ORC Week 7 A DIY Roman Shade

We are one week away from the Spring 2020 One Room Challenge big reveal!  And thank goodness.  Are you tired of reading about it?!  Because Colin and I are pretty over this renovation.  But hopefully taking that first shower will make it all worth it!  Today’s post was supposed to highlight both a DIY no-sew Roman shade and a vanity that Colin is building, but the vanity isn’t quite ready for its red carpet moment.  So we will just talk about making a DIY no-sew Roman shade. 

For those of you who don’t care to make your own DIY no-sew Roman shade, I promise next week’s post will be super fun.  It will include lots of before and after shots, as well links to all the products we used.  Cross your fingers I figure out how to photograph the tiny 5’ x 7’ space before next week!?! We are also waiting on a couple last minute décor additions like art prints, plants, and towels.  I ordered the art over a month ago, but ya know, the pandemic.  Towels are on me.  I’ve tried out three different sets that didn’t work.  Gotta make a decision quick here!  And I’ll likely just shop my own house for the plants 🙂

So let’s get to this DIY no-sew Roman shade!  As I talked about in this post, I have champagne taste on a beer budget when it comes to curtains.  I searched long a hard for a premade shade for the bathroom, but everything is so blahhhhh or so dated or so $$$$$.  Ideally, I would like a Les Touches Roman shade but the cost of having one made is close to 1/6 of our total budget for the entire room.  HAHA.  Plan B was using an inexpensive fabric to DIY a shade.  Eventually I would like to have a true Roman shade made for this room in a really beautiful fabric.  One day!  If you are also on a budget, this DIY might be for you!  Below is a list of the total cost of materials for this project, so keep reading!

Materials

• Tape measure
• Scissors
• Iron
• Super glue
• Drill
• Pretty fabric $20
• Plain fabric for liner $7
• Ring tape $6
• Rod sleeve $8
• Dowels $4
• Eye hooks $2
• Stitch witchery $5
• Cord $4
• Scrap wood

Total cost for shade: $56

Instructions for a DIY no-sew Roman shade

1. Measure window
2. Calculate the number of dowels you need by dividing the window length by 10 (this is the distance between each ring on the ring tape)
3. To cut fabric – add 6-8″ to the length and 2″ to the width of the window
4. To cut liner – add 3-5″ to the length and 2″ to the width of the window
5. “Hem” the fabric by folding over 1″ on each width side and 3″ on the bottom of the length side and ironing the stitch witchery between your hem (leave the top open for now)
6. Hem the liner by folding over 1″ on the width sides and 2″ on the length sides and ironing the stitch witchery in the hem
7. Stitch witch the ring tape to left and right side of the liner fabric with the first ring 2″ above the liner bottom
8. Lay the liner with attached ring tape over your fabric. Using the ring tape as a guide, mark the spots on the fabric where the rod sleeves will be attached
9. Stitch witch the rod sleeves on the fabric then slide in your dowels
10. Once again, lay your liner over the fabric with attached rod sleeves then working your way up the whole curtain, stitch witch between the liner and fabric at every dowel. There should be stitch witchery on the top and bottom of every dowel that attaches the liner and fabric
11. Stitch witch the liner to the fabric on the right and left sides
12. Cut a 1-2″ wide piece of scrap wood to the width of your shade
13. Fold the top 3″ of fabric over the piece of wood and glue the fabric to the wood
14. Drill pilot holes directly above the right and left side of rings, as well as one in the center of the wood
15. Twist in your eye hooks
16. Measure out two pieces of cord that are 3x the length of your shade
17. Starting with the side of your blind that will not have the cord pull, knot your first piece of cord to the bottom ring then loop it through all the rings on the ring tape. Continue looping it through all the eye hooks
18. With your second piece of cord, tie a knot on the bottom ring of the ring tape on the other side of your shade, then loop it through all the ring tape rings. Loop it through only the eye hook on that side of the blind
19. Pull both cord strings together from the eye hook and make a knot. This is your lever to open and close the shade
20. Drill the wood into your window and enjoy your new shade!

I hope this was helpful for those of you trying to make a DIY no-sew Roman shade.  It’s a great alternative to buying a premade shade or paying tons of money to have one custom made.  If you decide to DIY your own, make sure to tag me on Instagram!  I will update this post as soon as we trim the window and install this shade. There are also oodles of amazing design and DIY ideas over on the One Room Challenge blog so be sure to check that out.  And we will catch you back here next week for the FINAL REVEAL!!