How to Make Roman Shades

A Roman Shade is made from a flat fabric panel that, when raised, folds up accordion style via a simple ring and cord system. The sewing required to make a Roman Shade is pretty basic (almost like a pillowcase!). The shade is transformed by the placement of dowel rods between the decorative fabric and the drapery lining and the installation of the cord system. We used Tear Mender to glue our dowels in place to create the folded pleats. We highly recommend testing Tear Mender on scrap fabric before beginning your project to make sure the fabric glue will adhere to your fabric and that it doesn't bleed or show through on the right side of the fabric.

Making your own Roman Shade will allow you to customize the design and save you money. Store-bought shades come in cookie-cutter sizes that might not fit all windows, and they can be pretty expensive. By taking your own measurements, you can get a perfect fit for your window. Plus, when you make your own shade, you can make all the design decisions like how much space it takes up in your window, how many times it folds and where those folds fall.

You can choose any style of fabric for your Roman Shade, but we recommend using a lighter-weight fabric so it will be easier to train the folds. The back of the shade is lined with drapery liner. A thinner liner will fold best, but if you’d prefer the curtains to block out more light, you can use a thicker liner or a blackout liner.

In the video, you will learn how to measure the window, pattern the fabric, calculate spacing for the dowels, build a headrail and install the shades.