it had to feed through one side of rings and the top 3 eye hooks and hang down for pulling. The other cord was a little shorter because it did not have to go through the top 3 eye hooks. I tied a knot at one end of the longer cord and fed it through one side of rings and the 3 eye hooks at the top of the shade. I then tied a knot on the shorter cord and fed it through one side of rings. At this point both cords were at the top right-hand corner of the shade. It was time to feed them through the pulley. This was the hardest, most frustrating part because it was hard to see to get it going in the right direction, but finally something worked! I tested it to make sure the shade pulled up and down correctly and it did!!! Felt like a miracle. Then I had my two cords hanging down one side of the shade. I fed the handle (not sure what to call that thing) through and tied several knots so it would not come off after daily use. I actually did that part after the shade was hung so I could see where I wanted it to hang and then I cut and tied the knots.
I got a wooden dowel from Home Depot to slide into the pockets for some extra weight. I think the purpose is so that it pulls better when drawing them up. They cut it there for me for free! I put the wooden dowel on top of my Aunt's example curtain so you could see what it looks like. Check it out pictured above. And there it is! Happy Roman shade making!:)
No comments:
Post a Comment