Did it Work? Wednesday

Have you seen the "roman shades" made from mini blinds?  I've been wanting to make one for my kitchen window for the longest time.  I finally found a cheap set of mini blinds (Vinyl mini blinds from WalMart for $3.something or other) and some fabric I loved.  I opened about 4 tutorials I'd found on Pinterest and got to work yesterday.

I mostly went with this tutorial from little green notebook.  There are several out there and they're easily found on Pinterest.  Like the tutorial I mentioned, I wanted to line my shade and I didn't really want the slats from the mini blinds to show.  So....

I took the shade apart, removed the slats, but kept the top mechanism with the two main strings as well as the bottom of the mini blind set.  I figured out what size my fabric needed to be (roughly) and sewed my fabric and lining together.  I laid it out and decided how far apart I wanted my folds and got to work.  In the tutorial, she had purchased little plastic rings for the strings to go through and she used invisible thread to sew them on.  I don't have that kind of time...I went to my husbands tool box and found some tiny washers and I used black thread since my fabric was mainly black.

I put the strings through the washers, cut to the right length and tied them back to the base of the blinds, then I glued the fabric to the base and to the top.

I hung them up and didn't like them.  I'm not a "measure twice - cut once" kinda girl.  More like eyeball, then cut.  I didn't like how they hung - I'd put some ric-rac across the bottom and it didn't even show.

Back to the table they went.  I cut the strings just above the base and ripped the base off.  Then, I tied the strings to the bottom washers.

I hung them back up and still didn't like them!  Then I remembered I was going to put on of the slats back on at the bottom.  Back to the table....I tied and glued the slat to the bottom.

Finally!  They work!  Now I just need to cut the strings so they don't hang down in the sink.

A lot of the tutorials tell you to put the blind in backwards so the string is in the back.  I wanted it in front so hubby and the kids would be able to find the strings.  Don't look too close, but I just cut around the opening.

I really like how they turned out.  I don't love where all the folds ended up, but that's just due to me eyeballing then cutting!

I have another set of mini blinds and I'm planning to do another shade for the front door.  As soon as I find fabric.  I think next time will go a lot easier.

Linking to Craft-O-Maniac Monday