Almost No-Sew Roman Shades Tutorial

Last weekend, after almost 2 years of living in our house, I put up curtains on kitchen windows for THE FIRST TIME EVER.  We spent almost $1,000 putting up blinds when we first moved into our house, and it just wasn't a fun way to spend all that money.  So, some of the less critical spots just never got blinds.  A couple weeks ago I saw a tutorial on Thrifty Decor Chick, and I thought it look like a good, thrifty solution for our kitchen windows.

So, here's the tutorial:

1. Make sure all curious 1-year-olds have found a drawer to play in:

2. Choose any fabric that is big enough to cover your windows.  You'll also need some "stitch witchery" or "Sy" as its called at Ikea:

3. "Hem" your curtains. First, iron it down the way you want it hemmed to make sure it looks right, will fit your window, etc.:

Then, add the hemming tape and iron it:

Make sure to leave a pocket at the top for your curtain rod to go through.

4. After your curtains are all hemmed, the "almost no-sew" part comes in.  Next you'll need to hand sew ribbon loops to the backside of the curtain.  Make sure your loops are in the same spot on both sides of the curtain:

It doesn't matter how far down they are, it just matters that they are in the same spot so the shade won't be lopsided.  On my first shade I hung up the curtain and tested different lengths until I found what I thought looked best.  I just copied those measurements for the second curtain.  I also added buttons on top of the stitching from the loops, just for fun.

5.  Add a cup hook on each side of the window:

6. Hang your curtains in the window using a tension rod ($3 from Walmart).  Then, simply loop the ribbon loops you sewed on your curtains onto the cup hook starting from the top and working your way down the shade:

Voila!  This is a very easy project, but it did take me a little bit of time.  If I can do it, anyone can, just don't get frustrated if its not instantly complete.