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How to 3: how to make roman blinds

When you want to try your hand at making your own Roman blinds, we have an easy to follow guide to show you exactly how it is done. Making your own Roman blinds is not that time-consuming and once you have all of the materials and tools to do the job - it might just take up that spare Saturday afternoon.

The only point we can make at this stage which may prevent you from moving forward alone, is the necessary skill of being able to use a sewing machine. Next, you are going to devise a shopping list or better still - use the one below:

Fabric to be used as a lining, dowel rods, a sewing machine (or borrow one from your mother), thread, Velcro, Roman blind tape, wooden batten and wooden slat to cover the width of your blind, screw eyes, blind cord, cleat and your chosen blind fabric.
  • First, take measurements of the window in which your finished Roman blinds will go. Add to the width measurement a further 12 cm and 15cm to the length before cutting out the fabric and fabric lining.
  • Take your chosen fabric and measure 6cm in from either side, ironing in to create a fold. Now iron a 5cm hem fold to the bottom of your fabric, repeating the process with another 5cm fold. Open up to the first fold and press in a mitre at both corners.
  • Now taking the lining fabric and cut down either side at 4cm in before ironing a 6cm hem. Place the wrong sides of the fabric and lining together so that the bottom of the lining is level with the fold in the blind fabric - use some pins to keep them in position. Using a pencil, measure from the top of the lining down to 25cm and place a mark.
  • Now starting from the bottom you need to measure and pencil in a length of 12.5cm.
  • Now that you have two marks on your lining, continue measuring horizontal sections between those marks. Each section needs to be of the same measurement (around 25cm).
  • Next you will need the Roman blind tape which can be pinned along the horizontal lines starting around 1cm in from each side. There will be a line on the tape which will guide you when you use the machine to sew it to the lining. The 1cm gap at either side will allow you to hand-stitch the lining to your blind fabric. Your bottom hem will be folded over the base of the lining and stitched using the machine - each side will be left open so that your wooden slat can be slotted in before hand stitching the sides together.
  • With the smooth side of the Velcro placed to the top edge of your blind and running along the width, trim any excess away before using the sewing machine to stitch it together.
  • Go back to your blind tape and put the dowel rods in - stitching to keep them secure.
  • Nearing the end of Roman blinds how to make, the next step is to measure your cord which will be one and a half times the length of your blind plus the width. Thread the cords evenly through loops either side of the bottom blind tape and across its width before tying them and moving them up through the parallel loops of the Roman blind tape.
  • The final step is to use a staple gun to fix the rough edge of the Velcro to the wooden batten or Roman blind tracks and place the screw eyes underneath to level up with each cord. Fix the wooden batten to the frame of the window and push each cord through the screw eye and out to the left or right hand side, tying all the ends neatly together. Apply your cleat to the same side of the wall as your cords so that they can be supported when you want to open your blinds.

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