design ideas modern window treatments

eric: this video’s brought to you by sailrite.in this video, we’re going to show you from beginning to end how to build a standard romanshade. these roman shades are four panels that cover the windows in this home. we’regoing to show you how to measure, how to sew them up, how to attach rings, how to attachthe hardware, and then finally how to install them in your window. let’s get started andshow you how it’s done. here’s matt grant from sailrite to show us how to take measurementsfor your particular roman shades. we’re going to measure for the roman shadesthat we’re going to install in these four windows. before we start those measurements,i want to just talk about the fact that you can do these as an inside or an outside mount.we’re going to do an inside mount because

we have enough depth in the window framinghere. we’ve got just right at about 3” and a little bit more after the final trim.we need about 2” of depth to fully conceal the headboard of our roman shade so we’llbe in great shape here. so because we’re going to go inside mount, we really only needto get the height, or the length, of the roman shade and then we need to get the finishedwidth of each shade. i’m going to measure here and i am getting 51 3/8”. so we’llconfirm that measurement somewhere in the center here and i’ll do it here, and 513/8” again. we’ll confirm it over here at the edge, maybe both edges just to makesure everything’s square. here i’m noticing i’ve got some handle hardware so i’m goingto write down 51” for my height. i don’t

want the bottom weighted bar in my roman shadescrashing down on the window sill so i’d like to be just a little short and that certainlycovers all of the exposed window glass. once we have the height, we’re going toget the width of each of the roman shades. i’m not going to take any reduction outfor gaps between shades at this point. i just want to figure out what the maximum finishedwidth of each shade can be. if i measure from the inside trim to the center of our moldinghere, i’m at 29”. so this first window i’m going to call 29”. then i’m goingto find the center of the trim and measure over and i’m at 30” here, and we’re30” here, and we’re 29” over here. so we basically got two slightly narrower windowson the sides and then two slightly wider ones

in the center. i like to see the width ofthe finished roman shade panels be at least â¼â€ short on each side. in some cases aâ½â€ less on each side, especially for larger window assemblies. so in this case we’regoing to cut this one down by â¼â€ on each side so we’ll be at 28 â½â€, and insteadof our 30” here we’re going to be at 29 â½â€, and then we’ll do likewise for thesetwo. eric: the first step in creating your romanshade is to cut the fabric to size. we’re going to take those measurements we just madeand calculate what size fabric to cut. we’re going to use a decorative fabric and a liningfabric on the backside. using the measurements we just made, we need to add these to thosemeasurements to determine the appropriate

size fabric to cut. we’ve made those calculationsand are now marking the fabric with a pencil, and we’ll cut it out with scissors. whenusing a pattern with a repeat, you need to take into consideration where the repeat willfall for your roman shades, especially if you have multiple shades. here’s a lookahead at the four roman shades that we’re making. as you can see by the yellow boxes,we’ve considered where the repeat will fall. notice that we staggered it so that it lookspleasing to the eye and also centered it. again, if your fabric has a repeat, it’scompletely up to the end user where they want the repeat to fall.since we’re building four roman shades, we’re going to need four panels of the decorativefabric and four panels of the lining fabric.

we’re using that first fabric- the goodfabric that we cut to size- and we’re placing it on top of the next run of fabric so wecan determine the length of that as well, and also consider the pattern repeat (if thatis important to you). now we’ll concentrate on the width of the face fabric. we’re goingto place that pattern repeat- the large pattern- in the center. so we’ll take the calculationswe made earlier to determine the appropriate width to cut, and we’ll strike lines onthe fabric and cut it out with scissors. we cut our fabric from both sides so that ourpattern- our large image in the center- was centered between the width. now we have ourone face fabric. now we need to concentrate on cutting out the lining fabric. at the sailritewebsite, you’ll find multiple choices for

drapery and lining material, including blackoutmaterial. so be sure to visit the sailrite website to pick yours today.we’ve marked the drapery lining material to the correct size for our window and arecutting it out with scissors. now both the lining and the decorative fabric we did earlieris cut to the appropriate size. now all we need to do is sew those pieces together. we’lllay the lining on top of the decorative fabric so the outside surfaces are facing each other.you’ll notice that our decorative fabric is actually too long. that’s because wecalculated for the repeat in that. if you cut both your decorative fabric and liningfabric out to the correct length, yours will be even.notice that the width of our decorative fabric

