Bare Window?
Not sure what to do with it?
Have your eye on some lovely fabric but don’t want to spend a fortune?
Can sew … a bit? Mainly in a straight line?
Here’s a hack – a window hack I made up. Out of desperation haha.
We have two skinny windows like this, either side of the fireplace. undressed small window
The other windows in this room are dressed like this 
And this. These are long too, but they are hidden behind the chair. Look how bare the other windows are though
OK! – You can get the lovely fabric you have had your eye on, knowing you need loads less than for a normal blind. My fabric was a remnant and was actually quite long.
Here are your instructions for making a fake blind. I made it up so feel free to tweak to suit! This is for blinds to hang outside the recess and above the window. Not in the recess.

Things you will need  – Fabric. Lining. Cotton. Stick & Sew Velcro. Baton Wood from Homebase or similar. Sewing Machine. Pins. Needle for hand sewing, scissors.

  1. Measure the width of your your window. (luckily these are really small so I didn’t have to join fabric or anything complicated, if you have a really wide window I’d worry that the blind will sag, so I would probably have no folds, interline it, weight the hem and add a pom pom trim) Decide how wide you would like your blind to be and add a bit on to your measurement for hems.
  2. Make sure you have enough fabric – decide how long you want the finished article to be and add a bit on for folds. You don’t need many folds – I have one fold in the kitchen so used less than half the amount of fabric I’d have otherwise needed. Don’t forget lining. (the reason I used lining was to make them a bit more substantial and less flimsy,  you could put weights in the hem too) Iron the fabric if it needs it. Can’t work with crinkled fabric.
  3. Cut your fabric a little bit bigger than your ideal finished size (not too much bigger)
  4. Cut your lining to the same size
  5. Put the right sides together and sew along the bottom edge and the two sides
  6. You have basically made a big pillow case at this stage
  7. See the two bottom corners ? Cut the ‘overhang’ of the seam off at an angle (so when you turn it in the right way, you can get nice sharp corners
  8. Turn it in the right way – poke out the corners
  9. iron it – make sure you don’t iron it squiff, or you’ll see the lining from the front.
  10. Next you are going to put the ‘sew’ bit of the velcro on. Fold the top of the blind over and iron it flat. Stick a few pins in to keep it together. Flip it over to make sure it looks straight.
  11. Measure the velcro and cut to size (I cut mine a teeny bit less then the actual width of the blind (like half a cm each end max)
  12. Sew the velcro on – a few mm lower than the top of your blind (this gives you a bit of wiggle room once it’s up) and make sure your edges are neat
  13. So now you have a panel headed with velcro
  14. Decide how many folds you want your blind to have, imagine pulling up a real blind and make sure the folds fall in the right direction.
  15. Pin the folds in place and tack, by hand all along each fold, going through all layers.
  16. Cut the baton a few mm sorter than the width of the blind (you don’t want to see it from the front when your blind is hung)
  17. I didn’t paint the baton, or cover it with spare fabric, but you could.
  18. Stick the ‘stick’ bit of the velcro to the TOP of the baton.
  19. Next, test the blind fits ok by attaching it to the baton
  20. If it looks ok, unpeel it and attach the baton to the wall – these blinds weigh almost nothing so I used Grip Fill to stick the baton to the wall (No More Nails etc) But if your blind is wider, I’d screw the baton in place.   
  21. A quick hint – if you hang the blind a bit higher up, the fabric won’t cut out too much light. Hang it closer to the top of the recess and it’ll block the glass a bit more. Decide which you prefer. Look how different the window looks with the blinds held at different heights. 
  22. We usually hang a roller blind in the recess too.
  23. Admire your handy work! Take a pic and tag me!
  24. And here are the finished blinds! 

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5 Thoughts on Roman Blind Hack
    Bethany
    17 Jan 2018
    9:38pm

    Yay!!! I have been waiting for this day like forever. I even bought myself a new sewing machine so I can do this project ;-). We have just bought our first home and have a lot of small undressed windows. Obviosuly we want everything to be perfect and done yesterday but our budget doesn’t allow for that. This is such a great idea to create the same look at a fraction of the price.
    You have done an absolutely amazing job!! Thank you so much for sharing.
    X

      Sally
      17 Jan 2018
      11:09pm

      Yay!!!! Go for it!! start with the easiest (smallest) window! xxxx

    Adele
    28 Jan 2018
    10:47am

    This is genius. Just need to find a cheap sewing machine to get me going. Silly question I’m sure but how did you cut the baton to size, is it ply wood or similar…. #woodnovice.
    Adele xx

      Sally
      28 Jan 2018
      4:28pm

      Hi Adele
      I used a hack saw – the baton is linked – if you click on it (in the ‘what you’ll need’ bit at the top of the post) it’ll take you to Homebase and you can see it. It was no bother sawing it though – v easy xx Good Luck!! Tag me in your pics once you have made yours as I’d love to see! xx

        Adele
        28 Jan 2018
        7:28pm

        Thanks Sally, will do xxx

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