Emma S

Laurie: What a great idea. Always have liked the look of Roman Blinds and yours are no exception. What a great idea it is, to use old mini blinds.
Just wanted to share a picture of my baby, the reason I am going to find it extremely easy to avoid any fabric purchases.

Mitch's Gram

Emma, what make, model, size??? Looks like a lovely new toy.

Mitch's Gram

Ladies, if you do have any old mini-blinds that just don't look good any longer, give this a try. The hardest part is deciding on which fabric to use. That took me over a month to select.

Even if you don't currently have mini-blinds, there are plenty out there that are super cheap and worth buying to take apart and do this. After all, I've looked at the most inexpensive Roman Shades I could find. For the smallest size, in either a cream, tan, brown....basically just a plain solid color....they were approx. $20. This is not for a nice Roman Shade. I made one shade and didn't spend a penny. I already had some leftover upholstery fabric, the mini-blind and glue. If I had to buy the mini-blind, it would have cost me approx. $7.

For the others, I bought the fabric on sale at Fabric.com. Very inexpensive and I got free shipping, so I only paid for the fabric. For the most expensive fabric, I paid just under $17 per shade (I needed 3 for my bedroom) and they are custom because I got the fabric I wanted and it matches the bedroom. The one I showed you all was only $7/yd and I used less than a yard per window. If I had to buy a mini-blind, each one still would have been $14/window and much less than the cheapest roman shades I could buy.

I'm very cheap, won't buy anything if I think I can make it myself easier or in a less expensive way. I'm telling everyone about this because if anyone wants roman shades, here is the way to go about it.

Emma S

Laurie: Its called King Quilter Ltd Addition put out by Tin Lizzie. The frame is a 10 foot Phoenix. Its early times but I know for sure the frame is very sturdy, I think the machine will be the same.

Mitch's Gram

I'll be interested to hear how you like it....the Tin Lizzie that is.

Altairss

Aren't those shade so smart looking! I will have to try those when my shades die again! I love the Tin Lizzie let us know how she goes. Been working away on a stack of baby quilts I am only using what I have for backs and borders actually many of these were all from stash too. So no new fabric purchases to mention. It seems the longer I don't buy the easier it is. I am also going thru what I have and reorganizing it. Its amazing how many things I find and think wow I did not know I had that lol. It also has the idea of making what I have more interesting to me and I want to do things with it. You know its probably that same feeling I got from when I first bought it. So everyone go play in your stash hehehe

MadQuilter

I needed some white on white for a swap because I had only scraps. What I picked was on sale at Joann. Unfortunately, a piece of SF Giants fabric jumped into my basket along with the whites. Made hubby happy to see it (he's a huge fan).

tkhooper

i like the roman shades as well. Thanks for sharing the pictures and link.

oksewglad

happylab sounds like MadQuilter is walking along side you....one of us will give you a tide when you are getting tired.....

Nice pic Emma....

Thanks for all the Roman shade info, Mitch's Gram...

Belfrybat

Emma -- lovely machine and frame. I wish you many years of happy quilting on her.

MadQuilter - it doesn't count when fabric jumps in our shopping cart on its own volition. We are completely innocent in those cases.

I went to my favourite thrift store today and came out with a piece of fabric that will be perfect for the backing on one of the quilts I'm going quilt on the Bailey. 5 yards for $2.75. I also purchased a queen sized sheet for $2.00 that will be the backing for another quilt. But that doesn't count because it's not yardage. Right? Right!

I'm going to be "Baileying" (my new word for quilting) for the next three weeks. Then I'll have to dismantle the frame until I move. The frame is blocking a doorway that I need to move boxes through in preparation for the move. But by then, I hope to have 8 - 10 quilts done and can use the next couple of week putting on bindings.
At least that is my plan.