New Roman Blinds and Bunting!

My New Years resolution was to make blinds for our conservatory, as our garden is overlooked. I needed to make 7 so I made them entirely with calico fabric.

Here's how I made the Roman blinds...

I used a piece of fabric exactly the size I wanted the blind as the backing. For the front I used a piece 10cm larger at the sides and 20cm longer. I used a sewing machine to stitch Velcro to the top edge and I folded and pinned the hems on all 4 sides using the lining fabric as a guild to the size. I double checked the edges were straight and corners were square using a ruler. I then hand sewed all hems. I used 3/4 inch cotton tape to make the rod pockets, sewing them in place with the machine. Fibreglass rods were slipped into these pockets and hand sewed shut. Small plastic loops were sewn at each end on the rod pockets. I used silicone sealant to attach wooden strips above the window, these had been painted white and Velcro attached using a staple gun. Once the sealant had dried overnight we attached eyelet screws to either end of the wood (bottom side). The blind was attached to the wood been by the Velcro. Cords were tied to the bottom plastic loop and threaded up through all loops on one side (including the eyelet screw in the wood). The same was repeated for the other side. The cord on one side was threaded through the eyelet on the other side so that both cords hung together and they could be pulled to lift the blind. The cord was secured by attaching a cleat hook to one side of the window. A pull cord weight was attached to tidy up the ends of the cord. For the wider blinds I used 3 rows for loops. 

           

The Bunting...

To brighten up the plain blinds I made some star bunting. They are just star shapes containing wadding sewn together in a row. I used Velcro to attach them, as I did for the blinds. This way I can change my colour scheme whenever I like. I am looking forward to having Christmas bunting!