In An Instant: No Sew Window Treatment

This is truly the easiest no sew window treatment I have ever posted. It is done with a fitted bed sheet, not a flat sheet that you see made into easy no-sew panels, but– a fitted sheet. 

I learned to create this treatment when I worked in display and had forgotten all about it until I was in the supermarket line recently paging through a decorating magazine and saw a balloon style shade featured in a photo spread.   “OMGosh look at that” I thought. 

If you live long enough you see that– everything that goes around truly does come around again, but with a few tweaks.   This project was not in my book, but I did demonstrate it on Lifetime TV. It is on video tape, not digital or I would have added it to the post.

How to Make a No Sew Balloon Window Shade

supplies needed:

• Fitted Sheet – I used a full size sheet, but a twin works just as well on a single window.  There will be less gathering along the top of the rod.
• Curtain rod
• Ribbon or pins
• Scissors

1.  Drape the fitted sheet over a curtain rod so that the elastic corners fall to the sides of the window.

2.  Pull the sheet so that the bottom edges on front and back are even and the elastic corners are lined up front to back on each side.

3.  I am using the bright pink ribbon to better demonstrate how to pull and tie and sheet up.  I used white first, but I realized it was invisible in the photos. Any ribbon will work.   Drape 2 long pieces of ribbon over rod and sheet as shown.

4. Start on one side and tie the ends of one ribbon together. As you pull the ribbon up the sheet will raise up.  When you like where it falls, tie the ribbon in a bow or…

…a knot and cut the excess away.  Repeat on the other side.  Fluff and arrange folds as needed.

Use any color or type of ribbon. Here I used white to create a more subtle look.

You need to fluff the folds and make sure the ribbons are tied up evenly across the window.  There is really no right or wrong way – it is whatever you like.  You can make it longer or shorter by bringing the ribbon bow/or knot closer to the rod.

I played with the sheet in my daughter’s room and used pins instead of ribbon to hold it up.  I gathered a side at a time with my hand and secured the gathered folds with a large safety pin.  I placed it in vertically with the head of the pin on the back side of the sheet.

I did this on another window treatment I made and you can see the tutorial that has very close up photos of how to do the pinning – How to Make an Instant No-Sew Window Valance.

To hide the pin, I slid an open clip-on earring on the front of the pin to hide it.

Contrasting ribbon tied into knots. The knots are hidden on the back of the shade.

Matching ribbons tied into bows.

And when you don’t need the shade up anymore you can simply remove the ribbons and take the sheet down to use again on a bed if needed.

Since the sheet is draped over the rod – there will be pattern on each side. If you are going to do this on the front of your home, you can place a roller shade or blinds behind the treatment, so you won’t see color or pattern on the exterior of your home.

If you want to cover two windows – cut one patterned sheet in half and one white sheet in half. Sew a patterned sheet to the white sheet. The seam would be hidden by the curtain rod. Easy way to make a lining for a treatment like this.

Variation:

If you have two windows you want to cover and don’t need the sheet for a bed you can cut it in half and make a shade for each window. 

For a no-sew version: Fold over the cut edge (top) and use fabric glue to make a seam for a rod pocket to fit the diameter of your curtain rod.

If you sew: Fold over top edge and  sew a straight line a few inches down across the top to create the rod pocket.