Sewing a Faux Roman Shade

This week, I attempted to get reacquainted with this old gal. 

It’s been a  long time since we spent any time together. 

A very, very long time.

I’ve mentioned before that my mother was a very talented seamstress and loved to sew but I didn’t get passed the sewing gene.  I am more than capable of sewing if it is a necessity, but  it’s not something I enjoy so I have always made it my mission to avoid  it whenever possible.  In past years, any time I could get my mom to sew for me, I would.  However, since she passed away six years ago, if I need/want any sewing done now, I’m on my own. 

A couple months ago, I saw a really simple tutorial for a  faux Roman shade.  It was so ingenious, I wanted to try it for my kitchen window so I bookmarked it.   I won’t repeat the tutorial here.  Just click the above link and scroll down to the middle of that post for the instructions. 

Even with the 50% off sale Joann's Fabrics was having on the special order home decorating fabrics, the fabric I chose (P. Kaufmann Sea Breeze Patriot) was $19.99/yd.   I wasn’t even sure I was going to like this faux Roman shade once I got it  done so I only ordered a yard of material but that meant I wouldn’t have enough length to double the fabric over the top rod per the tutorial instructions.  I planned to compensate for this by sewing a pocket to slip the top tension rod through.

Yes, I was actually going to SEW!

I dug out my (almost 40 year old) sewing machine.  After dusting her off, I reviewed the owner’s manual to refresh my memory on how to fill the bobbin.  Like riding a bike, it came right back to me.

I threaded her up, slipped my fabric under the presser foot, hit the foot pedal and……

NOTHING.

She hummed a little but the needle wouldn’t move and upon closer inspection, all the parts seemed to be a bit rusted and bound up. 

I can’t imagine why it wouldn’t sew.   (Insert sarcastic tone.)   The last time I can really remember using this sewing machine, my now 29-year-old daughter was in the fourth grade. 

Yeah, I guess if you store a sewing machine in the backyard  shed where it gets exposed to the intense heat and humidity of Florida’s  summers  for 20+ years, things are bound to be a bit rusty and bound up.  The light bulb  still worked after all these years though!

Plan B:  Make this a no-sew project (like the tutorial) by using hem tape. 

Unfortunately, that was a fail for me too as my fabric was a bit too heavy and nubby for the hem tape to hold  well.

Plan C:  Buy a new sewing machine.   Ugh.

I actually have a couple other simple sewing projects I want to do in the coming weeks so I got on the Internet to check out some inexpensive, basic machines.   I didn’t want or need a bunch of bells and whistles, just something to do some straight stitching.

Most of the machines I looked at under $100 didn’t get very good reviews.  This machine did more than I would ever need but it had a very high number of positive ratings.

 

I  decided to jump  in the car and go to the nearest Walmart to see if they (hopefully) had it in the store.  I didn’t want to order anything online.  I was ready to do this Roman shade project now!

It must have REALLY been my lucky day.  Not only did Walmart have it, but it was on sale for $109.00!  A savings of almost FORTY-ONE DOLLARS! 

Finally, I was off and running.

 

My kitchen window is small, only 36 inches by 36 inches, and I found that for my liking, too much of the light and view were obstructed by fabric when I inserted the tension rods into the window frame.    (I tested this before I did any cutting or sewing.)

By using the cabinets on either side of the window to support the tension rods, I was able to  raise the rod higher to give the illusion of  a larger window and then only  the top 1/3 of the window was covered.  Although, after looking at these photos, I think the top rod could be raised even a bit more.

My fabric was wider than the width between the cabinets so I added 2 inches to that measurement so I could sew a one inch hem down each vertical side of the fabric.  For the length, I used the whole yard of fabric and  put a one inch hem in the bottom.  As mentioned above, I sewed a pocket across the top for the top tension rod to slip through.

 I was  quite happy the way this turned out.  It was easy and would have been quick…had I not had to stop to research sewing machines, run out to buy one, set it up and learn how to use it. 

If I decide to ever make another faux Roman shade using this tension rod technique, I would probably do it this way again.  The single length of fabric and the rod pocket worked  fine, thus cutting the expense of fabric in half.