Do you love the look of fabric shades but don’t want to fork over the cash?
design by Coddington Design, via Desire to InspireShades can often cost you an arm and a leg (especially custom fabric shades). When my cheap white IKEA shades were safety-recalled, I decided to figure out a way to repurpose the old {ugly} mini blinds that had previously hung in our bedroom windows. The result was better and easier than expected, not to mention even cheaper than the cost of new IKEA shades.
Here are the basic instructions. If you need more details, feel free to comment or email.
–Supplies–
Tape measure
Scissors
Fabritac (or comparable fabric glue – NOT HOT GLUE!)
Mini blinds (like the $3 Target mini blinds)
Fabric (yardage depends on the size of your window)
Trim (optional)
1. Measure you windows carefully. Then do some math and figure out how many folds you want in your shade. I like the look of a fold every 9 inches, which meant I only needed 6 slats for my small windows.
2. Let out the blinds all the way, making them the longest they can be. Carefully cut away all of the thin tilting/ladder-like strings, being very careful not to cut the thicker lift cord. I simply ran my scissors along the top of the slats, cutting away the tilt strings and avoiding the lift string altogether.
3. Take out the plastic plugs from the bottom of the miniblinds and remove and put aside the thick bottom slat piece (you’ll need this later). Then simply pull off most of the slats, while leaving the few you’ll need for the folds of the shade. Like I mentioned before, I only needed six slats for my shade.
4. Make sure the blinds are still let out all the way. Measure carefully and reinstall the thick bottom slat so that the length of your window and the full length of the shade are roughly the same. I decided to make my shade about 1″ longer than my window measurement. Just to make sure it would be long enough.
Trim the extra cord away off the bottom.
Now cut out your fabric, using the shade skeleton as your pattern and leaving a 2.5 inch (or so) border on all sides.
5. Congrats! You’re done with the hard part! You should have something that looks like this:
It’s time to start gluing.
6. Start with the top of the shade. Fold over and glue the fabric together to make a clean edge and glue that to the front of the big top rail mount. **NOTE: Do not glue the folded hem to the very ends of the rail mount. You need to be able to slip the rail into the wall-mounted brackets, so the fabric needs to stay unglued on the very ends.
7. Measure 9″ (or your preferred fold length) from the top of the rail. Adjust and glue a slat into place. Continue all the way down, gluing the slats to the fabric. I glued the rounded, convex side of the slat to the fabric so there was more slat-to-fabric contact. Make sure not to glue the lift cord to the slats or the fabric.
8. Glue, turn in and glue again the three other sides of the shade to finish off all the edges. Let it all dry.
9. (Optional) Glue on some trim to the bottom slat. I picked up some super, super tiny ball trim at JoAnn’s for less than $1 a yard. (only needed one yard)
10. Hang up the shades just like hanging up mini blinds. The cord still functions the same way and, as long as you didn’t glue the lift cord to your slats or fabric, the shade should lift and fold beautifully.
Here’s my finished shade. The fabric is a blue-gray burlap that I bought a while back on eBay for about $6.50 a yard. I think I used about a yard and a half total for two shades, but I have small windows.
I’m happy with the look of the burlap. The dark color helps with light control (it filters), but I still feel like the room is bright and cheerful when the shades are down. It’s a good balance for me. Some of you might want to add black-out fabric to the backs of your shade to completely block out the light. It’d be like living in a hotel.
Please let me know if you need clarification or elaboration. And don’t forget to send me pictures if you make your own shades! I’d love to see them!
This is such a great idea!! Thank you so much for the tutorial….I will definately be giving these a try!
I saw a similar approach on another blog (via sewmamasew)
http://www.quackadoodle.com/2009/02/custom-shades-without-custom-price.html
What a wonderful project! I live in an low-income apartment and anyting I can do to make it more livable is a god-send and nothing looks less cozy then white blinds. For larger framed windows do I have to use wider blinds or just let the excess fabric hang over?
Thanks again chica!
Thank you for your time writing about your creativity. I love the idea and the ease. You described it wonderfully! I also like the idea of burlap! I like light, so privacy with light is totally COOL! Can’t wait to get my hands on this baby!
Ingenious! I am putting it to use on all the new windows in my new addition! Thanks!
I love this project and just finished one of two shades for the dining room, but I came across a problem with the first one. The shade no longer stays in the up position. When I pull the cord, it draws up beautifully, but it won’t stay. I think the pulley system on this set of blinds needs the weight of all of the slats to function properly – any suggestions? Thanks.
Hi Shannon,
I wish I had a good answer for you. I don’t know that the weight of the new shades should affect the stopping mechanism. No one yet has had a problem with that. You might have to buy a new set of blinds. :( I think you could salvage the fabric though.
Good luck!
Jenny
this is great! i just have a question though: how do i clean this?
