Custom Roman Shades|Sew Lovely By Kelly

FABRIC & RIBBON CHOICE

OPTION 1: SEND US YOUR OWN FABRIC DIRECT FROM ANY WEBSITE

OPTION 2: SELECT FROM OURS FABRIC!

What is the best fabric content for roman shades ?

99% of the time, the best fabric for roman shades is medium weight, 100% cotton, screen printed on canvas/duck. This fabric pleats nicely and doesn’t wrinkle as easily. Most home decor/drapery fabric you will find in stores is this type of material. If a fabric is very “floppy,” drapes like a blanket, or see through and thin, it likely won’t be good for our roman shades.We now offer a selection of fabric and trim, or you may still send us your own from any vendor! Sew Lovely Roman Shades look best with medium weight decor fabric only that is about 7-10 oz in weight and 54" wide.  Most websites will list the fabric under a "decor/medium weight" category and state that it is good for window treatments. When determining your yardage, we assume the fabric is the standard of 54” wide. If it’s wider, it’s ok, but if it’s more narrow than 54” please let us know so we can recalculate.

Click here to view our selection of fabric. We really like Etsy for trim options! We are also Samuel & Sons dealer. They have exquisite trim tape! Our fabrics range from $12-$45 a yard. We supply solid fabrics that are perfect for our ribbon trim shades! Now offering cotton, slubs, flax and linen blends! View them here. We also have fabric remnants for sale, which are fabrics that are already cut and are mostly used for smaller projects like pillows or small roman shades. You can view our remnants here. We are also now a Greenhouse Fabrics, RM Coco, Pindler, Schumacher, and Fabricut and Lacefield supplier! They have a ton of really lovely sample books and HIGH END DESIGNER fabrics to choose from!

You can even send a curtain panel, shower curtain or table cloth for us to use to make your shades if it is a medium weight!

IMPORTANT INFORMATION REGARDING FABRIC CHOICE

  • Light weight fabrics do not work well or fabrics with a loose looking weave. They hang loose, wrinkle and don't pleat as well. The folds won’t be as crisp across if the fabric has a loose drape. Read our blog about using light weight fabrics here. The fabric needs to have some weight in order to fold nicely.

  • A BIT ABOUT LINEN…Some 100% linen fabrics do not work well for our classic roman shades. They do work ok for relaxed shades, however. It is very tough to work with a lot of linen, so we need to put out this disclaimer that it’s not a guarantee your linen will work as well. It is not easy to sew straight because of its looser weave and when it hangs, gravity shifts the fabric. It is often not ideal for our classic roman shades bc it is not stiff enough to create crisp folds. We prefer you do not send us this type of fabric, however, some higher quality linen does work nicely. You may send us a high quality linen but beware that there’s a risk it may not work as well. A little info from a reputable source…”Linen is a natural fiber derived from plants. It is inherently ABSORBANT and can absorb up to 20 percent its weight in moisture. This includes humidity or moisture in the air. Linen fibers will absorb moisture from the air and can thus increase in size then retract in size.  The workroom will manufacture the product to the specified finished size but under no circumstances is the workroom responsible for shrinkage or growth of products manufactured from linen textiles. The workroom will not adjust, rehem or alter the finished goods after installation without compensation for time, labor and materials. When you purchase our products you understand the above."

  • Linen BLENDS work better than most 100% linens. Rayon/Linen blends work nicely most of the time.

  • Linen fabric with a pattern seems to work better for our roman shades than a solid linen

  • If you choose to send light weight fabrics or silks, please send along with interlining in the same yardage as the fabric you’re sending. Interlining will help the fabric fold much nicer. We can supply interlining for an additional fee.

  • Silk, Sheer, stain, taffeta and quilting fabric do NOT work well for our roman shades

  • Burlap fabric does not work well.

  • If the fabric is lighter weight or white/light colored with regular liner, you may see the dowels from the front when the sun shines through.

  • Heavier, upholstery weight fabric, heavy woven, velvet and chenille do not work well. It’s too bulky in the folds (heavy upholstery fabric). If the fabric feels like blanket material, it likely won’t work as well for roman shades. The folds won't look as defined or straight across.

  • We do not recommend washing your brand new fabric prior to sending.

  • We prefer customers send us their own fabric rather than have us choose it so we're certain it is what the customer wants.

  • You can send us a curtain panel to work with if it is of correct weight. An extra fee may apply because we need to take apart your panels. Please don’t send very old fabric or fabric with stains etc. We prefer to use our lining and not the lining attached to your curtain panel, as our lining is a nicer quality usually.

  • Ordering a sample from the fabric store is a good idea, so you can make sure you like it. Email us if you like a fabric on our site and wish to buy a sample. We stock some but some we need to order.

  • If you fabric is a pattern, we will use the direction of the pattern according to the selvage, how it is on the bolt, left to right, unless the shade is over 55” wide and then we may ask you if it’s ok to turn the fabric.

  • We are able to provide fabric for your project. We provided many of the solid white fabrics used for ribbon trim shades in many of our photos.

  • Every fabric will hang a little differently. Some fabrics shift a little according to temperature and gravity.

  • Fabric scraps will not be sent back unless requested by the customer. Additional shipping fees will apply.

  • Sew Lovely is not responsible for fabric that was sent by the buyer or fabric store with imperfections before cutting and sewing.