is much wider than the lining fabric and thatis intentional. the length is not. your length may be exactly the same as your lining fabric.starting from the bottom here, our pattern repeat will be perfect for our application.we’ll pin along the length of the fabric where the lining is lined up with the decorativefabric on the underside. we’ll use pins about every 6”-12” to be sure that ourfabrics stay in the appropriate position as we take them to the sewing machine and sew.we’ll be using the deluxe magnetic guide and ensure that we get a â½â€ stitch. it’svery important that you stitch a â½â€ away from the raw edge of the fabric. the decorativefabric you see at the top when we first started this stitch is excess, mainly used to matchup the pattern repeat. yours may not have

that. sew all the way down its length andremove the pins as you approach them with the sewing machine. we’re using the sailrite111 sewing machine. this is a compound walking foot sewing machine, and this sewing machinehas the mc-scr power system. phenomenal sewing machine! when you get to the end, as you didat the beginning, reverse to lock your stitch in place.now that the lining has been sewn to our decorative fabric, we’ll turn the panel around andline up the lining to the opposite edge of the decorative fabric. so now our lining willbe pulled over so the decorative fabric actually folds at the other end. match it up so theedges are exactly flush and then sew a â½â€ down that length as well. you can sew theseroman shades with a v-30 thread or home sewing

machine thread. these are light fabrics andsailrite stocks a plethora of great fabrics for roman shades. brands like: braemore, brisa,dena home, geobella, p/k lifestyles, p/kaufmann, softline, sunbrella, tommy bahama, and waverly.check them out at the sailrite website and pick your favorite today.as discussed earlier, we’re going to trim off this excess fabric that is at the top,which was used to match up our pattern repeat. angela’s now going to ensure that the fabricis laying nice and flat and that the lining fabric is centered on the backside of ourfabric. the fabric is still turned wrong side out. she’s going to pin the bottom portionhere. this is the bottom of our roman shade because we’re going to sew that shut. she’sgoing to make sure that the sides are exactly

the same so she’s measuring the seam hereto be sure that it is exactly the same as the other side. then she’ll take it to thesewing machine and sew a â½â€ from the raw edge of the fabric- reversing at the beginning-sewing all the way along its length to the other side. sewing shut this bottom edge,it would now be called a pillow case cover- one open end. alright, when we get all theway to the end, we are now ready for the next step, and that is the placement of the dowels.that’s coming up in the next chapter. angela’s now working from the top of theroman shade, and she’s going to ensure that the lining is positioned, or centered, alongthe backside of the fabric. to do that, she’ll measure the edges and be sure they’re equalfrom left side to right side, and then pin

them in position along the top edge. so she’sgoing to take her ruler and measure this side as well and pin it in place. as she pins thesides, she is not pinning through the lining fabric. she’s only pinning through the decorativefabric. angela is not going to place anymore pins in it right now until she ensures thatit is centered. so she’s going to take measurements at several locations and she’ll place herpins to secure it in place as she positions each one of the dowels at its appropriateposition. so she’s just making sure the fold is right where it should be. once you’rehappy with where the seam lies, you could take it to an iron and iron it so it has anice crease. but we’re not going to do that. we’re going to talk about the positioningof the dowels next.

at the time when we were creating this video,sailrite was in the process of creating a fabric calculator for roman shades. you maywant to check that out at the sailrite website. in lieu of that calculator, you can use thecalculations here for the placement of each one of your dowels on your roman shade. let’scalculate the measurements for our particular roman shade. you can see here, segments requiredare 7. the height of the main segments is 6.85” and the height of the lowest segmentis 8.35”. those measurements will be the placement for the dowels. so these dash linesrepresent the dowels. however, for the lowest segment, we need to add 3” because we willbe creating a hem there in a later step. next we’ll measure up from the lower edgeof our shade at the stitch line. that’s

the stitch line that she just pointed to.we need to measure up our measurement for the lowest segment. ours is 8.35”, but weneed to add 3” to whatever your lowest segment measurement is for a hem that will createdlater on. that leaves our measurement at 11.35” for the lowest segment. angela has markedthat location with a pin. now she measures up for the main segments. ours is 6.85”so she measures up to that location from that lower segment that we just marked on the fabric.places a pin there as well. she’ll continue to measure up from each one of those pin locationsuntil she’s done with the main segments. angela has marked each one of the segmentpositions with a push pin. you can also use a pencil. now she’ll fold the material inhalf along its length to determine where the

