Blinds are a very convenient and practical thing. They protect the room well from sunlight and prying eyes, take up little space compared to curtains, they are convenient to use. Making blinds with your own hands from fabric is not as difficult as it might seem at first glance.
Curtains and blinds
Empty windows, especially in the dark, from the side of the room look somehow uncomfortable and somewhat frightening. And to get rid of this impression, to protect the room and the people there from prying eyes, the windows are hidden behind all kinds of special devices - curtains, curtains, curtains and blinds. By the way, the word "curtains" comes from the French store, which means "blind." But the word "blinds" is a derivative of the French jalousie, which, surprisingly, in translation means "jealousy." Perhaps it means that you know less - sleep more calmly? Probably it was. But one thing is clear that to this day, blinds - special devices on the windows that cover them in whole or in part - are in great demand.
Blinds are different
Decorate the interior of the room - a matter of taste of the owner or hostess. You can, of course, hire a designer who plans everything as he sees fit, although he will consult with the customer. But to develop the interior of your own home on your own, with your mind, imagination, as well as create some important and beautiful things with your own hands - informative, interesting, entertaining, practical and economical. You can make, for example, do-it-yourself blinds from fabric, wooden battens, plastic slats. Allowed to use metal profiles and even paper. For any needlewoman, the most convenient and practical option is to make the window blinds with their own hands from fabric.
Such window protectors are vertical, horizontal and roll. However, roller blinds are most often called curtains, not blinds, although the essence remains the same. An interesting option for horizontally placed protection and decoration for windows is Roman blinds.
Fabric, accessories, tool
Before making the blinds with their own hands from fabric, the home master will prepare everything necessary for work and obtaining a high-quality result, so as not to be distracted by the search for the necessary in the process of creativity. For fabric curtains, whatever they are, you will need:
- The fabric in the following quantity: the size of the window opening + the width for the hem + the width for the necessary sewn fittings (if it is needed by the design of the blinds) + decorative length, for example, for folds.
- Threads for sewing blinds.
- Strong cord for arranging the rotary device. Depending on the design of the blinds, the cord may require 3-4 lengths compared to the length of the fabric, so it is better to buy a cord with a margin.
- Tools - pliers, thick needle.
- Accessories - rings, pendants, runners for lamellas.
- Liquid Nails.
- Double-sided and single-sided tape.
- Long ruler.
- Pencil.
All this is necessary for the manufacture of protection and decoration for windows. For a specific model, one or another hardware and fixture will be required. It is convenient to use special sets for the manufacture of blinds, sold in specialized stores.
How easy!
The easiest way to make blinds with your own hands from fabric is by sewing a Roman curtain. Although this version of the light-protective design can be different - with or without louvres , with various types of installation of blinds along the window opening - inside, outside or on the frame. But it is precisely such a variation of the manufacture of blinds with their own hands from the fabric that will step by step help even those who have never done anything similar in their life.
Fabric calculation for Roman blinds
If you correctly approach the preliminary stage of any work - material calculation, construction, careful planning of all stages, then the result will only please. The same applies to making fabric blinds with your own hands.
The workshop should begin by calculating the required amount of tissue. It is done simply - the estimated height and width of the blinds + 2 centimeters per hem on the right and left, as well as on top. You need to add 10 centimeters to the bottom, since a weighting bar must be inserted into the lower gateway. It is also possible to provide a larger valve on top if it is intended to make the curtain integral with the cornice. You will also need a wrong side cloth. It is calculated as follows: the height and width of the light shields + 2 centimeters per hem on all sides. If, as a weighting agent, it is supposed to sew knitting needles on each fold, then the length of the inside should be increased as follows: multiply the number of folds by the double thickness of the knitting needle plus a centimeter by free fitting.