I like the idea. Simple and budget-friendly. Very nice!
Esther
Blinds.com
i’m about to try this with 90″ blinds….wish me luck!
I just finished one of these shades and it is beautiful. Very easy to make! It worked perfectly until I added a backing to the blind. Now when I raise the blind, it won’t fold up properly. Don’t know what I did wrong. If anyone put a backing on their blinds, can you tell me what kind of backing fabric you used and how you attached it. I’m thinking the blackout liner fabric I used may be the problem. Appreciate anyone’s advise!
Anon – Where did you glue/attach the liner? It could be that the lift cords are glued to the liner??
Jenny, i glued the liner to the top of the back of the head rail. Then I started at the 1st slat and glued it to the liner, leaving about one inch on each side of the cord unglued. I repeated all the way down to the last slat. Then I glued the liner to the bottom rail. After that, I glued the sides of the liner to the fabric. When I hang the blind and raise the blind, the folds kind of bunch up and the cord seems taut. Hope you can help ’cause I really love the looks of these blinds but I definitely need a backing as this is a south facing window. Appreciate any help you can give!
The only thing I can think to do is to mess with the cords and fabric (you may have to take the blinds down) until they are in the “mostly up” position. Then let the shades sit for a while. The liner fabric might need some time to be trained, so it folds correctly.
If the blinds don’t go up at all, then the black-out liner just might be too heavy for the cords…
Thanks Jenny, I think you may be right. I hung the blind up in the meantime and the lining seemed to bunch up so your idea about “training” the lining may be the way to go. Thanks again for your great idea and your response to my problem.
Jenny, thank you so much for the amazing tutorial! I always thought that mini blinds must have some hidden potential and I’m glad you found it. Here’s a link to the blinds that I made…
http://mothermayimusings.blogspot.com
I love your idea. I just found it and I need to go to bed. I know tomorrow I’m going to start carrying my fabric stash around the house looking for windows to cover!!! I liked it so much I posted your blog in a post on my blog to encourage people to come and look.
Kelly
http://IHaveANotion.blogspot.com
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loved.
I love this idea! Quick question: we have double-hung windows–how far into the window does the shade hang when it’s pulled up all the way. I hate blocking any more light and airflow than necessary, but I love the look of Roman Shades…
Hi Amyn,
Thanks for the comment. It depends on how big your windows are (how much fabric you are using). My shades take up probably less than 1/4 of my window when up all the way. You could always hang your shade up higher, too.
Hope that helps,
Jenny
Hi – I have all my materials ready to go for 2 windows in a natural twill fabric (for my dil’s kitchen). But before I begin, just one quick ?
The blinds are vinyl – is there any problem with the Fabritac not wanting to stick (and stay stuck) to vinyl? My bottle only mentions sticking fabric to fabric…so I was a little worried. thanks for your great idea and your help. Mil Anne
I could NOT wait to try these!!! I worked it over in my mind for 3 days and today I tackled this project! I’ve waited for over 4 years to do the curtains in my daughter’s “nursery”…she’s 4 1/2 years old now… This is EXACTLY what I wanted to do and I GOOFED!!! To anyone wanting to put a backer material on…don’t do what I did! I sandwiched the strings between the 2 materials instead of attaching the backer to the front visible piece of fabric and leaving the strings behind the backer material. Rather than the Roman Shade look, I’ve got a “scrunched” look. Still cute for a little girls room in pink gingham, but, not what I was shooting for. My bad! This was my first attempt, but, certainly not my last! I’m going to make some for my dining room next! Wish me luck! Thanks for the AWESOME idea!!
Big question. I cannot figure out how to replace the little plastic things that keep the shade in place – when you put the finished miniblind/roman shades in the shade holder (attaching the blinds to the window) the plastic things can’t be put back on – the fabric gets bunched – thanks for any help.
Hey Anon –
You needed to leave a few inches of the fabric unglued to the top rail, so that you can easily slide the rail and plastic cover part in place after finishing the shade.
If you already glued the fabric in place, you might try to just pull it up a few inches. Last resort could be to use an X-acto knife to slide under the glue (gently, so as not to cut the fabric).
Hope that helps. If you need further clarification, feel free to email me.
Jenny
Joan
I have been racking my brains to figure how to do this with my existing roman shades that need a material change to go with my new paint color. I am stopping at the store to buy some items today. thnks for your idea….it is great
Wow! We bought our house five years ago. It came with I.Magnin miniblinds (if you’re from the SF Bay area you’ll understand how old they are). Our house is even older – 1920, and just about every window is a slightly different size. I was getting ready to take out a third mortgage to finance new window coverings when I found this blog. THANK YOU for such a wonderfully detailed and illustrated tutorial.
You could use velcro at the top to attach it and go around the brackets. I have recovered roman shades and done this on the top.
