If you're thinking about sewing a roman shade for a window that is wider than 60" across, then you are going to make an extra wide roman shade. This means that you now have to deal with piecing your fabric to achieve your shade width... dealing with extra weight when raising and lowering your shade... and dealing with installing an extra wide shade. At first, you may think that sewing a roman shade is sewing a roman shade... regardless of its width. And you would be right... but there are still some things you must consider to have an extra wide roman shade that you'll love.

1. Make sure you have the correct amount of cords for your shade. The rule of thumb is to have your cords no more than 10" apart. I've found, that when making a wide roman shade, it's better to reduce that spacing to 8" apart. So, if my roman shade is 80" wide, I want my cords 8" apart... 9 cords.

All that extra fabric can create weight which may result in sagging inbetween your rings. If your goal is to have a flat roman shade, then you certainly don't want sagging. AND the extra cords will help distribute the weight on the cords, reducing the amount of stress on them... increasing the life of your cord.

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