FAUX GREEK KEY SHADE

You gotta love greek key, In my opinion it is timeless, a classic. I know it is very "trendy" at the moment but I have always had a love affair with greek key.  Because it is very "trendy" most things that I like are a little out of my budget, but the pattern is very simple and can be DIY'ed fairly easy.

I needed something for my kitchen window,I decided  it has been bare long enough. I have a plain old plastic blind hanging for privacy, but lets face it, plastic blinds arent very attractive to look at. So I wanted something pretty to look at, something to make that ugly blind not be the center attention. I came up with a greek key faux shade. Its not a functional shade, but it works for me, To "pretty" up the window.

First I had the idea and now second,what materials would I use?
Fabric can be expensive, even just  plain, non-patterned fabric, so off to the thrift store I went. I was looking in the linens section and found a nice crisp, clean white sheet. A light bulb dinged in my head..This is perfect, a sheet would work just fine. It was a twin size sheet and since my window was small this size will work. (If your window is larger, just buy a queen or king size sheet). I left the thrift store spending $1.50 for my sheet. Now I just needed the ribbon to make the greek key pattern. I had some black ribbon in my hoard craft drawer and some fabric glue, and that's all I needed. Three simple materials.

                                                         (sorry, forgot the sheet)


Here is how I made it:
I measured my window, which was 32 inches wide.
Decided how long I wanted it to be from top to bottom which was 20 inches and the "flap" 10 inches
Laid my sheet on the floor,measured 34 inches width (addition 1 inch on each side for the hem)
Measured Length wise 35 inches (20 inches for total length+10inches for flap+3inches for flap under hang+2inches for hem)
Marked the measurements on my sheet with a pencil, then cut.
I used my sewing machine to make the hems(you can use stitch witchery too) if I had some I would have used that instead. I created a little pocket at the top so that my rod could go through for hanging.
To make the "flap" I just folded the sheet under and sewed the outer seams together.

Now for the ribbon, I used graph paper and sketched the greek key, cut it out and again used a pencil and drew it onto the sheet. Putting the ribbon on is easy, put a little glue on the back side of the ribbon and just hold it down for a minute. The straight parts of the ribbon was easy, folding the ribbon to make the corners of the greek key took me a few tries. I learned if you fold it into a triangle then fold it down ,it works best for the corners like this..

  You will have to glue the ribbon to the ribbon then to the sheet. I let it dry for a few hours then hung her up. My window is now pretty! Here it is all done! Has anyone tried this before??