One of the most popular variations on a classic flat Roman shade is the waterfall — or cascading — stack. When the shade is raised, instead of folding flat, the fabric gathers into a series of soft, rolling folds that drape beautifully at the top of the window. It's an elegant effect, and with the Widget, it's surprisingly simple to achieve.

How to Install Them
When laying out your threaded ladder tape, pass each cord and length of tape through as many spacers as you have folds, and repeat for every cord across the width of the shade. As you tack the ladder tape at each fold, make sure exactly one spacer sits between each pair of tack points. The spacers are intentionally free to slide — that movement is what makes the system work.

The Finished Result
Once your shade is complete, knotted off, and the pin is pulled, do the Widget Wiggle to retract the shade. Each fold will rise until it meets its spacer and gently stop — leaving you with a beautiful, effortless cascade.
Simple materials, a little planning, and a lot of elegance. That's the Widget way. 

Happy Earth Day 2026!

As we mark this year's Earth Day, we're reflecting on the small but meaningful ways Centurion Roman Shade works toward a more sustainable future — for our designers, workrooms, and home sewing enthusiasts alike.

It starts with how our product ships. When you build a Roman shade with a Widget, there's no oversized metal frame traveling thousands of miles to reach you. Instead, you receive a compact, VHS-cassette-sized kit containing a streamlined set of lightweight components. Pair that with a small wood headrail, your chosen fabric, and a steel weight bar sourced locally — and you've already reduced your project's footprint significantly.

We won't claim the Widget is ecologically perfect, but the difference is real: fewer large components moving across the country (or the ocean) means less fuel, less packaging, and less waste.

And the benefits extend to your customers, too. Every Roman shade that blocks summer heat or buffers winter cold is a window doing more work — and an HVAC system doing a little less.

These may be small contributions in the grand scheme, but we believe they add up. Here's to building beautiful shades and a healthier planet.
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Happy Earth Day from all of us at Centurion! 🌍

We're thrilled to introduce a technique for creating one of the most luxurious window treatments in the workroom: the Hobbled Roman shade, also known as a soft-fold shade.

Unlike a standard flat Roman, a Hobbled shade features cascading, looped folds that stay visible even when the shade is fully lowered — giving the finished piece a tailored, formal elegance with an undeniably soft touch.

A few things to keep in mind when planning:

• Choose fabrics with designs that look beautiful in soft folds, and with enough body to hold their shape.
• Expect a taller stack than a typical flat Roman shade — plan your mounting accordingly.

The good news? It's really not much more work to fabricate than a standard Roman, and the result is a premium window treatment your customers will absolutely love!

Hobbled shades offer a meaningful step up in elegance for your customers — and the good news is they require only a little additional effort on your part. Pair that with the Widget's clean, smooth operation, and you have a finished product that truly impresses.

We had a terrific turnout of Widget enthusiasts on last Wednesday’s Widget World Wednesday Zoom call, where the focus was Concealed Hems. As always, the conversation was lively and full of practical tips from across the workroom community.

Judi kicked things off by walking through the Centurion method for concealed hems. She demonstrated how to calculate the correct fabric lengths and how to create concealed hem grips that keep the hardware completely out of sight—resulting in a clean, polished finished shade.

The session also featured several great contributions from the community. Lynn Scott shared her technique of placing the weight rod at the row of rings and using a permanent fold to cover the top stitching, creating a neat and professional appearance. Mary Dwan demonstrated her approach using a permanent fold with stiffener and fiberglass rods to create the grip points needed for the concealed hem.

As the discussion continued, the group explored a variety of related details, including different ways to handle ribs, approaches to top stitching, and strategies for balancing weight distribution across several shade configurations. It was a great example of the kind of collaborative problem-solving that makes these sessions so valuable.

Following the call, we updated the PowerPoint presentation to include the fabric-length formulas discussed during the session, along with photos illustrating Mary Dwan’s method.

If you missed the live call—or would like to review the techniques—a recording of the one-hour session and the updated slides (PDF) are both now available on the Widget World Wednesdays page of our website:

https://www.centurionrs.com/widget-world-wednesdays.html
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Looking ahead, our next Widget World Wednesday will be a general Q&A session on Wednesday, April 8. In a few weeks we’ll be asking for question submissions, so start thinking about what you’d like to ask—and be sure to save the date!

We spent some time this week updating our customer files and couldn’t resist taking a step back to look at the bigger picture—literally. The map of where Widgets are being used turned out to be pretty interesting, and we thought you’d enjoy a quick “geography lesson” of our own.

(Quick note: this data was pulled last Friday—so if you purchased your very first Widget after February 20, don’t worry… we know you’re out there!)

What We’re Seeing

As we looked across the map, a few patterns jumped out—some expected, some a little surprising:

The Southeast is a Roman Shade Hotbed
We had a feeling this might be the case, and the data confirmed it. The Southeast is full of busy workrooms and fabricators who clearly have a soft spot for Roman shades—and for Widgets.

Massachusetts = Widget E-Z Pass Lane
Our workroom friends in Massachusetts have a bit of an advantage. With our proximity, many orders arrive in just one day, at no extra charge. Fast, reliable delivery makes a difference when you’re on a deadline, and we’re glad we can help keep things moving.

