Nursery Safe Shades

A few weekends ago, Grams and I wiped up some shades for Penny's room.  I was going to just use white curtains for her room, but I decided to take the wise advice given by my friends with little ones and go with something that blocks out the sunlight for those daytime naps.  Anything to keep baby sleeping! The idea of the shades came after researching "safe window treatments for nursery" since it looks like the room arrangement may end up having the crib underneath the window so dangling strings and loose fabric within baby's reach could be dangerous.  This website came up in the search http://kiddosafeshades.com/howourshwo.html and I thought they "Hey! those look pretty easy to make!", with Grandma's help of course....I am still just a beginner sewer and probably will be for quite some time!

I bought the fabric months ago from IKEA with the intentions of making book slings (still to come), and the colours have served as my "jumping off point" for the whole scheme of the nursery. The heavy weight of the fabric ended up being perfect for the shade and since I bought 6 meters (for $6/m), I have more than enough for both projects.  For the extra layer of lining, we cut up an old white IKEA curtain, I had kicking around (teaser: the other panel will be used for the ottoman I am working on).

Step 1: Measure inside of window frame by height and width.  Cut outer fabric to dimensions with an extra 2 inches on each side for hem - this is for three of the sides.  For the top of the curtain, leave enough to make a pocket for your rod depending on its circumference (we left an extra 6 inches). 

Step 2: Cut inner "blackout" fabric to exact window dimensions and lay inside outer fabric.

Step 3: Fold outer fabric edge over once and then over once again, it should now cover and lock in the inner later. Pin folds down for sewing.  Repeat for three sides, except for the top.  For the top, make fold to accommodate for the rod pocket and sew as you would the other three sides.  (As you can tell from my instructions, I am not an expert sewer at all, Google or your Grandma may be your best resource for information here).

Step 4: Use a kit to cover the buttons with the corresponding fabric where you want the buttons to lie. The shade has 2 folds to bring it up to about the half the window (you can decide if you want the shade to hang lower or higher when "up").  Attach the button with needle and thread to shade (not the fold).

Step 5: Make loop with scrap fabric.  We use a 5cm long piece approximately an inch wide and folded the edges into itself and sewed down the one side.  Line up with button and sew onto the fold of the shade.

Step 6: Use tension rod for the pocket and hang shade inside the window frame.

Up!

Down!