A No-Sew Window Shade

Our previous home sat on a wooded acre of land and sometimes I never even bothered to pull down the shades! Our new house is in a much more urban location and since the neighbors are a little to close for comfort shades are a must.

You may remember the post I did back in January on our small master bath here. I had to work around the existing yellow tiles so I decorated the bathroom in yellow and grays. On a recent trip to Jo-Anne fabric I found this beautiful Waverly fabric:Wave Bedazzle on sale 40% off and bought a yard to create these no-sew window panels in less than 60 minutes.

Here is the old shade...

It wasn't bad, worked well and did the job, but I wanted something more decorative.

The key to making this shade is cutting your fabric straight. I used my old T-square from college days. (We had NO computers back then and did our work at a drafting table with T-squares--really!)

I measured the size of the window, then added 2 inches on each side for hems and pockets.

No sewing machine required--I used iron-on tape instead.

I gave the sides a half inch hem and the top and bottom two inches to accommodate the tension rods.

There are two tension rods on the top and bottom of the fabric.

I can either keep the shade closed all the way, or pull the top down a few inches...

This enables me to have some natural light into the room but the neighbors can't see in!

It also creates a pretty soft fold on the bottom.