11 Amazing Sewing Tips on Making Roman Shades and Sewing Curtains

After years of making lots of mistakes sewing window treatments... I've learned a few tricks of the trade.

Listed below are 11 powerful sewing tips that you can apply to any sewing project... to help you save time... avoid frustration... and hopefully help you become more successful with your projects. I'll explain many of these techniques in terms of window treatments, but these apply to all sewing projects.

Amazing Sewing: Avoid puckers with long stitches

One of the most frustrating moments when sewing seams is the very nice fabric you bought for your project is puckering as you sew. Argh! (no, I'm not a pirate for Halloween). Anyhoos, the reason your fabric puckers is because your machine is feeding the fabric too fast under your pesser foot... thus causing your fabric to almost gather at times and the needle stitches over a fold in the fabric. The best way to avoid this is to set your machines stitch length to as long as it will go. This will move the fabric through at the same rate, but your needle isn't moving as fast. I've found that this adjustment alone has made all the difference when sewing my seams... or sewing across a panel.

When in doubt, make some test samples. Cut out strips of fabric and lining... mimic whatever it is that you will actually sew... and test out your stitch settings. This is the only fool proof way to ensure your stitching is just right for your particular project.

Amazing Sewing : Put the pressure on... make your ironing board your new best friend.

You should be pressing your fabric at all stages of your sewing project. This may become tedious... but the habit of pressing will result in a truly professional looking window treatment. Press your fabric well after you have cut it and before you start sewing. You can't sew good seams if your fabric is creased and wrinkled.

After you've sewn your seams, press them open. There are times when you'll need to press them to the side, like when sewing the sides seams for a lined drapery panel or roman shade. But pressing the seams before you turn things right side out will make your life a whole lot easier. Otherwise, you'll be fighting with the seam... because it won't lay all in the same direction within your sewn panel.

Press your panel once it is right sides out. This will give the edges of your panel a crisp clean look.And press one more time before you hang your window treatments. Press, press and press!!

Amazing Sewing : Get more done by working in time chunks

If you're like me, you have a life outside of your sewing projects. Well... unless you do this for a living... then well... good for you!! But, like the rest of us, it's difficult to find time to make my roman shades or to finish those lined curtains. In fact, if I can't find the time, then I'll just put it aside until I do... and who knows when that will be.

I've found that breaking my sewing projects down into doable chunks makes my projects easier to manage.

For example, I know that cutting my fabric takes up most of my time. And it requires most of my attention. So, I'll block off an hour or 2 a night to finish cutting all the fabric. Even if I get just one panel cut... that's more than nothing done.

Then, I'll move on to side seams. I dedicate a half hour to an hour a night sewing side seams. Again, even if you just sew one drapery panel... that's one more thing done.

Other chunks of time may include bottom hems, preparing drapery headings, marking for roman shade rings and installation.

Try not to get overwhelmed with the big picture, because it is so easy to get discouraged and not do it at all. Break it down into manageable chunks and take it one step at a time.

Amazing Sewing: Square fabric

When cutting your fabric, it is critical that you square your edges. This means that the top and bottom edges should be at 90 degrees to your side edges. Putting special attention to this will save you so much time when you're sewing your side seams and bottom hem. Nothing's worse than finishing your roman shade only to discover that the shade hangs crooked because the fabric wasn't square. Or your drapery panel hangs too low on one end.. hitting the floor. Ugh.Take the time.... square your fabric when you cut it.

Amazing Sewing: Add fullness and insulation with interlining

Interlining your window treatments adds fullness and body... especially when working with silk or thinner fabrics. Lining alone just doesn't add the level of professionalism as does interlining.

Interlining is a thin flannel layer that you lay in between the face fabric and lining. It doesn't look like much, but when it's all sewn your window treatments will look softer, fuller and feel just wonderful. Plus... that added layer will help insulate your windows.

Amazing Sewing : Less seam is more

I am not a perfect sewer... are you? No matter how hard I try... I never got my seams to be exactly 1/2" or whatever the instructions call for. In fact, many times my sewn panels come up about 1/8" short. And this drives me crazy. In most cases, this shouldn't matter. But when making roman shades... it matters. Plus, when sewing, the fabric takes up... maybe more than expected. And this also makes things shorter.

So... I've learned to sew just inside the seam line. Or the imaginary seam line. If you plan on sewing a 1/2" seam... pretend there's a line drawn there and sew just to the inside of that line. I've had great success with this little trick!

Amazing Sewing: Overbuy fabric

More is definitely more in this case. Always, if you can afford it, buy at least an extra yard of your fabric. There are so many times where I thought I needed 12 yards... and then realized I shouldn't bought 15 yards! So, to be safe, buy more fabric than you need. Plus, you can always use the extra to make decorative pillows to decorate your room.

Amazing Sewing: Quality lining

Don't cheap yourself on lining. You don't need crazy expensive lining, but you should choose a lining that drapes nicely... has a nice finish... and just feels nice. Avoid the cheap, paper thin cotton linings. It pretty much defeats the purpose of lining when you go this thin. And don't forget your option of blackout lining. This is thicker... but provides excellent light control.

Amazing Sewing: Explore tools

Before jumping into making a roman shade or sewing a pleated drape, be sure to check out the tools available to you. For example, if you're planning on sewing pleated drapes, you may discover that some nice triple pinch pleat tape is well worth the investment... to save you lots of time! Or maybe some 4 prong hooks and deep pleat tape.

Or you're going to make a slatted roman shade. Well, you'll discover that you don't need to sew all those casings and rings.. you can just use roman shade rib loop tape... that only needs one row of stitching and gives you a casing and loops to thread your lift cord through. There's all kinds of supplies available to you that will save you hours of work. So, look around first before diving in.

Amazing Sewing: Avoid being dull... sharpen everything!

When starting a new sewing project, make sure you have a new sharp needle for your sewing machine. I know this seems obvious, but I have pushed my needles to the limit... and all it does is cause the needles to break, jam the thread, drop stitches... yeah.... go put in a new needle.

Make sure you have some nice sharpened fabric scissors. Or if you're using a rotary cutter... go put in a new blade. Otherwise you'll be sawing at your fabric... and that leads to ugly frayed edges.

Amazing Sewing: Good instructions

If this is the first time making a particular window treatment.... make sure you have GOOD and easy to understand instructions on hand. Nothing's worse then getting a quarter of the way into your sewing project, and then hitting a brick wall... because you have no idea what to do next. So make sure your instructions have clear diagrams, lots of detailed steps... and maybe even videos to back them up.

May I recommend a few of my publications that have helped literally thousands of sewers become successful at sewing window treatments?

Happy Sewing!

Learn even more about making roman shades, sewing curtains and other home decor. Visit Jenny T.'s blog today to watch video tutorials, read step by step sewing how to's and information packed articles on Making Roman Shades .