How to make your own Roman Blinds

We moved into our house nearly two years ago and have neglected the front room's soft furnishing for long enough for me to call the local curtain & blind maker, only to be presented with an eye-watering quote that gave me the far fetched idea that I... yes, little me, could actually make one myself from scratch.
Four weeks later I am the proud owner and maker of a bespoke Roman blind that cost me less then a quarter of the curtain maker's quote.
Let me clarify the reason it took me four weeks is because I have young children which limit my free time to concentrate  to about 3 hours at week at the very most. I would say that for a determined person with free time it could be done in a day or two long afternoons, providing you have all the materials at hand and have done your preparations.
I used an extra large French metis (Fleur Bleue) linen sheet for the front and a long piece of mattress ticking I bought in Oxfam a few years ago was used as the lining. The ticking has the added advantage of making a feature of the back of the blind as the blind looks very stilish from the outside.
Now here is the list of what you will need:
*Sewing machine - you will need to be confident in using one
*Upholstery or heavy duty fabric measuring the width of your window frame plus 10 cm (5 cm each   side for seams)
*Lining fabric the same size as above
*matching thread
*Dowelling, about 5 lenghts of your blinds width  (plastic ones are sold in John Lewis)
*Roman blind tape, again at least 5 lengths of your blinds width
*Stick and strip velcro for the top
*Blind cord
*Screw eyes
*Acorn
*Cleat
*One piece of wood between 6 to 10 cm longer than the width of your blind

Trick number one - remember to take your time making sure the measurements are very precise as you do not want to waste your valuable fabric or have to undo your work to repair mistakes

to be continued 

Good night Mads