An Easy DIY Roman Shade – Step By Step
When we moved into our first home I absolutely loved how light the place was. Window treatments were definitely on my mind, however, I didn’t want to lose too much of the light.
I loved the look of Roman shades and thought why not make my own!
What you need:
Fabric (I actually used a duvet cover from IKEA)
Dowel
Sewing machine
Thread
Iron
First off you need to measure your window. Mine measured at 57″.
Once you know your measurements, pin your cut line allowing enough fabric to be able to turn over for a clean edge.
Once pinned, begin cutting.
I went with a flat dowel as my window had a lip and I was able to nail it onto that lip. Place the dowel on the fabric and begin pinning.
I ironed the fabric before pinning the dowel in place to make sure the pattern on the fabric lined up properly.
Once your dowel is pinned in place, begin measuring your folds. I decided to go with three folds so that it wasn’t too long.
From the top of the dowel to my first fold was 10″. Pin your desired spot and then continue measuring along as you pin.
Repeat with your next folds at your desired width. I did mine at 1″ each.
Once everything is pinned, slide your dowel out so that you can sew the top.
To keep all the folds in place and avoid sew lines on the front, I did a clean fold on the sides and folded up a piece from the bottom to have a clean backside of the shade.
As it goes on a window, you will want the back to be clean so that it looks nice from the outside as well.
At this point your shade is almost complete and you’ll want to iron it to get any wrinkles out.
To finish it off I did support stitches by hand to make sure everything stayed in place.
Your shade is now complete and you can hang it up. Like I mentioned I nailed mine to the lip on the window frame, otherwise, you could use cup hooks and rest the dowel in those.
Happy Sewing!
Frequently asked questions
Have a question about this project?
So this is actually a faux Roman Shade? It looks lovely, but it doesn’t pull up and down.
How do you lower it to the sill?