Blinds, Shades and Shutters - How we cut cellular shades

Having just built a house with 40 windows, I didn't want to pay for custom cellular shades. While in a store, we were lucky enough to come upon a man servicing a window treatment cutting machine and after speaking to him, thought we could cut them ourselves. The first one took a little while to figure out, the rest, about 15 minutes each.

Here's how we did it: 1) We bought the next bigger size standard cellular shade (from JC Penney's cordless stock cellular shades - by the way, they are almost always on sale and the sale prices vary almost weekly - keep track of the amounts and you can save even more). 2) After we measured the window opening and determined how much to cut off each side, making sure that the cut wouldn't interfere with the mechanisms, we took the finest standard size hacksaw blade we had and sawed down from the top of the shade rail just until we hit the the fabric area. We then closely cut the fabric away from the shade header. 3) We repeated this with the other top end and then did both bottoms. 4) Then we sanded the roughness off of the edges. 5) To cut the fabric off, we clamped the shade together (top to bottom, as if closed) in a couple of places - one near the area to be cut. With each side cut, we inserted a new single edged razor blade into a razor blade holder (we had one from a wallpaper kit) to keep the cuts sharp. We placed a little block of wood under the fabric that was hanging over the bottom ledge of the shade in order to maintain a firm work area. Keeping the razor blade parallel to the side of the shade, my husband stood and kept pressing steadily downward on the fabric while I pulled the cut fabric away with tweezers. 6) This was repeated on the other side 7) Viola! Finished.

Note: I thought that I should mention some things that we found out - If you don't keep a steady pressure on the razor, you will get a little wave on the ends of the fabric, but you will not see them when you mount the shades inside the window frame. I'm sure that there's a better type of blade to cut the fabric with, maybe an extra sharp kitchen knife or scalpel etc. (but not a saw since it would fray them). In addition, a miter saw etc. might be better for cutting the rails. Anyways, I figure that we saved at least $100 each over semi-custom shades, paying about $1000 total for all 40 windows. They look nice and I won't feel bad if one gets dirty, I'll just flip it in the garbage and buy another one for $20. I hope I've helped some one. It's been hard to explain. I'm not a professional, but if you get stuck, I'll try to help you. Good luck.

Fantastic thread! I'm sure many people here will find it useful

May I suggest a different cutting tool for the fabric?

Remember those craftsman commercials with Bob Villa, the ones for the multi cutting tool.. Its a plier style cutting tool with a straight edge razor on the top and a flat base at the bottom..

I carry this tool with me to cut temporary paper shades to size but have used them to trim cell/pleated shades and they do a great job..

99% of the time, the material can be removed from the lower rail.. Separating the material from the lower rail is necessary to use the cutting tool since the bottom base of the tool will prevent you from getting flush against the shades rail.. Leaving you with material 1/4'' wider than your headrail..



also, you say these are cordless shades.. how much can you remove from your shades before you run in to the mechanics in the head rail?


How does the jc penny bracket work? is it a simple snap in or a pain in the butt screw?


Also, everyone loves pic's.. Id love to see the final product

Belated response, but:

Wow: kudos for cutting 40 shades down by hand. Reading this post made me nervous about my plan to cut through the whole lot -- rails, fabric and all -- with a miter saw (standard blade), but I decided to press on anyway; after all, the factory and in-store cutting centers use circular saw blades.

I'm pleased to report that I had no problem: the finish was pretty-much indistiguishable from the factory-cut end. So, if you have -- or are williing to buy -- a miter saw, I recommend going with that. On caveat: my shades -- also JC Penney Cordless (top-down/bottom-up in my case) -- had plastic rails. You might get away with this method for metal rails but you'd probably need to change the blade to something more suitable.

ExpatBrit,

Thanks for the post. I was planning to use my miter saw to cut the plastic and fabric, but was unsure if it would cut or tear the fabric. I cut the plastic and fabric with the standard blade on my miter saw and it turned out perfect! Thanks for the tip!

Belated response, but:

Wow: kudos for cutting 40 shades down by hand. Reading this post made me nervous about my plan to cut through the whole lot -- rails, fabric and all -- with a miter saw (standard blade), but I decided to press on anyway; after all, the factory and in-store cutting centers use circular saw blades.

I'm pleased to report that I had no problem: the finish was pretty-much indistiguishable from the factory-cut end. So, if you have -- or are williing to buy -- a miter saw, I recommend going with that. On caveat: my shades -- also JC Penney Cordless (top-down/bottom-up in my case) -- had plastic rails. You might get away with this method for metal rails but you'd probably need to change the blade to something more suitable.

The miter saw isn't really working for me - it's ripping out the fabric. Did you do anything special? How did you orient the closed shades on the saw:

(1) With the plastic facing up so the fabric was under it, or
(2) With the plastic on the side so the top, bottom and fabric were cut simultaneously by the saw.

Did you put tape around the blinds to hold them / clamp them into place?

Sorry for all the questions - just ruined an $60 shade and am afraid of starting on the next without asking.

Thanks!