Getting started making window blinds

Making your own blinds will save quite a bit of money and most types of blind are fairly simple to do. There are lots of styles of blinds to choose from. These are just some of the styles:

• Roller blinds
• Roman blinds
• Austrian blinds
• London blinds
• Scalloped blinds
• Festoon blinds
• Balloon blinds

All types of blind will require you to buy some fittings – wooden or plastic rods or battens, cords, tape, eyelets, an acorn, a cleat, and Velcro. These are often available as a kit, which is recommended if you haven’t made blinds before. The kit instructions will show you how to hang the blind properly. Remember to add this to your costs when calculating how much your blind will cost to make.

Roller blinds use the least fabric, and Balloon blinds use the most.

All blinds can be fitted either inside or outside the window recess and curtains and pelmets can be added to create the effect you want.

The roller blind is the simplest to make.

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Fabric for roller blinds

There are types of fabric which are specially made for roller blinds which is quite stiff like canvas, and they often include plastics which are particularly useful if the blind is going in a kitchen or bathroom. These usually do not need hemming as they don’t fray. You need enough fabric to cover the window with spare at the top and bottom for the hems for the blind-fittings.

If you choose a fabric not specifically designed for making blinds, choose a fairly stiff fabric, or buy a spay-can of fabric stiffener to spray on a softer fabric to make it suitable. In this case, you’ll need to make sure the fabric covers the window, with extra at the sides as well as the top and bottom, for hemming.

Remember that you’ll be making deeper hems than usual at the top and bottom to accommodate the laths and blind-fittings.

Sewing the Roller Blind

If you need to hem the sides, start by doing this and ironing the hems flat.

Usually, the top edge of the blind will be attached by Velcro to the wooden batten at the top of the window. Sew the furry part of the Velcro to the fabric, turning in a narrow single hem to hide the raw edge. It’s a good idea to use a zipper foot when attaching Velcro so you can stitch close to the furry part. This method also makes it easy to remover the blind for cleaning. However your kit may suggest a different way to attach the fabric at the top, so read the instructions before you sew.

Make a hem at the bottom of the fabric which is big enough to take the wooden or plastic rod or lath.

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Making up the Roller Blind

Follow the instructions on the kit for how to attach the cords and pulley system. You’ll need to slide the wooden lath into the bottom hem and hand stitch into place, before rolling the fabric carefully into the roller.

Making a Scalloped Edge Blind

These are very easy and add a decorative element to a roller blind. Make up the roller blind as explained above, then add a scalloped edge BELOW the wooden lath. These are usually six to twelve inches in depth so you’ll need extra fabric, and you can cut any scalloped design you like. Be careful to measure out before you cut your scallops so they sit centrally on the finished blind. You can use decorative sewing stitches on your sewing machine to finish off the bottom edge, or attach tassels or braid.

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Fabric for a Roman Blind

The fabric for a Roman Blind needs to be medium weight so that it folds crisply, but not too heavy or stiff. The folds need to fall easily.

You will need enough to completely cover the window, with extra on all four edges for hemming. The top and bottom will require deeper than normal hems.

It’s best to use a single piece or fabric and avoid having a vertical seam in the middle of the blind. If the window is very wide, it’s better to make two blinds rather than one very wide one. Roman blinds work best on taller windows which allow for at least two folds.

Sewing a Roman Blind

Begin by hemming the side edges and ironing flat.

Attach the fluffy part of the Velcro to the top edge, turning a small hem underneath to finish off the raw edge.

To make the casings to hold the rods or batons, the fabric needs to be folded and sewn so as to create tubs or casings in which to slide the rods. You need to decide what distance you want between each casing – a standard distance is about 10 inches. Start from the top edge and mark 10 inches down the blind. Draw a line across the width of the fabric with tailors’ chalk or a pencil (use a ruler). Then draw a parallel line beneath it at a distance of one inch. Finally draw a third line, again at a distance of one inch. Fold the fabric on the centre line so the two outside lines lie together, and stitch across the blind on the outside lines, creating a tube.

From this tube, measure a further 10 inches down the blind, and repeat the above process to make the next casing. Repeat this until you reach the last 10 or so inches of your blind. Make a casing at the bottom to hold the final rod or baton.

Make sure all the casings are on the wrong side of the fabric. It’s easy to get this wrong if the fabric is the same on both sides, but the blind won’t work if the casings aren’t all on the wrong side of the fabric – the same side as the Velcro.

