How to make a roman shade using a cellular blind

Nancy
by Nancy
Has anyone used a cellular type blind to make the faux roman shades? I have seen posts on how to use mini blinds, but not this type of blind. I have these throughout my house, but would love to use them as a base for the roman shades... they say they are made out of fabric, but it looks like paper to me. Thank you for any ideas/help.
  8 answers
  • D wright D wright on Sep 01, 2015
    A roman Shade is an up side down regular shade. Attach the bottom and have the open from the top---hang them upside down is all you have to do with most blinds, or any kind of shade. put a cord to to keep it at the place where you want it to be held.
  • Swan Road Designs Swan Road Designs on Sep 01, 2015
    @d wright you are mistaken. A roman shade is not a shade that is operational from the bottom up. A roman shade is a shade composed of deep horizontal pleats that, when fully raised, the pleats fold up onto each other creating a sort of "stack" at the top.
  • Janet Pizaro Janet Pizaro on Sep 01, 2015
    I don't think that is possible but you can reach out to Houzz.
  • Z Z on Sep 01, 2015
    Nancy, I'm not sure since they are the papery type if they'd be strong enough to use to make a roman shade like you've seen done with the mini blinds. I do have a friend that used mini blinds to make into Roman shades and was disappointed in their function. The added weight of the fabric did not bode well with daily raising and lowering. The only tutorials I could find were for mini blinds. Though I have an idea in my head that I believe would add enough stability to handle the excess weight, it is quite detailed and would entail someone with a lot of sewing skill and patience to make. I'm not sure it would be worth it with paper like shades.
  • Swan Road Designs Swan Road Designs on Sep 01, 2015
    Not sure how easily roman shades could be made out of a cell shade. The pleats in cell shades are formed using heat and pressure, which would make it next to impossible to "reeducate" the folds in the cell shade material. I'd say jump ship and make a roman shade out of plain old fabric rather than using cell shades. They aren't that difficult to make.
    • Z Z on Sep 01, 2015
      @Swan Road Designs I agree. Though I do think it is possible, I don't think the results would be worth it.
  • Nancy Nancy on Sep 02, 2015
    Thank you all so much, I am under the same impression, I was just hoping.... Hanging new hardware is not real easy for me, and my husband doesn't care to help with the honey do's. Again, thanks so much.
    • See 2 previous
    • Donna Donna on Sep 02, 2015
      Yes
  • Nancy Nancy on Sep 02, 2015
    Becky, thank you so much for all of your help... I will look at the penneys site.
    • Z Z on Sep 02, 2015
      @Nancy , you're welcome. We've had them up for over three years now and I'm happy with how they look and function. With five windows and a set of french doors in the room, on top of the cost of the wedding, the price was certainly right. Not the best picture, as we were working on the ceiling and had just hung new lighting, but hopefully this will give you an idea of what they look like.
  • Anne Anne on Feb 11, 2016
    What CAN we used cellular type blinds for? I have two of them that I don't want to toss because I'm hoping to find something to make with them. Any ideas?
    • Rosie Rosie on Jul 06, 2017

      My cellular blinds are quite old and I have had to replace the strings in a couple of them. I now have another broken string. Instead of replacing it, I am going to use wide burlap ribbon to somehow hold it in place when I want it pulled up. Velcro will be used in some fashion, too. I haven't had time to work out all the specifics but I will make it work ... And it will be cute!