Everything’s Bigger in Texas (Including Widget Orders)
The Lone Star State showed up strong. Texas continues to be a big supporter of Widgets, and we’re grateful for the steady stream of orders from across the state.

Across the Pond (and Over the Border)
We’re also proud to support customers beyond the U.S. Workrooms in Canada and the UK continue to order Widgets, and we’ve worked hard to make shipping—including customs and brokerage fees—as smooth and reasonable as possible.

A Milestone in Sight

Alongside this little geography snapshot, we noticed something else worth celebrating:

​We’re now within 10 wholesale accounts of reaching 300 accounts “in the trade.”

That’s a milestone we’re incredibly proud of.

Supporting fellow workrooms has always been at the heart of what we do. At the same time, we remain committed to helping retail customers access the specialized components they need—without having to jump through hoops or pay unreasonable prices.

Thank You
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Whether you’re across town or across the ocean, we appreciate every order, every project, and every workroom that trusts Widgets to help get the job done.

And if you’re not on the map yet… we’ll be updating it again soon. 😉

We’re pleased to announce that we are once again shipping two Hem Grips in our 4-cord Widget kits!
When our 4-cord Widget carried a 5.3 lb. weight capacity, it was beautifully smooth and easy to lower and raise. But we heard from some of you that with larger shades, it occasionally didn’t have quite enough oomph to pull the shade all the way up without a little more of an assist.

As we’ve always said, we curate our Widget Kits based on what we learn from you — our users.

So we made an adjustment.

We moved to a slightly beefier 4-cord Widget with a 6 lb. capacity, and the consensus seems clear: the lifting issue is resolved. The added strength gives larger shades the confident pull they need.

Because the new spring is a bit stiffer, we recommend that shades be planned and presented as a two-handed operation. Using two hands makes raising and lowering smoother and more comfortable for the end user.

And that’s where the return of two Hem Grips comes in. Placed at a comfortable distance apart, they naturally encourage two-handed operation — making the experience intuitive and easier from day one.

If you currently have 4-cord Widget Kits in stock and need additional Hem Grips, just let us know with your next order and we’ll be happy to ship some extras your way.
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As always, thank you for the feedback. It’s how we keep making Widgets better.

Chris is part of Gather’s “Cooking 4 Community” team, a group of volunteers and staff who transform donated food—much of which might otherwise go to waste—into delicious, nutritious meals that are free to take away. The team prepares homemade soups, meals, sides, and desserts, packaging everything into ready-to-go containers so community members have wholesome food when they need it.

So if you ever wonder why we’re a little less responsive now and then, just know that Chris may have set Widgets aside to whip cream—or stir pasta—for a few hours. He’s proud of his weekly contribution to fighting hunger, and we’re proud to support the work he does to strengthen our broader community.
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Community, after all, is about showing up—wherever you’re needed most.

When fabricating a Roman shade, the details you don’t see can make all the difference in how the shade performs. One of those behind-the-scenes heroes? The weight bar.

At Centurion Roman Shade, we recommend using steel weight bars—either flat or round—in Roman shade construction. While some fabricators choose aluminum because it’s lighter and easier to cut with a simple hacksaw, aluminum often doesn’t provide enough weight. The result can be a little bounceback when the shade is fully extended, which means adding extra weight later to get the smooth, tailored look you’re after.

Steel, on the other hand, gives you the weight you need right from the start. The tradeoff? It does take a bit more effort to cut.

If you only make Roman shades occasionally—or if you’re looking to squeeze in a quick arm workout—a hacksaw with a fresh blade will absolutely get the job done. That’s how many of us started.

In our workroom, though, we’re producing enough Roman shades that we’ve upgraded our tools. We now use a battery-powered portable bandsaw, which makes quick, clean cuts through steel flat bars—and even threaded rod. It’s a serious time-saver (and arm-saver), especially when you’re cutting multiple bars in a row.

Judi recently shared a short video on our Instagram page showing the bandsaw in action—just a little tease of how smoothly it works. We’re not endorsing any specific brand here, just the concept of choosing tools that match your workload and help keep your process efficient.

Whether you stick with a trusty hacksaw or step up to powered tools, the takeaway is simple: proper weight matters. Starting with steel helps your Roman shades hang beautifully and function the way they should—no bounceback required.

What You’ll Make

In this two-session online course over two weeks, you’ll learn how to construct a 24" wide x 42" long flat-fold, lined Roman shade, mounted on a board using the Centurion RS Widget lift system, complete with components that meet current cord safety standards.

What’s Included

• Two live, interactive 1-hour online lessons with instructor Susan Woodcock
  • Classes are recorded and available for replay
  • Includes 6 months of online access after the course ends
• Written, step-by-step how-to instructions you can reference anytime

Course Outline

Lesson One

• Measuring the window
• Overview of Roman shades and how they work
• Calculating yardage and working with pattern repeats
• Selecting fabrics
• Measuring and cutting fabric
• Sewing hems and adding lining

Lesson Two

• Finishing hems
• Adding the weight bar
• Planning lift lines
• Sewing shade rings and ladder tape
• Board mounting
• Installing the lift system
• Final installation