A couple of weeks ago I visited my friends in Colorado. This was such an awesome trip, and a different Summer vacation in the mountains versus what we normally do at the beach. They had just moved into their house and my friend was wanting to do a few things while I was there. One of those projects was this Simple No Sew Roman Shades Tutorial. I saw this project on Pinterest a while back and had it on my To Do list of things to try. While I did a few extra steps (mostly for my sanity) the inspiration came from her post.
It was such a quick and easy project, and I was able to knock out 4 of these in about an hour and a half! Talk about a quick project! You can follow the directions easy in this post, or you can always skip to the end and watch the quick 5 minutes video I put together showing you exactly how I created the Roman Shades.
While this room is a little on the dark side, the light see-through shades allow cover, and also allow light in to the room without over darkening.
Here is a beautiful shade I made for my bedroom. This one has a lining to help keep the sun out in the bright early morning!
Easy No Sew Roman Shades
You will need a few supplies for this project:
- blinds
- fabric (or in our case, we used a shower curtain she had!)
- hot glue gun
- liquid stitch
- stitch witch
- scissors
- iron
The first thing you want to do is measure the width and length of your blinds. Once you have that, add 2″ to each of those measurements. For example, our blinds were 18″ x 60″, so the fabric was cut 20″ x 62″. This is so you can create the seams in your fabric.
To create the seams, fold the fabric in one inch and iron. Add the the stitch witch and iron. You should now have a seam.
Do this all the way around your fabric until you have all of your seams completed.
Once that is done, you will want to cut the ladder cord from the blinds you will be using.
Take off the bottom caps from the bottom piece on the blinds and then remove that, and the extra slats.
Grab the blinds and place them on top of the fabric. You can space out the slats as you need, and ours here are spaced out at 10.5″.
Next, take your hotglue and liquid stitch to secure the blinds and fabric together. Then allow them to dry for a few hours before hanging.
It is so easy I created a video so you could follow these step by step instructions on how to create these shades. Make sure to click below and follow the 5 minute video showing you exactly how I created these No Sew Roman Shades from Mini Blinds.
Leslie says
July 11, 2014 at 19:23I love this. I’d love to do this for my bedroom. I hope your having a great Friday.
Jennie says
July 18, 2014 at 13:28I need to make this for my kitchen!
Come link up with me today!!
http://thediaryofarealhousewife.blogspot.com
kristi@ishouldbemoppingthefloor says
July 18, 2014 at 15:31Awesome tutorial, Jennifer! Thank you bunches for linking up and partying with us this week! Pinning this!
Layne says
July 19, 2014 at 09:52What an awesome idea – they look GREAT!
Heather says
July 19, 2014 at 20:39What a helpful tutorial for non-sewers. Using Stitch Witchery for the hem and side folds makes it so easy. Steam-A-Seam is a great product that would work well too. I think the only thing that might be a little confusing in your instructions is you use of the word ‘seam’. A ‘seam’ technically joins two pieces of fabric together, generally by sewing, whereas a ‘hem’ would be the correct term to use for the fabric edge that has been folded under and sewn or adhered. Jena used the term ‘hem’ in her tutorial so it might be confusing to anyone using both sets of instructions to attempt this project. I know it’s super important for bloggers who provide their readers with helpful tutorials like you do to be really clear, so that’s why I mention it.
Jennifer says
July 20, 2014 at 08:39Thank you Heather, and if they happen to be confused by the words, they could also always watch the 5 minute video if the words and pictures seem confusing.
Kathy says
July 20, 2014 at 08:04Great idea! Thank you for posting a tutorial. Where do you buy this type of window blind? Also, did you space the slats out 10.5 on center or edge to edge? Thanks
Jennifer says
July 20, 2014 at 08:37I measured them out edge to edge. Hope that helps!
