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Ask Cindy
  VIDEO INSTRUCTOR

  Cindy Taylor

Cindy is the owner of Dolman & Taylor specialist curtain and blind makers. She has over 15 years of experience, curtain making, blind making, working with fabrics and making soft furnishings. In the videos she clearly explains and demonstrates the methods and techniques used in her workroom .

How to make
Roman Blind with a Bottom Flap
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CALCULATING A BOTTOM FLAP FOR A ROMAN BLIND

Most blinds we make in the workroom are standard inline blinds but sometimes you may want to show detailing when pulled up with a bottom flap. For example if you have a braided trim along the bottom or have added a fabric border.

The construction method to make a Roman blind with a bottom flap is exactly the same as a standard blind where all the folds align when the blind is pulled up. The only difference is the positioning of the rod pockets on the back of the blind.

The calcuation of the rod pockets can be made quite simply manually, but we have also created a calculator as well. .


The main consideration when making a blind with a bottom flap is that it the blind will be longer when pulled up. You need to judge how it will look and whether it will block too much of the window and light and factor that into your design.

It can be nice to use a bottom flap to show off a trim or bottom border.




MANUAL CALCULATION

The manual calculation of the rod pocket positions for a bottom flap is quite simple just

  1. Subract your chosen flap depth from the finished blind length
  2. Make your calculations for a standard folds flap using that new blind length as in the blind tutorial instructions.
  3. Add the bottom flap depth to the rod pocket positions.
  4. Add the bottom flap depth to your calculated "Top Section" value to get the actual "Top Section" depth with the bottom flap.




You can use the Cascade Blind Calculator to calculate the rod pocket positions for a blind with a bottom flap

METHOD

  1. ENTER Finished Blind Length
  2. ENTER chosen Headrail Allowance
  3. ENTER chosen Bottom Flap Depth
  4. ENTER 0 for Cascade Increment
  5. ENTER chosen number of cascade sections
  6. CALCULATE
  7. Vary the number of cascade sections and recalculate until you get the "Blind Length When Pullled Up" figure nearest to your optimum value. NOTE you can also vary "Headrail Allowance" but we wouldn't recommend a figure less than 7cm.