How To Make Faux Roman Shades With Tension Rods.
You know I love me some DIY no sew projects, right?? And I should just buy stock in hem tape and fabric glue at this point. While I love these no sew projects, this one scared me a tad…apparently a lot of my DIY projects scare me though.
If you remember this no sew curtain post I found an amazing online store to purchase designer fabric for a fraction of the price. I found almost 9 yards of Sarah Richardson (my BFF) fabric for a steal. There was a catch, of course. It had a disclaimer that the fabric was “dirty” but for that price I was fine with some random dirt. I have three kids. I’m used to some dirt. I was just keeping my fingers crossed that the dirt wasn’t going to be too noticeable.
And luckily for me, the “dirt” spots were barely noticeable. It wasn’t until I was hanging the shades and my face was two inches from the fabric that I noticed a few questionable areas.
But then I had to chop this beautiful fabric up to make 6 roman shades and I had absolutely NO room for error. I purchased just enough of fabric for this project. One stupid mess up and I was doomed. I would be forced to look for more fabric and possibly pay full price (gasp).
I originally wanted to make my roman shades using inexpensive blinds like this. I’ve seen these tutorials all over Pinterest. I even purchased the blinds and was ready to tackle this project. One problem though…I sometimes can get lazy and unmotivated. I had no desire to pull out my drill and install 6 horizontal blinds. Nope, did not sound fun.
This fabric sat in my office for 3 months because I was scared and lazy. It’s such a bad combination. Finally, one day I laid out that fabric and started cutting…. still not loving the idea that I needed to eventually pull the drill out next.
And then the thought came to me…a wonderful thought that didn’t require drilling….
Items needed to make DIY no sew roman shades
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- Fabric of your choice
- Hem tape or fabric glue
- Tension rods
- I used three rods for each window
Yep, that’s all you need. Three things
Each window is different so I won’t give you my exact measurements. I cut enough fabric to cover my whole window (which is optional…keep reading) and hemmed the long sides of my fabric as well as a rod pocket for one of the tension rods to go through.
Now, since I know my husband’s first question will be “are those really functional” I made sure to try to make these as functional as possible. We rarely ever cover these windows. We’ve lived here 2 years and I think we covered them twice. But just in case there is a peeping Tom in the neighborhood, I made these long enough to cover the whole window.
And because my fabric was long, after I put the tension rod through the rod pocket and before I put the shade up in my window I folded my fabric over the tension rod once. You can sort of see what I did in this picture after I had it hung.
And this what it looks like once hung…can you see how I folded it? It helped with the next few steps not having so much fabric to work with. (Yes, you might also notice my laziness and the fact that I did not hem the bottom hem. I knew it would likely not be seen once my shades were all finished.)
Once your shade is up, add two more tension rods to the outside of the fabric like so…
Fold over some of the fabric over the top tension rod …
And then fold over the bottom part of the fabric over the bottom tension rod
And voila, just like magic, you have a new roman shade. Since I folded my fabric over the tension rod in the first step I had an extra fold you see at the bottom. Make sense? You will have to do some adjusting to your liking. It will require alot of going up and down a step ladder. It’s a DIY project and a workout in one.
Now, in case you were wondering, if that peeping Tom did come to my side of town I would have to pretty much take everything apart to just have the fabric hanging from the top tension rod. It really would not be a big deal but if you close your drapes every night this could become a pain in the you know what.
If you have been following me, then you might have seen what we used to have on our windows. They were just woven roller shades. They didn’t bother me too much but the one shade was noticeably darker than the rest and that is what drove me nuts.
I do love how these turned out and it was a pretty easy project.
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Other DIY No Sew Window Treatment Projects!
How To Make Your Own Window Treatments
DIY No Sew Curtains And How To Fake A Pinch Pleat
DIY No Sew Pillows Using Napkins
Mantel Decor Ideas Using Engineered Prints
