Roman shades - round three! (last)

Last one to make was the kitchen window!  I was not crazy about the colour of my linen fabric against the wall colour, Sesame (Benjamin Moore).   What to do now? I perused some beautiful, rather expensive fabrics in the stores, but then considered the use of that covering.  I knew it would mostly be up, I was really just wanting that window to look finished, and to add some fabric to the room.  (I could have made just a window topper/valance, but if I made a roman shade I would at least have the option to lower it.)  So with function and economy in mind, off I went to IKEA and found a very reasonably priced "linen look" curtain in white - it looked smashing beside the Sesame!  I cut up one panel to the dimensions I needed,  then went to Smoking Lily for the third design.   Apple blossoms is one of their newer prints - I thought it would look fresh and have kitchen appeal.  I chose two variations of that print, the more solid one in white, the other more outlined print in raspberry.  The result is exactly as I thought it would be, and it works beautifully in the room adding crispness and softness! 

Unfortunately I did not photograph the prints before the blinds were hung, so now it's difficult to get a good image without the flash or backlight hampering the photo.  This one (below) of the blind down shows the vertical seam of the sheer cotton lining.  I am not fussed by this at all since I don't expect the blind to be down during the day.

For each blind, I used white 1.4 mm cord, flat pulleys, and a strong plastic cleat around which to wrap the cord. 

I used painted white metal cord drops which house the knot ends of the cords.  Each blind has a weight rod (steel or aluminum, depending on the width of the blind) in the bottom, and plastic battens (the horizontal rods which ensure proper up and down folds).  All of the supplies I just mentioned were from Terrell Designs.  I had the wood mounting boards cut for me at local lumber yards.  

Making these roman shades was an enjoyable and very satisfying learning experience for me.  There are more in my future!  Next up will be the dining room window, hopefully later this year.  In the meantime....back to knitting!