Decorative Window Banner Dressing

This window dressing band goes across the top of a window and covers all of the window shade hardware, makes the window look a bit longer, and the added color adds a great accent to the room (plus, it's dirt cheap).

Step 1 Parts and planning

1. We wanted (actually, my wife had this great idea) to place an ornamental colored band across the top of our bedroom windows (figure 1). This window dressing band covers all of the window shade hardware, makes the window look a bit longer, and the added color adds a great accent to the room. We already had those cheap adjustable metal rods for drape hanging (figure 2) so we devised a way to use 2 of these rods per window to act as a frame for the window dressing. The window dressing is basically just a fabric tube that is pulled tight by the 2 rods. The parts are:
- 2 adjustable metal drape rods per window (figure 2)
- hanging hardware for these rods (~ $0.60 each)
- fabric; we chose a dark green to go with our plantish motif (~$10)
- heat-activated hemming tape

Comments

[themostbob]

Did you rotate the bottom mounting brackets 180 degrees? Seems like that would keep the bottom rod from rising and let it sink gently to stretch the tube. I'm considering trying to find a sewing machine for cheap and doing these kinds of things...especially considering the cost of window shades and curtains.

[blakelock]

thanks for the comment themostbob. both brackets are mounting in the same orientation. the rod has to be angled for installation. the front of the rod will be higher and the end of the (that part that hooks into the bracket) will be lower. then, gravity pulls the whole thing down and keeps it in place. rotating the bottom bracket 180 degrees would keep the tube stretched tight but i think it would be very difficult to install. you would have to tilt the bottom rod so that the front was pointing down and the hooked end was higher. there probably isn't enough give in the fabric to allow this but if you can figure out a way to do it, it might work out very well. you are right about the bottom rod trying to rise. before final assembly, we ironed the tube so it was flat and fairly crisp. this helped it stay flat after we assembled and mounted it. as far as the sowing machine goes, we just used "iron-activated" hem tape. it's a strip that you put in place, then iron. the heat makes it stick and it hasn't come apart in over a year!

[gummachine]

Looks good and is simple to make!