location should be placed on the oppositeside of the fabric. this is an easy way to do it so you don’t have to measure all overagain for the opposite side. then she sticks the pushpins in that side as well. or youcan mark it with a pencil. now we can unfold the shade and we can place wood dowels ontop to determine how long they should be cut. we’re using a 3/16” wood dowel, thoughplastic dowels can be used as well. we want them about a â½â€ shorter than the widthof the shade. then we’ll cut them all to size. again we’re using 3/16” wood dowels.we’ll be using tear mender that’s available from sailrite to glue these dowels to thedecorative fabric. notice the decorative fabric backside, or inside, is facing up. gem-tacmay also be used. it’s typically used for

gluing gem stones to fabric. you do not needto glue all the way across. just a few dabs every 4”-5”. notice how angela has placedthe dowel at her pushpin location and then dropped a few drips of the glue at the locationon the backside of the good fabric and holds it in place. it does take a while for thisto dry so be careful. then she comes to the next location. the batten is about a â¼â€underneath the pushpins, places a few drops there as well, and then rolls the wood dowelover the center of the drops. our shades have 7 segments, which equal 6wood dowels. they’ve all been glued in place. now angela places a few yardsticks on topto help hold the dowels down onto the glue while it dries. we’ve also placed a fewof these shades in front of a fan to accelerate

the glue dry time.next we’ll concentrate on creating a hem at the bottom edge of the shade. first removeall of the pushpins, if you used those to position the dowels, and we’ll need to turnthe pillow case right side out. so even though there are dowels that are glued to the fabric,it is still not a very difficult process. it easily turns right side out. we’ll speedup the video here showing the process, but we don’t want to bore you with the processeither (laughs). the bottom edge of our shade has already been sewn together. so we needto make sure that the corners are pushed out all the way. once we’re happy the fabricis laying nice and flat, we’ll take it over to an ironing board and use an iron set onthe appropriate setting for the fabric of

your choice, and we’re going to create creasesat the bottom edge and the sides of our shade. using an iron to create the creases will givea beautiful appearance to your roman shade. at the bottom edge of our shade, we’re goingto fold the fabric up to approximately 3”. however, we’re going to measure where thatfold should be located by using the lowest segment measurement. for us, it was 8 3/8”from the lowest dowel. so we’re ensuring that the lowest segment is our lowest segmentmeasurement. then we’ll pin the fabric at that location using the pushpins. once it’spinned in the appropriate position, we’ll take it over to the ironing board and ironthe crease along the bottom edge. now we’re going to use the sewing machineand place a straight stitch along the inner

portion of that fold pulling the pins as wecome upon them. we’ll keep this stitch very close to the raw edge of that fabric, whichis no longer really raw because it is a finished edge. so all the way to the other side, andas normal, do some reverse stitching at the beginning and do some reverse stitching atthe end. this hem that we’ve just created will also serve as a sleeve for a heavierdowel rod. so we’ll sew from the bottom edge up approximately 1”, reversing there,and that will allow us to have an opening at the top that will be used to push the rodinto the sleeve. we want to do that same procedure on the opposite side. we’ve purchased ametal rod at a hardware store, cut it to size, and we’ll push it into that sleeve thatwe created. the sewing at the ends will keep

the rod from coming out.now that the hem has been created at the bottom, we can measure up and cut our roman shadeto the appropriate length. for us, our length was 51”. so we’ll measure from that bottomedge up 51” and mark the fabric with a pencil. we’ll do that on both sides and then strikea straight line across the fabric. do not cut on this line. we’ll be cutting abovethe line. this is where we want the actual finished edge to lay. once the line is struck,we’ll cut approximately 1” up from the line. we are not cutting on the line. we arecutting 1” up from the line, and we’re removing the excess fabric. now we’re goingto install a looped velcro and fold the lining and the decorative fabric in to give it afinished appearance. we’re going to pin

all that in place. notice here angela’sfolding the lining fabric in and she’ll fold the decorative fabric in along the linethat she struck along the lining so that that line is our top edge. take your time and thenpin the fabric in place. sailrite strongly recommends using velcroalong the top edge of your roman shade. using velcro, you can make adjustments to how theroman shade actually sits in the window. we’ll be attaching a hooked velcro to the headrailin a future step. for now, attach the loop velcro to the top of the roman shade, as shownhere. take your time and be sure that you fold the fabric along the line that you struckdown so that your roman shade is the appropriate length when complete. we’ll then take itover to the sewing machine and sew the velcro

down the two long legs, reversing at the beginningto lock our stitch. when we come upon each one of the pushpins, we’ll remove the pinsensuring the fabric is still nice and flat, and sew all the way down the other side. we’lldo that same procedure to the other side of the velcro.we’ll next be installing rings for lift lines. rings should be installed startingat the lowest dowel and then skipping every other dowel. rings are typically spaced about15” apart. our shade will require 3 lift lines. angela’s marking the position atthe center of our shade every other dowel starting at the bottom. now she’ll takesome thread and feed it through a needle eye, and she will prepare to hand sew the ringsin place at each location. angela’s measured

