Sorry for missing this post Friday - I was feeling a little sicky but I am back on track so here it is...
While trying to decide how to treat my newly painted white windows (more on that here and here) I came across many great ideas of how to treat my windows but none better than this..Mini Blind Roman Shades!
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| Britt's from Gus and Lula and Jenny's from Little Green Notebook! |
Since we don't have much of a color scheme going yet I decided to experiment on some fabric I already had lying around. I bought these Lenda curtains at Ikea in the As Is section for $5 each. I just knew they would come in handy later! I will probably add some ribbon or detail later but for now our treatment-less windows are providing quite a view for the neighbors so I thought I better get at least this part of this project done QUICK!
MY plan was to follow Jenny's tutorial to the T. I ran out to the store to grab some iron on adhesive tape (for another project) and fabric glue. I returned home with the fabric tape minus the fabric glue...I was already off to a bad start. I thought perhaps I could improvise and just use the fabric tape. Here is a step by step of my improvised plan:
1. Iron your fabric - Trust me - once they are up you will never take them down to iron!
2. Open the blinds as long as they can go...Would have been way easier if I left them up for the next step..
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3. Here is where I improvised which I suggest you do not do as it was a MAJOR waste of time. Skip to "2 Again" below if you would like to continue the project and not get confused by the snowball of blunders I made along the way...
I decided since I didn't have glue that I would count down 8 blinds and keep the ninth. I cut all the little tracks between (DO NOT CUT THE MAIN PULL CORD) except the tracks before and after the blind I was keeping. MY idea was that those little strings would hold the blind in place instead of me gluing it. Make sense? To me it did...
Then I carefully cut the actual blind slats off because they could not slide out due to my fixed slats that were supposed to be staying. When I look back it seems kind of foolish...what can I say...
I then popped off then popped off the bottom heavy slat and it all started to make sense...
When I looked back to Britt's tutorial I realized she didn't have all three strings left - she only had the 2 main cords. Mainly because she knew what she was doing and I had no idea if what I was trying to do would work. Here is her pic at this stage:
I mean, I knew I would have my perfectly spaced slats still there but I hadn't noticed the whole middle string was missing here. That actually made a lot of sense when I started wondering if they had snipped off all of those little strings sticking out from the cut cords. Duh...They had removed those strings all together which, in turn, would make my perfectly spaced keeper blinds fall free. The outcome was that I wasted a good half hour trying to cut and space everything perfectly instead of just ripping up the seam and letting them all fall to the ground. So that is where we begin again. Go from Picture 1 and start fresh. This time KEEP the mini blinds up on the window, take the bottom piece off (save for later) and pick up here:
2 (AGAIN). Run scissors up the string making sure NOT to cut the thicker cord that runs through the blind.
Let all the pieces fall to the floor and cut the strings with all the flyaway stringy things off at the top. AGAIN - MAKE SURE NOT TO CUT THE THICKER CORD!!! Now - either use dowels like Britt's tutorial or use your existing blinds like Jenny's - the choice is yours but I believe for long term the dowels would work better. For me, still in improvising mode, I used my blinds.
3. Put your slats or dowels back on at your desired spacing and put the bottom heavy slat back on. Tie cords to the length you want your shade to be and cut the excess off.
4. I lay my blinds backwards on the fabric with the pull cord facing up. This way when I put it all back up on the window the pull cord will be behind the shade. It makes it a little tricky to raise and lower but I hate to see strings so it works for me! Oh - and if that pesky bit that holds the dowel that would normally open and close the blinds is sticking out just chop it off - you don't need it anymore!!
I decided since I didn't have glue that I would count down 8 blinds and keep the ninth. I cut all the little tracks between (DO NOT CUT THE MAIN PULL CORD) except the tracks before and after the blind I was keeping. MY idea was that those little strings would hold the blind in place instead of me gluing it. Make sense? To me it did...
Then I carefully cut the actual blind slats off because they could not slide out due to my fixed slats that were supposed to be staying. When I look back it seems kind of foolish...what can I say...
I then popped off then popped off the bottom heavy slat and it all started to make sense...
When I looked back to Britt's tutorial I realized she didn't have all three strings left - she only had the 2 main cords. Mainly because she knew what she was doing and I had no idea if what I was trying to do would work. Here is her pic at this stage:
I mean, I knew I would have my perfectly spaced slats still there but I hadn't noticed the whole middle string was missing here. That actually made a lot of sense when I started wondering if they had snipped off all of those little strings sticking out from the cut cords. Duh...They had removed those strings all together which, in turn, would make my perfectly spaced keeper blinds fall free. The outcome was that I wasted a good half hour trying to cut and space everything perfectly instead of just ripping up the seam and letting them all fall to the ground. So that is where we begin again. Go from Picture 1 and start fresh. This time KEEP the mini blinds up on the window, take the bottom piece off (save for later) and pick up here:
2 (AGAIN). Run scissors up the string making sure NOT to cut the thicker cord that runs through the blind.
