I'm making roman blinds and would love your advice...

[betterwhenthesunshines]

I've made these before by sewing separate pockets at the back from the lining fabric and then stitching these onto the lining and fabric in one single row of stitching. It worked fine, although you do have to sew through a lot of layers which was a bit fiddly - and caused a small amount of puckering.

It would be easy to fold a continuous piece of lining fabric and sew pockets by stitching along a fold. But how do you then attach the front fabric?

Any tips gratefully received.

Also I have used the cord and acorn loop system before, but would love to know if the metal continuous pulley chain things work well, and where would be the best place to buy kits as I can't seem to find any.

Just attach the lining with the pockets via the side seams as per normal lining, then lay the blind flat and make some really small hand stitches through all the fabric at intervals along the pocket. You will barely be able to see them when they're up, and they look better than with lines of stitching. This is how John Lewis make them.

Can't help on the metal pulley system cos I've never managed to find any the right size!

Thanks for quick reply! OK - the small hand stitches are enough to hold the front fabric in place?

The one we had made from John Lewis ( a while ago) has a row of fairly heavy duty stitching all the way along it - so heavy that the light comes through all the little holes!!!

Aaah - the metal pulley systems you can't cut to size? OK that gets rid of that plan :o

Where do you buy all the other pieces? Have you found a good online place?

The metal pulley things work well- my friend has them on her Roman blinds and I am jealous of them. You can buy kits for them. Try here: www.terrysfabrics.co.uk/prod/blinds/roman-blinds/cassette-roman-blind-track/ or www.merrick-day.com/acatalog/Compact_System.html

The kits also come with tape which you sew on to your lining fabric instead of making your own rod pockets. I found them useful.

I use this video on My Decozo

The stitching through the layers is called stab stitching, and there are some good tutorials on you tube. There is a great set of instructions for making roman blinds on www.sew-helpful.com too.

Good luck.

Stab stitching, that's it! Yes John Lewis switched to this a while ago.

Thank you. One more thing....

I'm using blackout lining so it's fairly stiff and a checked linen. With curtains I would ( sometimes) wash the fabric first so that if I wash them or have them cleaned there is never a problem with fabric and lining shrinking different amounts.

But this fabric is quite stiff - I think it will give a good weight to the blinds. TBH I haven't ever washed the blinds I made previously as it's a faff to uncord them and unsticth the pockets to remove the rods. In which case there's not much point in washing my fabric first is there?

I believe the metal systems can be cut to length with a small hacksaw - the "winders" slide along to where you want them and the end fittings clip off and on again. I guess you cut the end that doesn't have the chain drive.

I certainly hope so because I talked my friend into buying one we hope to fit inside her window (from Merrick and Day).

The stitching-through thing works well because you basically make a little tack of several stitches sewn on top of each other at each point, so it is quite strong.

I've never washed any curtain fabric before making curtains or blinds.

I've washed a couple of pairs of curtains (linen mix) on a delicate wash and they've been fine. I've only had one set of Roman blinds dry cleaned and they were fine too.

If its the same blackout lining that I bought (just standard black out lining from JL) I don't think it can be washed or even ironed directly (which I found to my cost when I tried to iron the fabric before even cutting it to size). It puckers slightly so it doesn't lie quite flat.

Also, I think the snatch stitching isn't quite as effective with a black out blind (simply because the weight of the lining is heavier than normal lining) and the occasional stitch here and there isn't enough to bring up the rod effectively (if you see what I mean). It may work if the width of the blind is fairly narrow, but it didn't work for me. I ended up sewing a full line of stitching across the width of the blind at each level. There is a tiny bit of light that gets through these little holes (as I punctured the blackout lining too) but it isn't much.

To be honest, I am a complete novice so anticipate someone will be able to give a better answer than me

The blackout lining can be ironed on the fabric side, not the "plasticky" side. My most recent blind was blackout lined and interlined too and has been fine with sufficient stab stitches

So ..... basically .... you are asking

.....

.....How do you make a Roman blind?

You have to stab stitch at each end, at each ring and in between too if the blind is very wide, this will work for lined and interlined blinds absolutely fine.

I would say you need a stab stitch at least every 30 cm.

POKE HIM IN HIS EYES....