DIY fabric blinds - manufacturing features

Protection

Blinds are similar to regular curtains, but they have their own design features. With their help, you can regulate the natural lighting of the room by shading the windows or opening them.

Decorating a room using blinds

You can buy blinds ready-made or make them yourself. The market provides a wide range of fabrics. It’s easy to choose the right material to suit your taste. You can make horizontal or vertically directed structures. If you don’t like these curtains or don’t fit the interior of the room, they can be easily replaced with another option - roller curtains.

Such curtains are used in residential premises and offices. It is not always possible to buy ready-made blinds in a store. But if a person thinks creatively and loves to create new things, then, using the material in this article, he can easily create new curtains that are interesting in their design. In the article you can find a lot of useful information on how to properly sew blinds at home.

How to make fabric blinds

You don't need to spend a lot of time creating roller blinds.

Blind option

To make them yourself, you need to prepare the following tools and materials:

A piece of fabric of the desired color.
Ruler or measuring tape. Tailors use a tape measure, but a small ruler is useful for measuring small areas.
Scissors. It is better to have a tailor's tool, as with its help you can quickly and accurately cut parts from dense material.
An awl for holes into which cords or decorative threads will be threaded.
Liquid Nails.
A rope for adjusting the opening of curtains and the entry of light into the room.
A small weight to prevent the canvas from swaying and straightening along the length of the window opening.

Roller blinds
It’s worth taking a small master class on making Roman blinds with your own hands.

Select fabric of the desired color and texture. The technological process is reminiscent of making sails for the ancient ships of Roman sailors.

The curtain has folds at the bottom. If the material is chosen with a pattern, then when opened it will serve as a decoration for the entire room, so when choosing a fabric you should rely on the interior of the room so that the new curtains do not stand out from the overall color scheme. Tips to help you at work:

Try to keep the threads and texture of the pattern as close in tone as possible.
Choose a fabric that will be placed on the inside.
Buy liquid nails.
Prepare the cord for fastening and the pin.
You can’t do without plastic or wooden weights here, so they also need to be selected in accordance with the fabric.
Stock up on screws, nails and scissors.

Materials for blinds

For the slats of fabric blinds, choose dense fabrics that can hold their shape well and are not prone to deformation. The material must also be UV resistant.

Fabrics used for making blinds can be divided into 3 types:

Non-woven material. It is a type of synthetic fabric - polyester. This material is not resistant to moisture and does not have a long service life. The advantage is relative cheapness.
Woven material. Has proven itself to have high consumer properties. When choosing a material, you need to be guided by the thread density of the fabric. The higher the density, the longer the service life.
Jacquard. Very strong and durable fabric. It has high resistance to temperature changes and moisture. Holds color well and does not stretch or wear out. With a large number of positive characteristics, there is one drawback - the high cost of the material.

For rooms with a high degree of pollution and high humidity, it is recommended to treat the selected material with a protective impregnation that has water-repellent and dirt-repellent properties.

Making roller blinds at home

If we compare Roman and rolled canvases, they have some external similarities, but they differ in the design of the mechanisms:

The mechanics of Roman blinds involve the assembly of fabric into folds using cords.
Roller blinds are wound on a shaft, which is located in the upper part of the structure.

Roller blinds are equipped with weights in the lower part and are held back by ribbons so that the panels do not flutter due to drafts. Depending on the degree of penetration of sunlight into the room, the fabric is selected.

Roman blind options

There are types of blinds:

transmitting scattered rays or absorbing light;
plain and with embossed patterns on the fabric;
with individual design solutions.

All this allows you to create curtains taking into account your wishes. For example, for making transparent curtains that do not completely block out light, tulle is quite suitable as a fabric.

