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Crafts,  Kitchen,  Painting,  Sewing

No-Sew Faux Roman Shades

I bet you are saying… how can that be…no sewing. Well, I’m going to show you how I did it. But if you wanna sew, you do you.

Many years ago, like maybe 13, I made faux roman shades for downstairs. There are three double windows next to each other so they had to be exact.

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Still going strong.

For those I used the sewing machine but the material was thinner. To be honest I had a look at them and still couldn’t remember how I ever did it.

This time I only needed to make one and was using drop cloth material which I have used many times for other projects. It is quite thick. This material was left over from using a potato stamp to make pillow covers.

faux roman shades,faux roman blinds,drop cloth,no sew roman blind,diy,sewing
Drop cloth material.

Before I could start cutting, I had to do some math. I figured out how far down I wanted the roman shade to hang on the window (14 or so inches), how wide, how many inches would be exposed on each fold and account for the area under the folds.

I cut the material 42.5 inches wide and 31 inches long. If you don’t have a rotary cutter and mat, you don’t know what you are missing. Love it. Only wish the mat was longer.

faux roman shades,faux roman blinds,drop cloth,no sew roman blind,diy,sewing
Cutting with rotary cutter.

Once I had the material cut, I gave it another ironing then turned all four sides for a hem and ironed them in place. The top will have a rod pocket.

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Measure, iron, measure, iron.

When I got to the corners I cut one side on the diagonal so they wouldn’t be so bulky.

faux roman shades,faux roman blinds,drop cloth,no sew roman blind,diy,sewing
Nice corner.

With that done I was ready to sew glue the hems. You heard that right…glue. The reason being, I plan to use paint on the fabric and therefore I won’t be able to wash them. I used the hot glue gun to attach the folded and ironed hems. Just lift the hem and run a line of glue. Quick and easy.

faux roman shades,faux roman blinds,drop cloth,no sew roman blind,diy,sewing
Surprise.

With the material “hemmed” on three sides and a rod pocket on the top, I was ready for paint.

I used painters tape and followed the edge of the material down one side, across the bottom, and back up the third side, leaving the top. I took a plastic scraper, but you could use anything, to press the tape down good so no paint would leak underneath.

faux roman shades,faux roman blinds,drop cloth,no sew roman blind,diy,sewing
Sealing up the tape.
faux roman shades,faux roman blinds,drop cloth,no sew roman blind,diy,sewing
Adding a second row of tape.

Here is one of the corners. You can see my pencil marks for measuring but no worries, they will be covered with paint.

faux roman shades,faux roman blinds,drop cloth,no sew roman blind,diy,sewing
Ready for paint.

This material is thick enough that paint doesn’t bleed through to the back.

faux roman shades,faux roman blinds,drop cloth,no sew roman blind,diy,sewing
Navy for the win.

Two years or so ago I made drop cloth drapes for the dining room garden doors with navy painted stripes…

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Drop Cloth Drapes.

And since the kitchen and dining room are open to one another, I used navy paint for the stripe on the roman shade.

Here is the material ready to proceed.

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Perfect.

And a quick closeup of the stripe.

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Tape did its job.

Taking my math measurements from earlier I made two folds in the material using a tape measure to get the folds even and more importantly, lined up with the bottom stripe.

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Measuring the folds.

Once I was happy with that I flipped the whole thing over and glued the folds into place.

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Gluing the folds.

Half way through the project, Jim surprised me by building me a much needed glue gun holder. The old plastic one had seen better days for sure. The copper part is removable for easy cleaning and also replacable if necessary.

glue gun holder,diy
Thank you Jim.

Ready to see…

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Just like I imagined it would look.
drop cloth roman shade,faux roman shade,no sew roman shade,
All done.

So thats how I made no-sew faux roman shades using drop cloths. Total cost approximately $10.

Oh and see that poinsettia on the counter. Still watering it. In March.

Later

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