The Historic District

Does anyone have a source for roller shades, the type that were popular until the mid 20th century when they were replaced by vinyl?

I've been frustrated in my efforts to find simple roller shades that have Holland cloth or its equivalent. An old-fashioned circular "pull" at the bottom might be nice.

I'm not looking to spend $300 per shade, I don't want daring colors, luxury fabrics, scalloped edge, decorative trim, cute stenciling, bead-and-clutch lift mechanism, motorized operation or remote control.

Just shades.

can you take a cheapo roller shade and add cloth instead of the plastic sheet it comes with? Just sew the two together beyond where it is usually pulled down to? I like the idea of applying a printer iron on transfer with some period specific graphics.

I keep watching old movies and trying to note how the older wooden blinds were done with thoughts of just making my own with about 2" x 1/8" slats of wood. a lot of them seem to have like a strip of cloth to control if they are open or not and a draw to pull them up. If Im doing wainscott and I could make the blinds tie in it might be fun.

The fabric is the problem. Holland cloth is treated so it behaves like a window shade, i.e. doesn't curl up and is stable in the sunlight. It's still made in Scotland so I may have to pop over there for my window shades.
http://www.scottishholland.co.uk/scotti ... istory.htm

Cost effective? Who cares?

I have some burlap and muslin that I bought for upholstering and I got a bolt of canvas for free. I thought one of those might work but I didn't know there was a cloth for this. I know someone with a sewing machine

Ok, I was almost right in my first response. Ober was the one that had shades made from http://www.thehandwerkshop.com/.

(Thread I found that reminded me: https://www.thehistoricdistrict.org/vie ... 77#p138977 )

Lily left the valley wrote: ↑Mon Apr 19, 2021 10:22 am Ok, I was almost right in my first response. Ober was the one that had shades made from http://www.thehandwerkshop.com/.

(Thread I found that reminded me: https://www.thehistoricdistrict.org/vie ... 77#p138977 )

Lily, I don't see a first response from you, just Phil's. Those shades from Handwerk Shop are lovely. I was hoping to find something a little more ordinary yet well made. I'm afraid I might be in pursuit of a wild goose. I should know that things that are well made aren't ordinary anymore. I'll give a Handwerk a call later. On their website, they suggest giving them a call on the phone. Imagine that!

Manalto wrote: ↑Mon Apr 19, 2021 12:12 pm

Lily left the valley wrote: ↑Mon Apr 19, 2021 10:22 am Ok, I was almost right in my first response. Ober was the one that had shades made from http://www.thehandwerkshop.com/.

(Thread I found that reminded me: https://www.thehistoricdistrict.org/vie ... 77#p138977 )

Lily, I don't see a first response from you, just Phil's. Those shades from Handwerk Shop are lovely. I was hoping to find something a little more ordinary yet well made. I'm afraid I might be in pursuit of a wild goose. I should know that things that are well made aren't ordinary anymore. I'll give a Handwerk a call later. On their website, they suggest giving them a call on the phone. Imagine that!

Oh, I just edited my original response which was I thought Matt posted about getting some from there. (Which, honestly, maybe he did too!)

As to the phone call, I bet when you call you won't get an automated menu that can't understand what you're saying. (Every time I call to pay the internet bill, I want to strangle whomever thought AI voice identification was a great idea.)

I just confirmed my order with Linda at thehandwerkshop! I'm biting the bullet and doing them all at once. A big nut, but it makes more sense to ship them together since she's in OR and I'm in NJ. They ranged from $87 for plain-jane (probably similar to what you're looking for, James) to $147 for three fancier ones for my dining room (I decided to class up that room a bit).

Her dad was ill, so there were some delays and miscommunications but I think we got it all ironed out in the end. There is a pretty lengthy lead-time--maybe 8-12 weeks. I'm trying to get them installed by the time Old House Journal comes for the shoot (not sure if I shared that yet).

The shade cloth is like cotton but then it's coated on both sides. Frankly, it feels a bit more like a vinyl coated cotton, but it helps with finger prints and dirt. Ober has them (referenced in this thread) and they look really nice. I'm excited to get them...and probably so too are my neighbors

MJ1987 wrote: ↑Mon Apr 19, 2021 1:56 pm{snip}I just confirmed my order with Linda at thehandwerkshop! I'm trying to get them installed by the time Old House Journal comes for the shoot (not sure if I shared that yet).

And there we have it...I was right on both and didn't even know it with certainty.

Wait...Old House Journal shoot? Cripes I need to get caught up with threads. Grats on however you snagged that opportunity!

After paying enormous amounts of money in the past for all kinds of roller shades, I have found that the best thing to do is to get a tear-to-fit blackout shade from Walmart and cover it with cotton (quilting) fabric. Here are the instructions I used: https://thediymommy.com/make-a-no-sew-f ... ler-shade/