a length of thread that is almost the lengthof the entire shade curtain. she ties a knot at the end- a double knot- and cuts off theexcess thread. we’re going to run this needle all the way down the length of the curtain.we’ll start here at the lowest dowel, push the needle through the fabric including thedecorative fabric on the underside, around the dowel, and up through the fabric. thenshe’ll run the thread through the metal ring (that’s available from sailrite), andback into the fabric through the ring, tie a few knots. you want to make sure that thisring is secured in position. you do not want your rings falling off. because we’ve chosento use metal rings from sailrite, we don’t have to worry about those plastic rings thatoften are affected by the uv, become hard/brittle,

and then eventually break. so we highly recommendordering your sew on rings for roman shades from sailrite. either available in a brassor nickel finish. once angela is satisfied that the ring will not fall off, which she’sdone a good job here, she’s sewn it to death, she will pass her needle in between the twofabrics and come out of the next dowel so she can get some breath, and then pass itdown to the next dowel. so this way she doesn’t have to cut her thread and create knots again.this is a preference, not necessarily required. so notice that she’ll come out here at thatdowel that we want to skip- in other words, we do not want to install rings at this dowel-and then she’ll go back into the fabric and pass the needle between the two fabrics(the lining and the decorative fabric), coming

to the next dowel and then inserting the ringat that location as well, just as we did previously. so here she is, she skipped that one doweland has come to the next dowel which does require a ring. you notice that we are installingthe rings along the seam where the decorative fabric was sewn to the lining fabric. nota bad idea. so she goes into the fabric, comes around the dowel, out through the fabric,and she’ll secure a ring just as she did previously here as well. we will not showall of this. now that you know how to install the rings at each of the appropriate locations,you can do that for your shade. we also do want to show what it looks like from the surface,or the decorative fabric side. we’re using a thread that is almost the same color, butas you can see here, it’s barely noticeable.

so you don’t have to worry too much. wetry to match the color if possible. now we need to concentrate on making a headrail.we’re going to use some of the excess lining material. fold it in half so that we havetwo layers, and we’re going to fold into the board. we’re using a 2” x 2” board,which actually measures 1 â½â€ x 1 â½â€ that we picked up at a hardware store andwe cut it to size. i like to cut the length of the headrail to the exact width of thefinished shade. however, some people cut it â¼â€ smaller. now we’ll wrap that fabricaround the board, as shown here in the video, and staple it in place along the top edge.for our roman shade, we’ll be installing the headrail along the inner frame of thewindow. so the edge that we’re stapling

will not be visible. it will actually be screwedup against the ceiling at that location. we’re using a very nice duo-fast electric stapler,available from sailrite. however, a simple arrow stapler that you may already have willwork just as well. when we come to the end, we’ll cut off the excess fabric and we’llwrap it as we do a christmas present. you may want to use the end of a screwdriver toperfect how the tucks of the fabric look. once you’re happy, you’ll staple the topside- the side that will be up against the ceiling. now that our lining fabric has beensecured all around the board, we want to turn the board so that the velcro will be facingout. we’ll secure it in place with the stapler. you can use this great duo-fast stapler, butit is rather expensive. you can also just

use an arrow stapler that you may alreadyhave in your possession. be sure to attach the hook side of the velcro here since theloop has been attached to the curtain. now attach the curtain to the velcro, make sureit’s centered and looks nice, roll the board around so that you’ll be working from theunderside of the board, and that’s where we’ll be attaching our hardware for thelift lines. with a pencil, angela is marking the center location above the ring and theside locations above the rings. yours may have more or fewer. then you can remove theactual curtain. now we’ll attach screw eyes that we purchased from a hardware store atall three of those locations. for our roman shade, we’ve chosen to usea cord lock that we purchased from sailrite.

