I've read so many different ways to make your own faux roman shade.
(Faux meaning, it doesn't actually work as a shade; this one is staying put!)
The way I made mine was a compilation of several I have seen.
My laundry room window was the perfect opportunity to experiment in making one.
Here's the before......(sorry for the bad picture)
I bought a simple valance years ago when we first moved into our house. It was hung by a tension rod and pretty much forgotten about.
That is, until I found this fabric.... (LOVE at first sight!)
A little secret? It's actually a shower curtain. (I have a REALLY hard time finding fabric I love, that's good quality, and sold in local fabric stores. )
To make your own faux Roman shades, you'll also need tension rods (I used 4) and lining fabric (I used a white flat sheet).
I made my liner first. Measuring inside my window casing where my shade will hang.
The length of this will depend on how long you want your shade to be and the width will depend on your window.
The inside of my window measures 25 1/4 inches wide x 36 1/2 inches long so I made my curtain liner to be 25 1/4 inches wide x 22 inches long, finished. (I hemmed all 4 sides of the white liner.)
Next, I cut the fabric {ahem... the shower curtain} to be the same width but longer in length. After hemming the edges, the finished fabric rectangle measured 25 1/4 inches wide x 48 inches long.
I hemmed the bottom hem of the fabric wide enough to fit my last tension rod though to complete the folded look of a Roman shade.
I sewed the top of the liner and shade together so that they both hang from the same tension rod. (Just draped over the rod.)
I placed the other tension rods approximately where I thought I wanted the 'folds' in my Roman shade to be. (In front of the fabric.)
Don't stress over this part- I moved mine about 100 times to get the folds how I wanted them.
Starting with the top, empty rod, fold the fabric over to make the first fold...
Then repeat with the next one pulling your fabric from the bottom as to not mess up your first fold. (Continue this process until all of your folds are completed.)
After folding, my Roman shade measured 25 1/4 inches wide x 22 inches long.
Here, I moved the curtain to the side so you could see the tension rods. The lining fabric is hanging straight, and the tension rods that are holding the patterned fabric are in front of the lining fabric.
You will need one extension rod per fold.
This is where you can have a little fun! Making the folds close together, far apart, more, fewer, etc.
The ONLY thing I don't absolutely love about this Roman shade is the little part at the top of mine that I can see the tension rod. Like I said, this was an 'experiment'.
But, this project was much too easy to complain about! This faux Roman shade took me about an hour to make.
I'd call that a good nap-time project!
