Geeky Girl Engineer

I have a garden window in my kitchen that I like very much. My plants that live in the garden window like it very much also. My cats also like it because they love to destroy my plants and can access the plants that live in the garden window. In general, the cats will not go after the plants when I am around, and in fact, normally they wait until it is nighttime, and I am asleep before really going after them. I want to keep at least some of the plants in the garden window, so I decided to make a window covering whose main purpose is simply to keep the cats out of the window at night or when I am away.

Garden window in my kitchen with my plants

I started with plain, white, cheap muslin. I didn’t want to spend a lot of money. Also, I wanted a light, thin fabric that would let the light in through through the window. I am not concerned about privacy in my kitchen. I found some pretty blue fabric on sale as a remnant at the fabric store, so I decided to make the shade a tiny bit fancy. I sewed wide stripe of the blue fabric to the bottom of the muslin. The width and length was measured for the final product to just fit inside the window. Disclaimer: I am a terrible, unskilled seamstress.

Fabric cut and blue stripe sewed to bottom of white muslin

I then sewed wide hems on the edges. The top hem was large enough to insert the curtain rod. The side and bottom hems were large enough to form pockets into which a wooden dowel could be inserted. The bottom dowel would run the width of the shade. Both sides would have 15 inch long dowels at the bottom. The point of the dowels is so that the cats could not just walk past the shade like a hanging curtain. Something stiff was needed, so they could not push it aside. The dowels will ensure the shade hangs straight and stiff and stays just inside the window, so the cats cannot get in between the shade and window frame.

Side hem sewed with wide pocket for dowel

All hems sewed with wide pockets on side and bottom for dowels

Up close view hems and pockets for dowels

Inserting dowel into bottom pocket

I then sewed loops of yarn on both sides of the shade, so that the shade could be held into place in the window with cup hooks. I had to adjust the size of the loops a few times, so that they were not too big and thus easily come off the hooks.

Yarn loop sewn onto bottom

The hung shade with dowels lowered and loops attached to hooks just inside the window frame as designed.

Shade closed over garden window

After hanging the shade, the cats quickly showed that they could remove the yarn loops from hooks. I tried having the hooks open in, out, and up, including some hooks opening in and some opening out, but the cats still could still remove the loop. Luckily, I found that the hooks are magnetic, and I had a bunch of magnetic disks. I am now able to keep the loops on the hooks with a magnet behind the hook. Thus far, this is defeating the cats.

Cup hooks inserted into window surround to hook loops with magnetic disks to keep loops on hooks

Loop on hook covered with magnetic disk. The large hanging loop attaches to a button to hold shade open.

I sewed a long piece of yarn with a loop at the end halfway up the side. Right above the yarn piece, I sewed a large button. The shade can then be held open in the window by looping the yarn around the shade and putting its loop around the button.

Shade held open with large loop of yard around a button

Close up of yarn looped around button on shade

It took a couple of tweaks with the loops and hooks, but thus far this set up is working. It has worked for about two weeks now, so I am cautiously optimistic this will prevent the cats from killing my plants when the shade is down.