The shades are for the French doors in the back of the house, which let in a lot of light. While the light is great to have, it's not very forgiving on any fabrics I may leave out on my cutting table in the direct sunlight. The room also doubles as a guest room and it's not very private with only the sheer drapes I made last year:
The shades have been on my To-Do list for a while and I already had the fabric, a light purple seersucker. I even had lining in my stash. I found this Roman shade kit on clearance at Joann's and I hoped it would help quickly me make these shades. Well, not quite.
The kit includes enclosed lift tape, which is cording encased in a thin strip of some polyester type fabric. There's also some hardware: screw eyes, shade rings, cord cleat, cord condenser and some brackets for mounting a board. (I ended up only using the lift tape, shade rings, and cord condenser). After reading their instructions, I decided that using just the kit to make the shades wouldn't result in the shades I really hoped for. First, the instructions don't call for any battens or rods to be used to help the shade fold properly. Also, they suggest stapling the shade to the mounting board and using the enclosed screw eyes for the lift cord. Since my French doors open outward, I need to be able to wash these shades when they get dirty. So, I searched the internet for other options and found some good sources. I found this video particularly helpful for overall instructions on how to make the shades:
I like the hardware calculator on www.terrelldesigns.com and ordered flat pulleys from them to use instead of screw eyes. I decided against the cord lock since they warned that it can fray the cords over time. I maybe should have ordered them because the alternative is to use a cord cleat and that means putting more holes in the door for the cleat. Drilling a hole in a door feels more damaging than drilling a hole in a wall. I started to use the instructions on Terrell Designs but they glue their battens (rods) onto the shade. Really? Glue? Again, I need to wash these shades, so I don't know that glue is the best way for me to put battens on the blinds.
As for the battens, some people use wood dowels but they can be pricey and not very straight. Terrell Designs carries battens, but I'm fortunate to have a TAP Plastics near me where I was able to buy 3/16" acrylic rods at only about a dollar per 6 foot rod.
Ok, back to slip stitching the lining to the fabric. These blinds are quite tedious, but I think they'll look great when I finally get them finished and installed.
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