Barbara says
July 29, 2014 at 08:40I love your tutorial- I made one Roman blind for my bedroom and plan to make more for the rest of my windows. What kind of lining did you use for yours? I am thinking fusible interfacing might work but I’m concerned that it would separate from the fabric…
Jennifer says
July 29, 2014 at 09:19Hi Barbara! I did not use a lining for the 4 I did with my friend, she wanted to keep the room light and transparent. With my bedroom, we needed a lining! I actually had sun blocking panels in that were not hanging. I did place a straight stitch around the edge of those because the fabric was a little heavier and I was attaching both fabrics together. Then I did the steps the exact same as in the tutorial. I hope that helps!
Michelle says
August 30, 2014 at 14:04Could this be done with regular plastic type blinds?
Jennifer says
August 31, 2014 at 08:32Hi Michelle, I believe you can do it with the regular plastic blinds, but I have only worked with the faux wood blinds personally.
Dottie says
September 18, 2014 at 09:15I wonder if the plastic type blinds would be heavy enough to make the Roman shades work properly? If you are wanting to recycle a set you already have on the window, you might have to weight the slats evenly.
Jennifer says
September 18, 2014 at 09:22That’s true! Great point Dottie.
kim says
October 22, 2014 at 07:33My question do you leave the blinds showing facing the outside or is it covered also. I might of missed this step. But I love this. Need something over my kitchen window
Jennifer says
October 22, 2014 at 12:45You can see the blinds on the outside window, but you could probably just as easily cover that side as well 🙂
Gail says
December 4, 2014 at 23:17Do you control the shade by pulling the cord that extends from the bottom pieces you reattached? Does it catch and operate like a normal shade? Love the idea!
Jennifer says
December 5, 2014 at 08:10Hi Gail! It does work like a normal shade as far as pulling up and down. However, you will want to make sure you add the larger bottom piece of the shade so it has the weight to go up and down. Because I used the slats only, I have to help it down with my hand. It’s a non issue for me, but that could be an inconvenience to someone who wants to use them on a daily basis. If you want them on your kitchen for instance, and you are going to be raising and shutting constantly, I would reattach the heavier piece that comes on the bottom of the shade, unless you don’t mind using your hands. Hope that helps!
Jena @ Involving Color and Home says
March 4, 2015 at 06:40Jennifer, your shades turned out great! Love the fabric!
Jennifer says
March 4, 2015 at 08:05Thanks so much!
Amanda says
June 26, 2015 at 07:40Where did you get the fabric from?
Jennifer says
June 26, 2015 at 08:42I picked up the fabric at Hobby Lobby. 🙂
Melissa French, The More With Less Mom says
July 23, 2015 at 08:53Huh. This is a neat project. Thanks for posting. Hello from Treasure Box Tuesday.
Barbara says
November 15, 2016 at 12:08I’m considering getting the nerve to do this on a problem poolside bathroom window. The blinds are metal and have little dents. But they are just under a 1/2 inch wide and very thin, so very light weight, and they bend when separated. It doesn’t sound like this would work…and yet…I once sewed Roman shades from scratch, using only weights. I wasn’t that impressed in general, with the ease of using Roman shades. I wonder if I used a light weight fabric, along with weights where the string fits through the metal slats on each side…and weights along the bottom…if I might create the structure and ease I’m looking for? Or maybe its a bad idea for my metal blinds?
Rita O'Neil says
July 8, 2017 at 17:22My shades seem slimmer and not wide like these, is their a special kind of blind? I keep watching so afraid I’m going to cut the wrong thing. I love these
Jennifer says
July 30, 2017 at 18:04I believe these are just faux wood shades, but you can probably do a quick google search and find many different shades being used.
Heather Azcueta says
January 25, 2018 at 21:39Hi PinkWhen!!
This is the first Diy project I have ever wanted to do. Only problem is I have very expensive BLINDS. BORING WHITE BLINDS. Any suggestions.
Thanks,
HEATHER
Jennifer says
February 1, 2018 at 16:35I would find some cheap blinds someone wants to get rid of and play with that with a super cheap material. I found it relatively easy, but the first time is always the hardest!