BAC Linwood NJ
I love the way this looks..one question though..we have a very dusty house(animals) and I am wondering how would I be able to wash these if possible at all.
Thank you, great project
Melanie
I’m confused. when you glue the fabric to the top rail, you cover up the lifting mechanism. Do you have to reach behind the blinds to access the lift cord when raising them?
Hi Rebecca,
You do have to reach behind the blinds to access the lift cords. You could easily punch out a hole for the cords though.
Must say though, I haven’t had much of an issue with reaching behind to get the cords.
Good luck!
Jenny
LGN
I love this idea and have shared it with my friend. We will post pics for you if it turns out! lol
I was wondering though about the bottom. How do you put it back on? I didn’t see anything about it.
Angela
Love this idea! I have been looking to make some roman shades for over a year now but just couldn’t bring myself to spend so much on the hardware not knowing how they would look. Well after reading your blog I went to the local Big lots picked up the blinds for $3.50, used a swag at $10.00 for backing and purchased the material at JoAnn’s for $3.50 a yard! They turned out pretty nice for a first try and at $11.00 each the price was right! Thanks again for the great idea and directions!
good post :)
This is pure Brillance and Genius! and it came a the right time for me….In the box for the Salvation Army, I had put (2) 6 ft wide miniblinds…with some bent slats….So sorry Sal Army! I have some great fabric for curtains….will try that for the blinds! You just saved me a gazillion $$$! Thanks!
just leaving my entry on how mine turned out… LOVE THEM!
http://24-7-365.blogspot.com/2009/05/project-completed.html
I can’t believe this. I just threw out an entire house of custon made mini-blinds. They’ve been up since we bought the house (7 years ago, and they were BLACK), but it was so expensive to switch them that I couldn’t make a decision. I can kick myself now, but I guess buying cheap whites ones won’t cost to much.
Thank you so much!!@!
I found this just in time! Just moved in 1 week ago…old blinds need to be rescued from the trash can. Going to try this later. Will let you know how it went.
I rent. I have twelve windows circling from living room to dining room to kitchen, including french style patio doors. Every room flows into the next. Horribly ugly, broken mini blinds on every window. Not anymore!!!! Found some beautiful white on white print fabric and making old ugly blinds into updated, beautiful window treatments. Thanks for the great idea.
I used spray glue in a can, worked wonders, it sticks almost immediately, so work fast. Hung them yesterday, seems to be holding well. My 15 year old son took over half way through and helped make them. (Well, let me help a little anyway).
i love this idea. i have 2 questions though:
1. i want to cover the mini blinds we just put up in our second daughter's nursery. i'm going to use white fabric i already have but i'm going to have to line it because it's not very thick and i need more light blocked out. instead of wrapping the fabric around the sides of the slats could i have 2 layers of fabric together hemmed together at the edges and glue that to the slats, top and bottom?
so i would be doing a combination of your instructions and these that i found on instructables:
http://www.instructables.com/id/Roman_Shades_from_cheap_blinds/
2. if i do the method where i hem how would you suggest i cover the bottom of the blinds? and do you think i should glue it or could i use velcro to attach the fabric to the top part of the blinds?
thanks a bunch!!
This is brilliant! We have really ugly mini blinds in the bedroom (well, all over the house, really) that I'm dying to get rid of, but I refuse to pay what stores are asking for anything nicer.
Even better – I don't have to know how to sew to make these! Thank you so much for sharing!
I was going to replace all the ugly miniblinds in my RV with new shades, but I think I'm instead going to steal your great idea. Bonus: I won't have to worry about fit on my awkwardly sized windows. Thanks for sharing!
Rae @ travelswithmiranda.uskeba.ca
This idea is a godsend – I have old mini-blinds that have broken slats from nosy cat action. This way, I can recycle the blinds instead of throwing them out entirely, and make nice window treatments that actually color coordinate with the walls, all without spending a load of money. Thanks for posting this!
This is an absolutely ingenious idea!
I need window treatments in my bedroom and this idea is perfect and looks like something I might even be able to tackle myself – thanks!
I have been wanting to make something like this for our new house, but the pattern I had made them seem so hard to make. I can't wait to get started now! I am also adding this post to my blog~ One question, how do they look from the outside? Is there fabric on the back as well? If my little ones are napping and the shades are down does it look funny?
Angela
http://www.notyouraveragehomeschoolmom.blogspot.com
When looking from the outside in do you see the original white slats over the burlap?
I LOVE this technique SO much! Thanks for sharing the info on how to make. I have tried two so far and love the results :)!!!!
http://sara-mincy.blogspot.com/2009/07/trash-to-treasure-plastic-mini-blind.html
Amazing. Can't wait to try it! Thanks for taking the time to write out the step-by-step instructions.
I came from here( http://www.lifehacker.jp/2009/07/post_992.html ).
It's awesome!! I'll make this as soon as possible!!!