Blinds in bloom

Brighten up a window with this homemade blind

Time: 2 hours Skill level: Intermediate

A piece of 1x1in wood cut to fit across the inside top of your window opening

Floral fabric (to fit window, plus 2.5cm seam allowance) Lining fabric (same size as floral fabric)

Strong glue

Wooden battens or thin strips of stiffening material (1cm shorter than the width of the blind) Stick and sew Velcro Plastic Roman blind rings 2x nylon cord (twice the height of the window in length)

2 to 4 screw-eye bolts

1. Attach the piece of wood to the top of your window frame by either screwing or gluing it on.

2. Pin the fabric and lining together, right sides facing.

3. Sew around the edges leaving several inches open for turning.

4. Cut off the seam allowances at the corners so it doesn’t bunch up in the corners.

5. Turn the fabric out and iron flat.

6. Slip-stitch the opening closed. Sew a strip of Velcro across the top edge of the lining material. This will be used later to attach the fabric to the wood.

7. Measure and mark where you want the horizontal pleats to fall. Glue battens horizontally across the fabric at the pleat marks.

8. Attach the plastic Roman blind rings to the battens using cotton tape. Space them evenly in at least two vertical lines. 9. Tie nylon cords securely to the bottom ring on each vertical line of rings. Thread the cords vertically through the sewn-on rings. Insert screw-eye bolts to the wood at evenly spaced intervals.

10. Stick the other piece of Velcro to the wood on the frame and attach your blind.

11. Run the cords through all screw-eyes at the top to bring them all over to one side to be used for raising and lowering the shade.

12. Knot cords together just beyond the last screw-eye to ‘train’ the fabric to fall in neat folds.