Day 753's second try

My second attempt at making roman shades from mini-blinds was much more successful than the first. Here's how I did it:


I learned last time that the blackout liner had to be attached to the fabric before attaching fabric to the blinds, so the first thing I did was cut the liner to the exact size I wanted my shade to be. The also really helped me keep straight lines, since I now had a clean, straight edge to follow.


Next, I cut my fabric so that it was about an inch bigger than the liner on all four sides. Then, I used my fabric glue and folded the fabric around the edges. This is the back of the shade that faces the window, so you can trim it a little to make it look neater.

The next step is to get the blinds ready to attach to the fabric (and liner). If you need a visual, hop over to Jenny's instructions. I let the blinds out all the way and took them off the wall and laid them on the floor, face up. I cut each of the small strings that go between the slats and removed the outside strings, being careful not to cut the lift strings, which are the strings in the middle of the slats. Then, I removed the plugs on the bottom of the blinds, and slid all but five slats off.


Now I put (what was left of) the blinds face down on my fabric and glued the top on first, taking care to not glue the lift strings down and leaving space at each end to reattach the blinds (now shades!) to the window.


Now I measured for each slat (I did them 9 inches apart) and place them all before gluing any of them. Then I glued them down, taking care not to glue the lift strings, and then reattached the bottom by tying new knots in the string and replacing the plugs.


Then they went back in the window! I'm so pleased at how they turned out -- much better than last time! I hope this helps if you are thinking of trying this project -- certainly feel free to e-mail me if you have any questions. It's definitely a great idea, and I want to make sure all of the credit for it goes to Jenny of Little Green Notebook. I merely bow at the throne of her DIY goddessness.

By the way, the fabric is Florabunda in Sea Glass by P. Kaufman. You can get it online here, though I decided to patronize King Cotton, a great local shop.