Pleated beauty
Blinds with vertical folds will look very impressive if there are exactly the number of folds that you need - no more, no less. Masters who manufacture such window decorative draperies advise you to choose the number of folds from 5 to 9. If you take fewer turns, the blinds will be too rustic, and more folds will make the window too conspicuous. Since the folds should be at the same distance from one another, the calculation is done by simple division - the opening height is divided by the selected number of folds. The result is the height of one fold.
This calculation option is most suitable if the folds are rigidly attached to plastic lamellas. If this option is selected, then old horizontal blinds can be used. If the folds are supposed to be soft, then the old blinds are not needed, and the drapery of the raised fabric is formed freely. If you look at the self-made blinds made of fabric, photo which are presented below, it is possible to understand how folds are formed on such curtains.
Construction process
You can sew the blinds with your own hands from the fabric, proceeding to the phased work. First you need to measure the area of the window on which the blinds will be placed. For example, on a window frame. If the blinds must protrude along the walls, it is necessary to provide for the width of such protrusions on both sides of the window opening. Having measured the required amount of facial tissue, sweep the doorways on the right and left side, from above and a wide turn from below, which will fit the weight plate. It is best made from a wooden die - it is light enough not to harm the entire structure, including the cornice.
Now, on the wrong side, outline hemings on all sides in the same way. Mark equal folds.
- If you need to insert knitting needles, then pockets for them should be sewn on a typewriter or stitched manually.
- If lamels from old horizontal aluminum blinds are used, then they are carefully glued to the marking. By the way, in this way you can get a full-fledged design by removing unnecessary lamellas from the old blinds, moving the remaining louvers to the desired distance, while preserving the guide cords of the entire structure. The lamellas are glued neatly, without affecting the place where the cords pass, for their free movement.
Lifting gear
Why are blinds interesting as a means of protecting windows? His method of work. After all, when they are straightened, they completely or partially close the review, and when folded, they take up very little space. This effect is obtained due to the lifting or swivel (if we are talking about a vertical design) mechanism. It seems that this is something complicated, but in fact everything ingenious, as always, is simple. Two or three cords freely pass through special rings evenly located on the cloth. At the top, they also pass through rings fixed to the cornice and are connected into a single cord equipped with a suspension.
- If you sew blinds made of fabric with your own hands from beginning to end, only from improvised materials, then the mechanism for raising the folds will be elementary and will require an additional locking device in the form of hooks next to the blinds - on the wall, window opening, on the window frame. For these hooks, you will need to hook the cord with the suspension so that the blinds do not open.
- If you use old blinds or a special purchase mechanism, then you do not need to equip anything else, since all the locking elements are already inside the cornice.
Final assembly
So, two panels are ready. If you have experience sewing on a typewriter, you can immediately insert the needles and sew the panels with a seam along the very edge. You can connect the front and back parts, leaving room for the knitting needles, then unscrew the curtain, iron it well and only then insert the knitting needles and the weight bar. In this case, the holes for all parts can be carefully sewn by hand.
- Then, according to the marking, manually sew the rings under the cords, capturing both the front and back panels.
- Now you can pass the cords through the rings, carefully fixing them on the lower rings.
- Screw the special threaded rings into the wooden cornice and pass the cords through them, gradually moving from one to another.
- If it was provided, then with a cloth using Velcro tape to hide this bar. If this option was missed, then the canvas curtain is attached to the bar along the edge with the help of a construction stapler.
- To provide all two or three cords at some distance with a weighting bead.
- Fix the wooden block-cornice .
Blind Care
DIY fabric blinds are comfortable with their practicality. Especially if they have Velcro tape (Velcro tape) in the form of fasteners on the cornice. They can be easily removed and, without removing the knitting needles and weights, stretch from the dust just by hand, in the suspended state, such blinds will be straightened, and with the help of a steamer they can easily be put in perfect condition right on the weight, without damaging the knitting needles and the weight bar.
The only moment: if the blinds are sewn from colored cotton or linen fabric, prone to shrinkage, it is best to wash the fabric before work in hot water to check for molting and allow it to "sit down". Good luck