Interlining roman blinds - newbie questions!

[ms.mapgirl]

Hi there - my first post!

I'm planning to make interlined blinds for a bay window (paid job for a friend) and although I've made stitched-through Roman blinds before and interlined curtains, I haven't interlined/hand-stabbed romans till now. I've read lots of posts on here and found loads of brilliant tips and am formulating my 'plan'. I wondered if any of you would be kind enough to offer any comment or pros and cons for what I have in mind!

The blinds are to be in plain linen union with an inset contrast border which will go down each side and across the bottom with mitred corners, if that makes sense. Trawling the recommendations on here,I was thinking of using Evastay domette and Evapure (?) lining. I seem to get a broken link each time I try to go to the Evans site so just now I don't know how these compare in price to other linings and don't know if they will supply in cut lengths and non-trade. I plan to make rod pockets from the lining and fancy trying out eyelets instead of rings. I also thought I might fix the blinds with velcro on the top face of the battens, which would mean I could machine through all the layers at the top without it showing on the front (I've found in the past the face fabric sagged a little at the top and these will be heavier than any I've made before).

I was planning to trim the interlining to the finished blind size rather than make turnings as I have when interlining curtains as it would seem to be less bulky for folding but I've seen both ways in books...I've also seen recommended in a book to use a weighted rod in the bottom rod pocket in addition to the bottom batten to stop an interlined blind sagging, but I couldn't quite understand the logic - any thoughts? What size/type of rods would be best - the centre/biggest blind is 137cm wide and about 195 long. Finally (for now!), do I need to reinforce the rod pockets for my eyelets and, if so, is buckram the right thing or could I just use a strip of woven tape or belting (I think it's called) which would save trying to cut straight narrow strips in buckram - my biggest nightmare in all of this is cutting everything straight and parallel!

thank you so much - sorry if too many issues in one post

[Cat]

Re: Interlining roman blinds - newbie questions!

Hi, fairly new to interlined romans myself but will try to help. In answer to some of your questions. Evans do supply cut lengths but you would need a trade a/c. I have used the method you suggest for top face fixing the velcro to the batten before and found no problems with that. I would trim the interlining to the finished lengh, as you say. Don't understand why you woud require any extra bar at the bottom, the blind shouldn't sag provided you stab stich across at even regular spacings. As I say, I haven't used eyelets before on romans as I prefer rings but if you need to cut strips of buckram it should just tear across evenly. Try on a spare piece first by snipping then tearing, it should be even.

Cat C.

[ms.mapgirl]

Re: Interlining roman blinds - newbie questions!

Thanks for that Cat - much appreciated!
Jill

[SusanF]

Re: Interlining roman blinds - newbie questions!

On my most recent Romans I used a bar at the bottom as the blinds were outside the recess and were tending to sag inwards slightly in the middle, the extra rod at the bottom helped it to look better. In a recess I would not bother with the bottom rod.

Susan

[YvonneR]

Re: Interlining roman blinds - newbie questions!

I use eyelets on my romans and in my opinion there is absolutely no need to reinforce the rod pockets with buckram - I just punch straight through the lining rod pockets. Hope that helps.

[sas]

Re: Interlining roman blinds - newbie questions!

I too use eyelets on my romans, and just as Yvonne, I punch through the lining rod pockets with no extra reinforcement needed. I once saw some blinds that had eyelets punched through stiffened rod pockets that had been made so by using fabric stiffener, which I thought was quite interesting and have been meaning to try this ever since. However I am not sure if it would be extra work and cost for no difference in blind appearance or function!

Sas

[ms.mapgirl]

Re: Interlining roman blinds - newbie questions!

Thank you all - that's a great help. I think I might play around with the eyelets before I decide. I think I understand what you meant, Susan, about the weighted rod/sagging issue - I'm picturing the blind 'bowing' in towards the window (?). My blinds will be outside the (slight) recess, so I might add the extra weighted rod to be on the safe side. I'm still a little unsure what sort of interlining (Evastay or Evatex) would be best - it's for extra warmth.
Thanks
Jill

[suel]

Re: Interlining roman blinds - newbie questions!

Hi Yvonne,

Just back from holiday in Spain and trying to find motivation. So doing 'research' on my.decozo instead!

I would be interested to know what eyeletter you use to punch your holes? I have considered using eyelets in the past, but have had disasters on other projects, so have held back from using them on romans. Particularly when the roman is pretty much finished by the time you get to this stage. If this is your standard method then your eyeletter/eyelets is a reliable method?

Thanks,
Sue.

[Louise]

Re: Interlining roman blinds - newbie questions!

Sue - I think this might answer your question (sorry for butting in Yvonne......) http://www.my.decozo.com/viewtopic.p...t=eyelet#p7673