The order of assembling the blinds:

Take the fabric and fold it carefully.
We turn it inside out and wrap it around the cornice shaft so that when unwinding the curtain faces the room with its front side.
We attach a weighting material made of wood or plastic to the bottom of the blinds.
The control thread at the top is secured with a stapler.
To quickly adjust the system, you need a thread that is attached to a pull weight.
It is possible to open the blinds to any position. A holder should be installed on the wall on which the thread will be wound to fix the canvas when adjusting the opening height of the window opening.

When preparing the canvas, it is necessary to take into account that it must be larger in area than the size of the window.

Let's look at the design features

To make vertical blinds yourself, you need to understand how they work. The design is actually very simple, similar to traditional textile curtains:

rail or special louvered cornice;
runners are inserted into it, which are connected by distances so that the lamellas are distributed at the same distance;
a special strip with an eye is inserted into the upper edge of the lamella, through which the strip is hung on a slider;
control chain;
weights are inserted into the pocket at the bottom of each lamella;
a connecting chain is pulled along the bottom edge to assemble a single fabric.

Homemade vertical blinds are structurally different from ready-made professionally made products, but if you want to repeat everything exactly, you should purchase the necessary components at a hardware store.

The diagram shows a standard design of vertical blinds

How to make roller blinds?

This short guide will tell you step by step how to make blinds with your own hands without any sewing skills.

Tools and materials for work

To work you need to stock up:

For blinds: prepare fabric (2 sheets) for the back and front sides. Here you can make both sides of the curtain equally colorful so that it looks equally beautiful both from the street and from the room.
For weighting, you will need wooden slats (2 pcs.). They must be equal to the width of the window structure. Weights are necessary to ensure that the curtains maintain a vertical position and are constantly straightened.
To take measurements of fabric and other structural elements, you need to get a centimeter and a ruler.
High quality scissors.
Cord for controlling blinds (raising and lowering fabric).
Metal rings. A cord is passed through them, which will control the structure.
A screw with a ring instead of a head, which is attached to the very top of the structure and holds the control thread.
Needles, threads to match the fabric and a sewing machine.

Product design assembly process

Stages of creating a curtain:

We measure the window, measure and cut two pieces of fabric, leaving seam allowances: length 10 cm, width 3 cm.
From the inside, we place a seam on the fabric, leaving one vertical side. Turning the fabric inside out, we finish stitching the area. The workpiece is steamed with an iron.
Next, you need to decide which side will face the street and which side will face the inside of the room.
Lay the canvas face down. We make special grooves for the slats: you need to adjust the bottom of the blinds by 1.5 cm, and the top by 3 cm. We stitch and insert the slats.
The top strip is attached to the wall. To secure the cord, you need to sew rings into the fabric: fasten 2 rings on the front part and 2 more on the back, then, stepping back 5 cm from the edge of the bar, twist 1 more ring.
Next we install the cord. We unwind and cut two pieces of the holding cord. The length calculation is taken according to the following indicators: one should be three times longer than the curtain fabric, the other should be equal to the size of the previous cord plus half the length of the fabric.
We insert the cord through the ring screws, which are located on the fixed strip.

Attention! The cord, which is longer, is placed further than the main side ring.

We pass the cords along the top of the wrong side of the fabric, through the ring. Then we pull it through the side ring and tie the two cords together.

To install a roller blind on a plastic window, you must first screw screws with hooks into it. Their location should be strictly above the rings that are built into the material. We hang the structure, screw in an additional screw on the side (into the plastic window) to fix the panel with a cord in the required position.

DIY Roman blinds

Cutting and sewing in this case differ little. The main difference is the formation of folds. You can make the folds soft by simply stitching them, you can make “pockets” for the trims. The second option provides greater ease of use and uniformity of folds.

Below is a diagram of sewing and forming folds with “pockets” for reinforcing strips.

When calculating the length of the cord in this sewing option, the main thing is to remember the difference for each of the two/three fragments. It is convenient to lay the curtain flat on the floor, estimate the position of the future wall cord holder and measure the required amount.

