Hey there!  Remember last week, when I showed you Maggie’s new bed…and said I was working on something else?

Well, I’m finally ready to show you!  I made some functioning Roman Blinds for our kitchen windows!

We had the cheap little paper ones up (just like everywhere else in our house!), but it wasn’t cutting it in the mornings when the sun came right through.  So, I wanted something prettier and a little thicker.  After scouring the internet and finding a bunch that I liked the looks of (but later found out they weren’t functional), I just decided to make it up as I went along!! So I used more of the fabric that I had Maggie’s bed made out of, and also bought some curtain liner.

*Side Note: So, instead of using a yard stick or tape to measure along the whole {long} piece of fabric…I found that it was easier just to tape off my width on the table (see it? on the right of the fabric above?) and then trace the edge of the table.

So above is the fabric hanging over the edge of the table.  I lined up the opposite side of the fabric with my tape marks, and then traced the edge of the table to create my cutting line.  It was sorta sloppy, but straight…so it worked just as well!

I did the same for my colored pieces of fabric.  Then, after cutting the fabrics to size (I made them an inch wider and eight inches longer than my actual window), I put the right sides together and stitched around the edges, with a 1/2″ seam, and leaving a  small opening on one end (so I could turn the fabric right-side-out).

Then I clipped the seams, going diagonal at the corners and pulled the fabric right-side-out.

 Then I stitched all the way around so that the opening would be closed, and the curtains would have a more finished look.

At the top of the curtains, I folded the fabric over 4 inches.

Then, I folded it over again and pinned it. You should have just used your extra 8 inches of fabric.  Then, make a stitch 1/2 ” from the top of the fabric, taking care to stitch both layers of the folds.

Then, make a second stitch about 3 1/4″ from the top seam, and that is 3 1/4″ from the  bottom of the fold.  This gives you two different location choices for your curtain rod.  I used the top “tube.”  Here is a side view of the two seams.

Depending on how much fabric you want at the top of your rod, will determine which “tube” you’ll slide your curtain rod into.

For the folds of the shade, I measured down 17 1/2″ from the seam under the curtain rod and marked with a fabric pen.  I sewed one half of the latch under the fold, and the other half on my mark.  I had latches on the outer seams and one in the middle.  I followed the pattern below to sew all the latched in.

Here are the fasteners I used.  They are the largest I could find, I and used 9 per curtain (they come in packs of three).

When I hung the shades, I had to fluff them a little and create the folds…I contemplated putting dowel rods in each fold to make them straighter, but I didn’t want to have to mess with them if I let down the shades.  And because I don’t plan on putting the shades up and down regularly, I think they will be ok.

The next project will be a version of these gorgeous shelves above the windows to create a more completed look, and give us a little more storage!

Thanks Martha Stewart!

I’m linkin’ up this week!!