  • We don’t inspect your fabric until we are about to produce your shades/curtains. At times, we will need to contact you at this point if there wasn’t enough yardage sent as requested or if the fabric is ruined or if the repeat is much larger than expected.

  • We always match up the pattern on multiple shades, so yardage estimate accounts for a little extra to wrap around the board and match the pattern.

  • There might be times that additional fabric is required (if the repeat was too large to match up the shades or too little fabric was sent to me. Buyer will be then asked to send more fabric to us.

  • Standard fabric is 54" wide. Please do not send fabric that is less than 54" wide, unless you ask about it via email.

  • If the fabric is a patterned fabric, we will sew the shade in the direction of the pattern off the bolt or with the salvage on the left and right, non-railroaded (see example below). If the shade is a solid or the pattern can be railroaded and flipped, we will turn the fabric so that we can avoid a seam. We will contact you before flipping the pattern (railroaded).

  • All shades need a liner on the back side. Read why here. We supply blackout liner and regular liner. We can also supply thermal.

  • Keep in mind how the fabric you choose runs off the bolt, especially with stripes. See photo explanation below (railroaded vs. non-railroaded). If you send us striped fabric that runs horizontally, selvage to selvage on the bolt and how it is shown on the website you purchase from, this is the way the fabric will run on the shades we make, unless you tell us otherwise.

Non-Railroaded Photo on left shows how we will use the fabric off the bolt (up the roll) If the shade is wider than the fabric we can turn it (Railroad) only if requested by the customer.

Non-Railroaded Photo on left shows how we will use the fabric off the bolt (up the roll) If the shade is wider than the fabric we can turn it (Railroad) only if requested by the customer.

Example of a 100% linen roman shade (we did not make this exact shade in the photo) but you can see how the folds are not as crisp when using some 100% linen.

Example of a 100% linen roman shade (we did not make this exact shade in the photo) but you can see how the folds are not as crisp when using some 100% linen.

 

GOOD WEBSITES TO ORDER FABRIC

There are really great shops online to get fabric.  You can sometimes get better deals and find more choices online than in a store.  You can send your fabric directly to us from any online shop or store.  Keep in mind, you may also purchase a set of curtain panels and use the panel fabric as your shade fabric.  Here are a few places...

SOME GOOD BRANDS OF FABRIC

Caitlin Wilson

Charlotte Fabrics (contact us for pricing)

Covington

Duralee

Dwell Studio

Fabricut

HGTV Home

Home Accents Fabrics

Jaclyn Smith

Kelly Ripa

Kravet

Lacefield Designs

Magnolia Home Fashions

P Kaufmann

Premier Prints

Rebecca Atwood

Richloom Fabrics

Robert Allen

Romo

Schumacher

Scott Living

Stroheim

Sunbrella

Swavelle/ Mill Creek

Trend

Thibaut

Waverly

RIBBON AND TRIM VENDORS WE LIKE

I can supply basic colors in 1 1/2" wide grosgrain ribbon or you may provide. We can also provide pom pom trim. CLICK HERE TO VIEW MY GROSGRAIN RIBBON AND TRIM CHOICES.

1.5" - 3" grosgrain works best. Non-wired and solid. There are a lot of great places online and stores like Michaels, AC Moore and Hobby Lobby.

Samuel & Sons (high end beautiful trim. Sold to the trade only. Contact us for pricing. Very expensive)

fringemarket (sold to the trade only. Contact us for pricing)

Rose Lace And Braid on Etsy (beautiful trim and great pricing)

Luxe Fabricco on Etsy (beautiful trim and great pricing)

ribbonbizaar.com (affordable/basic trim options)

buyfabrics.com

hobby lobby

Offray Ribbon

Fabricut (sold to the trade only. Contact us for pricing)

https://www.fabricresource.com/trim-tassels/tape-trim

SENDING US YOUR FABRIC

When sending us your fabric, please be sure to put your name on the package under our name, so that we know the fabric is yours (i.e. "c/o Jane Smith")  If the fabric has no name on the box, we may not know who it belongs to and your order may get delayed.

***Please do not send your fabric with "signature required" option. Sew Lovely is not home all day to sign for packages.  If you send insured or with a signature required, your fabric will be sent back to the sender.***

Please do not send a lot of excess fabric.  Excess fabric will not be returned to you.  The amount of fabric calculated for your shade will be just enough to complete your order.  Shade shipping is calculated based on shade weight and does not include any excess fabric.  

REGULAR LINER VS BLACKOUT LINER

Sew Lovely Roman Shades can be made with regular/light filtering lining or blackout lining.  We can also make them using thermal lining. We prefer to use our own, high quality lining for projects, however, you may send your own. Lining fabric is necessary on all roman shades because it protects the fabric from sun damage and it also hides the dowels that are inside the shade and keeps them in place.  The liner we use is white.  Regular liner will still filter out some of the sun but will not be completely dark.  Blackout liner will be dark.  Most people choose regular liner for kitchens, bathrooms and living rooms and blackout liner for bedrooms. Sew Lovely roman shades do have small pin hole lights where stitching is on the side and bottom seams. Most other shade shops use rings on their roman shades, which causes many pin holes. Sew Lovely does not use rings on our classic roman shades, so there are no pin holes down the middle of the shade.