Let all the pieces fall to the floor and cut the strings with all the flyaway stringy things off at the top. AGAIN - MAKE SURE NOT TO CUT THE THICKER CORD!!! Now - either use dowels like Britt's tutorial or use your existing blinds like Jenny's - the choice is yours but I believe for long term the dowels would work better. For me, still in improvising mode, I used my blinds.
4. I lay my blinds backwards on the fabric with the pull cord facing up. This way when I put it all back up on the window the pull cord will be behind the shade. It makes it a little tricky to raise and lower but I hate to see strings so it works for me! Oh - and if that pesky bit that holds the dowel that would normally open and close the blinds is sticking out just chop it off - you don't need it anymore!!
5. Glue the fabric to the top of the blinds mechanism but do not glue it all the way to the end. Leave about 2 inches unglued at each end so you can still put the blinds back up in the casings. Once the fabric is glued down the entire length of the new shade you can go back and fold the top ends under like so:
6. Glue your slats to the fabric at the desired spacing. Mine are about every 8 inches. Make sure not to get any glue on the pull cord. I am still improvising here and instead used iron on adhesive. I wasn't sure it would work with the plastic blinds (yes, plastic - the cheapest of cheap) but to my surprise it adhered quite nicely as they kind of melted together...but not in a bad way. The only problem and the reason I suggest the dowels, is that it is a bit flimsy.
7. Fold your sides over the slats and glue the fabric down. Truth be told, you could use the iron on adhesive for this as it doesn't make much difference. That is one thing I did correctly! Yeah!!
8. When both sides are glued finish gluing with the bottom slat. YOU ARE DONE!!! Your room should now look a little bit like this...
All in all the project was so easy a caveman could do it...if given the proper tools!! Fabric glue would have been fabulous!! Despite all of the things that worked and didn't work I had myself one roman shade. Here is the finished product below.
I am soooo not impressed with my choice of fabric. It looks like a big band aid over my window. Horrid. I plan to redo this project at a later date with proper tools and better fabric! I think the vertical lines on the fabric mixed with the horizontal lines from the blind slats is a bit too much for me. I could add trim or ribbon or something to pretty it up but I would rather start over - after all, I am not sure how long this adhesive tape will stick to the slats!
So that's it - how to do, not to do, and correct a mini blind roman shade. Hey - sometimes I got it and sometimes I ain't. Nobody is perfect...though I am close. :) Anyone else have some tutorial blunders? Did you try so hard or improvise too fast to come out with a mess? Feel free to leave a comment or a link to your blog below to prove how imperfect we all can be!
That's it for now. E just came in to tell me we are expected to get a foot of snow today...such a buzz kill...
♥ Bianca
PS - Don't forget to check in with the my Great Wall of Walnut Reader Poll!! I'm looking for more votes!!
PSS - I am linking up with the ladies of these fabulous blogs - I encourage you to check them out below:
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| Pay no attention to that |
6. Glue your slats to the fabric at the desired spacing. Mine are about every 8 inches. Make sure not to get any glue on the pull cord. I am still improvising here and instead used iron on adhesive. I wasn't sure it would work with the plastic blinds (yes, plastic - the cheapest of cheap) but to my surprise it adhered quite nicely as they kind of melted together...but not in a bad way. The only problem and the reason I suggest the dowels, is that it is a bit flimsy.
7. Fold your sides over the slats and glue the fabric down. Truth be told, you could use the iron on adhesive for this as it doesn't make much difference. That is one thing I did correctly! Yeah!!
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| Looks almost decent here, right?? |
8. When both sides are glued finish gluing with the bottom slat. YOU ARE DONE!!! Your room should now look a little bit like this...
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| ummmm... |
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| errrr.... |
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| yuck... |
I am soooo not impressed with my choice of fabric. It looks like a big band aid over my window. Horrid. I plan to redo this project at a later date with proper tools and better fabric! I think the vertical lines on the fabric mixed with the horizontal lines from the blind slats is a bit too much for me. I could add trim or ribbon or something to pretty it up but I would rather start over - after all, I am not sure how long this adhesive tape will stick to the slats!
So that's it - how to do, not to do, and correct a mini blind roman shade. Hey - sometimes I got it and sometimes I ain't. Nobody is perfect...though I am close. :) Anyone else have some tutorial blunders? Did you try so hard or improvise too fast to come out with a mess? Feel free to leave a comment or a link to your blog below to prove how imperfect we all can be!
That's it for now. E just came in to tell me we are expected to get a foot of snow today...such a buzz kill...
♥ Bianca
PS - Don't forget to check in with the my Great Wall of Walnut Reader Poll!! I'm looking for more votes!!
PSS - I am linking up with the ladies of these fabulous blogs - I encourage you to check them out below:
Carrie at Dittle Dattle
Susan at Between Naps on the Porch
Tiffany from Making the World Cuter
Diana at The Girl Creative