You may need to trim the rods or batons to size – use a hacksaw to do this. Once the rods or batons are in the casings, hand stitch them in place.

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Making up the Roman Blinds

Follow the instructions in the kit for how to attach the blind at the top edge, and to fit the cords and eyelets.

Making Austrian Blinds

Austrian blinds are similar to Roman blinds in that they use casings, but with Austrian blinds the casings are vertical, and cord is run through them rather than wood or plastic, so they gather softly when pulled up. They also gather widthways as the blind is gathered like a curtain. All the gathering creates a soft effect to the blind. Balloon, Cascade and Festoon blinds are all types of Austrian blinds in that they also use gathering to pull up the blind.

Austrian blinds can be fitted either inside or outside the window recess. If fitted outside, a frill can be added down the sides, but this doesn’t work if they are fitted inside the recess. Fitting an Austrian blind inside the recess allows for curtains and a pelmet to be added to the window to create a rich, sumptuous look

Fabric for Austrian Blinds

Austrian blinds take up a lot of fabric. It should be soft, to drape and gather well. You will need at least twice the width of the window to get good gathers, and about 8 inches longer than the length of the window to allow for the necessary seams. The easiest way to make Austrian blinds is by using Austrian Blind Tape and you’ll need at least four times the length of the blind (so if the blind is 40 inches long, buy at least 160 inches of tape). You’ll need the appropriate track and hooks too.

Remember that you may need extra fabric if you have to match a pattern, or are adding frills to the sides or bottom edges.

Sewing an Austrian Blind

Begin by hemming the sides and bottom of the blind. Then lay the blind right side down and place the tapes, vertically and evenly spaced on the wrong side of the fabric. You should have at least four tapes, two on either side edge, and at least two running down the rest of the blind vertically. The tapes must be equidistant from each other so each section of the final blind is of equal width. Measure carefully. The first loop on the tapes should not reach quite to the bottom edge – it should be about an inch from the bottom edge. Hem the tape to stop it fraying.

Pin and stitch the tape to the fabric, making sure that the loops on all the pieces of tape are in line with each other on the horizontal, and that the tapes are parallel. They should also be parallel with the side edges of the blind. When stitching, stitch both sides of the tape from the same direction to stop it puckering.

Finally stitch the heading tape across the top of the blind.

When threading the cords through the tape loops, start at the bottom edge, and either knot or stitch the end of the cord so you don’t accidentally pull it all through. All the cords should be fastened to a single acorn so that they all pull evenly together.

Pull the cords on the heading tape to create the gathers at the top of the blind. Knot these cords when you are happy with the result. You can tidy these cord ends away out of sight by stitching a cord tidy bag to the back of the blind at the top in an inconspicuous place. Cutting these cords means that the blind will be difficult to iron when it’s taken down for cleaning, and also the blind cannot be moved to a different sized window later.

Making up an Austrian Blind

Finally you need to fix the blind to the grip bar or track, and attach a cleat to the wall so you can wind the cords with the acorn round it when you pull the blind up to the desired height.

Making a Festoon Blind

Follow the instructions for the Austrian blind. The only difference between the two types of blind is that a Festoon Blind is ruched down the entire length of the blind, even when it is lowered.

Making a Balloon Blind

Again these are similar to an Austrian Blind and making them starts in the same way, but you will need more fabric in the width. This is because once you have sewn the vertical tapes in place, you need to make a pleat behind each tape, running the length of the blind. To do this, fold the fabric lengthways down the centre of the tape, and from the top, stitch down about 4 inches, making the seam about 6 inches in from the tape. Open out the pleat and iron firmly to create an inverted box pleat down the length of the blind. Secure the pleat at the bottom with a few stitches. Do this for all the tapes EXCEPT the tapes running down the sides of the blind.

Then continue as for the Austrian blinds.

These blinds allow for some creativity in that the insides of the pleats can be made in contrasting fabric.

Making London Blinds

This type of blind is a cross between a Balloon blind and a Roman blind. It has the pleats and Austrain blind tape, like the Balloon blind, but is not gathered widthways like the Roman blind. It also does not have any tape stitched to the side edges of the blind. The result is a more tailored version of the Austrian or Balloon blind, with cleaner lines, and using contrasting fabric inside the pleats can be used to great effect with London blinds. It also used much less fabric as you only need to add extra fabric for the pleats to the window width.

London blinds can be made from crisper fabrics, such as glazed cotton, than the softer fabrics needed for Austrian, Festoon and Balloon blinds which have much more gathering.