Important: rings for Roman blinds should be 3...10 times larger in diameter than the diameter of the cord. Smooth rings without joints are the key to easy pulling of the cord and ease of opening and closing curtains.

Step-by-step instruction

We lay out the fabric on the table, mark the cut into strips, their length should be equal to the grain of the thread, and cut the parts. Fold it in half along the long axis, align the edges, stitch along the perimeter on 3 sides (2 seams along the length and 1 end seam). We turn the strip over the unstitched edge, carefully correct the corners with a needle, and iron the part. We fold the raw edges inside the strip and sew it up, retreating 2-3 mm from the edge. Iron it thoroughly again.

If a thin material is chosen for the lamellas, then adhesive-based doublerin or non-woven fabric can be placed inside the strip. This will help compact the strips and they will maintain their correct shape for a long time.

We measure 1.5-2 cm from the top edge, make a hem, iron it for convenience. We find the middle of the lamella along the fold and make a fool under the hook. We insert the bar with the eyelet and hem the edge of the fold. We also make a hem at the bottom, sew it up and insert a weight; it should fit very tightly into the pocket so that it does not fall out during use of the curtains. We use this algorithm to make all the stripes.

We fasten the cornice over the window with our own hands, as shown in the diagram above; in addition, we offer a video with a detailed master class, which shows all the stages of installation.

[su_youtube url=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3rYtD85W3I”]

We check the geometry with a level; the guide should hang strictly parallel to the ceiling, window sill and floor. If there is a skew, the slats will hang crookedly. We hang the slats by the eye on the runner. When the entire canvas is formed, we pass a connecting chain through the rings on the weights from below.

You can choose any material for the lamellas, including tapes and fiberglass

Decoration

Blinds made from a single-color material can be painted with textile paints or decoupaged on fabric. Detailed master classes are presented in huge quantities on the Internet. If you don’t know how to draw, you can apply ornaments and designs with stamps or use stencils.

In the photo there is a drawing on textiles using contour paints

Small drawings are applied to each lamella separately to create a large image, the stripes are laid out on the surface to obtain a solid canvas, aligned, outlined and then painted.

Necessary accessories and tools

You can purchase all the necessary components at hardware stores or special outlets for sewing crafts.

The general list looks like this:

Fabric in the required quantity.
Threads.
Cord for rotator.
Screws and nails (preferably liquid).
A set of Velcro or tape (double-sided or single-sided).
Scissors.
Ruler.
Pencil.
Thick, sharp needle (for very thick fabric, an awl may be needed).
A strip for the bottom of the blinds made of wood, metal or plastic (as a last resort).
Thin lamellas or knitting needles for weighting the folds.
Pliers.
Other accessories (rings, runners, hangers, etc.).

Something from this list is probably already in almost any home, and some positions, with a lot of experience, can be replaced with something similar. The main thing is to follow the technology for making high-quality blinds at home in order to be satisfied with the result.

Ideas for inspiration from photos

For those who are not looking for simple solutions or easy ways, a non-standard type of blinds, for example made of silk threads, is suitable.

They are attached in much the same way as regular Roman blinds. For this use:

adjustment cord;
special runners;
and a small weight for weighting.

It is noteworthy that threads of different colors can be used in silk blinds.

Due to the specifics of its design, such a curtain does not protect 100% from light penetration. This is worth keeping in mind in advance. But this type of curtain will highlight the unique style of any room.

For blinds it is not at all necessary to use only plain fabric. Bright and colorful patterns can be a wonderful addition to the interior. The most important thing is to choose the right harmonious shades in relation to the overall color scheme of the room. You can embroider simple designs yourself using colored threads according to your own design.

For a children's room, the ideal solution would be original blinds with appliqués. Various stripes can be purchased at the store and sewn onto the fabric base of the curtain. There are also types of patches that just need to be steamed with an iron.

Nylon cords for roller blinds can be creatively wrapped with thick threads or ribbons. Particular attention should be paid to the outside that faces the room.