let’s take a look at this cord lock. onthis end there’s a small opening. then on the other, there’s a larger opening. thelarger opening would go along the length of the headrail that has the majority of thecords. on the underside, you have a two wire system for our cord lock. we’re going touse some leechline here and cut it with a hotknife so we have a sealed edge and we’regoing to run it through the large opening of the cord lock and down through the centerof the actual lock system. sailrite recommends installing the line through the cord lockprior to installing the lock to the actual headrail. at the bottom opening of the cordlock, there are wires to separate each one of the cords. this cord lock will accommodateup to 6 cords. we need only 3 cords for the

roman shade that this will be installed to.we’ll install the second line through the large opening side and down through the middle.in some situations, you may find it a little bit difficult to feed the cord through themiddle. in those situations, you can use tweezers on the bottom side to help guide the line.then our last line will be run through the small side of the cord lock and down throughthe center just as the other ones were done previously.the calculations for the length of cord to order will actually give you much more linethan you need. in this situation, we’re not using tweezers, but a screwdriver to helpexit the cord through the bottom of the cord lock. here we go. the larger hole has themajority of the cords while the smaller hole

on the one side only has one cord. we caninstall this cord lock on our headrail either on the left side or the right side. we’reinstalling it on our roman shade headrail along the left side. we want that lock systemto be screwed as close to that eye along the left side as possible. just use screws thatyou can pick up at a hardware store and screw it in position. now we’ll feed the cordsthat are coming out of the large hole of the cord lock through our eyes, as shown herein the video. on ours, we have three so this cord will run through the last screw eye.then all the way to the left, in this situation it’s the right, but it will be installedon the left when we have our curtain, we feed it through the last eye. that’s all thereis to installing the cord lock and the cords

into the headrail system.now we’ll fasten the fabric onto the headrail system via the velcro. as you can see, thecord lock is on the right side; though, when you’re looking at the actual roman shade,the cord lock will be on the left side, as the outside surface is facing the table. nowwe’ll run the cord through each one of the rings, and we will not tie it to any of therings except for the last. we’ll follow that same procedure for each one of the ringswith each one of the cord locks. then to keep the cords from unraveling, we’ll use a hotknifeto seal the ends. next we’re going to use the plastic liftcord condenser that you can purchase from sailrite. with the curtain fully open andthe cords being fairly taut, cut all of the

cords at once so there’s about 6” of cordhanging below the cord lock. this condenser condenses the multiple curtain lift cordsinto one cord. for our curtain, we’re using fairly large line here so it’s a littlebit difficult to squeeze it through the top of the condenser. so we’re pushing all 3cords into the condenser and then being sure that they are all pulled evenly so that it’llpull up the roman shade at the same rate, and we’ll tie a knot in the end of them.they will be contained inside the bell shape of the condenser. the condenser should beapproximately 2”-3” underneath the cord lock. if it’s not, reposition the knot.now push the condenser over the knot and trim the cords at the bottom of the condenser.now the knot is hidden. now we’ll insert

a length of cord through the condenser bottom,tie a knot in that- here we’re going to tie a double knot to be sure that it won’tcome through- and then we’ll screw that onto the larger condenser top. now we have3 cords that transition into a single cord. if we were using smaller cord line, we woulduse this o-ring to keep the knot from pulling out of any one of the condenser ends. nowwe’ll install a tassel that we’ve picked for our shade, and we’ll tie a knot in theend of the cord, fastening it somewhere close to the middle of the shade.and that’s all there is to building a roman shade. now all we need to do is install theheadrail, or head rod. we’re back at the home now and we’ll drill a hole directlythrough the head rod board, all the way through

the fabric, all the way to the other side.we’re going to be installing it in a wood molding so there’s no reason to use anchorsfor our application. we’ll pull the curtain velcro from the actual board and lower thecurtain so that we have more room to insert our screws and work with the hardware up inthe window. we’re going to insert some wood screws through the board so they just startto protrude through the underside of the board, which will be fastened to the ceiling. we’vealready installed 3 of our roman shade curtains. this is the last. with the curtain down, asyou see here in the video, we can easily install the board, or headrail, into our window withoutthe fabric getting in the way. another advantage of using the velcro. be sure the board ispositioned right where you want it and then

screw it into place. then simply reattachthe velcro to the headrail. if necessary, position until everything is nice and straightand positioned perfectly. that’s all it takes to build a roman shade.you’ll find hundreds, if not thousands, of fabrics at the sailrite website that areperfect for roman shades, including the lining fabric and even blackout fabrics. be sureto visit the sailrite website today. coming up next is a detailed material list of allthe supplies and tools that are required to build your very own roman shade. to pick yourdecorative fabric and to pick your drapery lining fabric, be sure to visit the sailritewebsite. many of these items can be purchased at sailrite. some will have to be purchasedat a hardware store or craft store. here are

the tools that are required or possibly helpfulto help you build your very own roman shades. for more free videos like this, be sure tocheck out the sailrite website or subscribe to the sailrite youtube channel today. it’syour loyal patronage to sailrite that makes these free videos possible. thanks for yoursupport.

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