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Using Grommets with a Cord Lock Pulley An Inside-Mount shade with a cord lock presents an operational "issue". In order to lift the shade, your have to reach behind it (several readers have described this as "fishing for the cord") to grab the lines. To unlock the shade, you may have to lift the shade out of the way so that you can swing the cord towards the center of the shade. Look at the drawing near the top of the previous page. Commercial products such as miniblinds thread the lift cords through grommets (or simple button holes) at the top of the shade so that the cords and cord lock are at the front of the shade. This is covered with a small valance. This way it is easy to reach the cord lock mechanism, rather than reaching behind the shade. The lift cord hangs in front of the shade. Doug Millar of South Portland, Maine sent me these photographs of his inside-mount shade along with his explanation of how he used grommets to bring the cords to the front of his shades.
"For my second set of shades, I slightly modified your design. The first shade I made was internally mounted and turned out great. The only thing I wasn't completely satisfied with was having to fish for the cord to raise it. I wanted to mount the second set inside the window once again and wanted to try using a cord lock. To make it work, I made the shade with battens and lift rings according to your design, but added three grommets about 2-1/2" to 3" below the top of the shade, each one in line with a column of lift rings. The shade is attached to the back of the mounting board, and a valance is attached to the front of the mounting board to hide the hardware. The lift cord is tied to the bottom lift ring on the back of the shade, threaded up through the column of rings and then through the grommet to the front, through the pulleys and cord lock and down the side of the shade. It ended up working like a charm, the shade goes up and down easily with the cord pull always accessible."
You can just barely see the lift cord on the right in this photo, which had the valance in place. Doug went on to say: "Thank you for the incredibly helpful website. A year ago, I didn't know what a Roman shade was, now I've got four hanging in the windows and more on the way. I'll be ordering more of your great hardware when I get my nerve up for the big living room window (the shade will need to be about 8-1/2 feet by 4-1/2 feet) and I'm thinking of making it top-down/bottom-up." Back to Shop
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