No-Sew Roman Shades

Holy moly, where did November go?? I've been super dilatory in my posting, so there is much to say. But, one thing at a time.

I decided that I needed to spruce up my kitchen window...

because it was looking a little sad. Now, when we first moved in...

...it's a little hard to see, but there wasn't even any framing around the window edge. A quick trip to Home Depot and some construction glue solved that problem. (Alas, that was in the pre-blog days, or I'd surely share photos.)

After living with the window as it was for a few months, I decided that I wanted some sort of window treatment. You know, give the place a little class. The problem though, is that I love all the light that comes through that window, and I like being able to see the backyard. Plus, I didn't want to do traditional blinds because then I'd have a cord hanging down right around the sink. No thanks.

So, I stumbled across some different variations of no-sew roman shades, on Pinterest of course. 

Originally found here

Originally found here

The first one used mini-blinds as a base, which didn't solve my not-wanting-blinds-because-of-the-cord issue. The second one was more of a "faux" roman shade, which is exactly what I was looking for.

I went to Target, hoping to find a tablecloth or window curtain that I liked and could use. Unfortunately, there was absolutely nothing there that struck my fancy. As I was walking away from that department, feeling dejected, I happened past the bathroom aisle. And I said to myself, I said "Self, who says a shower curtain has to be used in the bathroom?"

So clearly, this is what I came home with:

I love the pattern and the various blue colors - they really compliment the Glidden Stone White that's on the walls. Into the cart it went, along with three tension rods and some fabric glue.

Once all my supplies were ready, I got down to measuring. The window was about 42" across, so I laid the shower curtain out and set about hemming and folding until I had a rectangle that was the right width. The fabric glue was a big win - just make sure you have wax paper or aluminum foil between it and the floor/carpet.

Once I had the width all squared away, I folded down the top part and fabric glued that, leaving a tube at the top to slide the first tension rod through.

I let all the glue set for about 45 minutes to make sure it was good and dry, and then moved on to the fun part. I lengthened all the tension rods to fit in the window frame, and I slid the first one through the opening at the top of the shower curtain. I stuck that up in the window frame, and then put the other two tension rods in the frame as well, putting them in front of the fabric. I spaced them about 3 or 4 inches from each other, but this can vary depending on how big you want the folds at the top to be.

Then, I just looped the fabric over the next two rods to create the roman shade effect.

No matter how much I fidgeted with it, it still looked crooked to me. I took it all down, made sure the rods were good and straight, and I did a quick hem on the bottom.


And voila! Easy to make, under $20, no-sew (and sort of faux) roman shades!