No Sew Roman Shades

This weekend was frustrating to say the least (even Gamecocks aside, but honestly they didn't help- enter my own personal spiraling emotional downfall).   I set out on Saturday morning early to get to Joann's and get the remaining supplies to complete my no-sew and no-fail roman shades that are running amok all over Pinterest.  With coupons in hand and success in mind, I valiantly strolled the aisles (probably with my nose in the air, as my aforementioned Gamecocks were still ranked in the top 10, and I thought I was crafty DIY woman of the world) grabbing velcro here, stitch witch there, and giving other early morning shoppers a look like "yeah, this project is gonna be good".

Once back home hovering over my dining table turned craft assembly work space, I started on the smallest and easiest shade that would live over my kitchen door.  I managed to cut, press, and get stitch witch ready all in about 30 minutes.  All is going well at this point.  Too well probably as I look back.  It surely was the calm before the shade storm.  Somewhere amid the gathering, accordian folding, and pinning back the rolls for the shade, this DIY project began to look just that- I did this myself.

Don't panic, I thought as I stepped back from the project, one shade completed and ready to be hung.  Enter brave hubby, who knew I was frazzled but was willing to hold the shade up to the door for me while I pondered if the look would work.  I should have stopped here, but convinced myself- it probably looks fine.

Onto the next shade.  Same dilemma.  Same frustration.  The biggest problem I had with it is that if it is truly no sew- you are either using hemming tape or stitch witch to hold each fabric fold back and in place.  Which means you are ironing each fold down to activate the stitch witch, which means your end product looks completely flat and sad.  Which will make you sad.  Which will make you eat 5 cookies in a row (or was that a bi-product of my Gamecocks laying down and dying? not sure).  Now that I flip back through all the tutorials, most of those shades are very flat looking, too.  That should've been my first clue.

I will say I tried a combination of several No Sew DIY Roman Shade methods.  And I will say when it comes to the look of real roman shades, no sew? No sewch thing. Don't waste your time if you want your shades to look full, not flat, and not DIY.  Trust me.

Not to worry though, all is not lost.  I called in the help of my neighbor, and she is going to help me out with a sew-version.  And I thank her SEW MUCH! :)

I do have some good news that came from the window treatment debacle, my gel manicure from over a week ago made it through the no-sew failure.  My windows might be naked, my Gamecocks might be (were) destroyed, but my nails look good.

And I did successfuly complete a no-sew pillow (which got thrown and smashed a bit after the umpteenth Carolina turnover, oops).  I also hung some new blackout drapes.  So, all is not lost (with the exception of an Atlanta trip and every BCS hope- more cookies needed, pronto) afterall.