We wanted to ensure our privacy while camping in our van and also keep people from looking in while we are away from the van. After watching a few posts on Youtube, I came up with this slightly different plan for my custom window covers. This one does require a bit of sewing, but I think the results are more than worth the effort!
To begin, I measured all of the windows in the van so I knew how much fabric and Reflectix to buy. We went to our local Home Depot to pick up the Reflectix (note: we bought a roll for about $60.00 and in the end needed another smaller roll to cover the front window, which is huge!). For the fabric, we looked for black to face outwards and a nice print that you see here for the inside. It looks really nice when they are all up and blocks out the light really well. The just press into place for the most part, although I have made a few adjustments for the front and 2 side windows which I’ll talk about later.
Once the materials were purchased, we got down to work. To begin, I just used the Reflectix. I added a bit to each window measurement and cut big rectangles for each window.
Once the rectangles were cut out, I took them down to the van and kind of pushed the Reflectix into the window opening. Then, using a Sharpie, I marked where I needed to trim. This is an important step! Make sure you do it slowly and carefully, leaving a little extra. Better to trim off a little more than having to go back and add (I ended up doing this for one – not fun!). So, mark, trim, put it back in the window and then trim again if needed.
In the end, it looks like this on the outside
Not very attractive, if you ask me. That’s what the fabric is for. To make it easier to finish, we decided to use spray glue to attach the fabric to the Reflectix before adding the trim to finish the outside. However, the fabric we purchased was not thick enough and the silver showed through, so we ended up with another step of spray painting all of the pieces black on one side!
Do yourself a favour and buy fabric that will not do this – an unnecessary and more expensive step!
The fabric had also been cut to a rectangle larger than the pieces of Reflectix in order to make it easier to apply them. Once the pieces were all painted, we sprayed them with the glue and carefully pressed the fabric on.
When we had both the top and bottom fabric glued down, I trimmed the fabric to match the Reflectix underneath. We were now ready to sew the trim on. A quick note about this process. The glue caused the machine needle to gum up quite a bit. After some trial and error, I found some needles that were coated with a non-stick substance that really helped with this problem. If you wanted to, you could also just pin the fabric down and sew without using the glue. We just found it a little easier to have it already applied.
For the trim I used double fold extra wide bias tape. The easiest way to do this is first sew it to the black side.
With that done, flip with piece over and stitch the print side. This way you have control over how the stitching looks and get a better finish.
Some of the bigger windows were a bit awkward to sew!
The pieces for most windows fit perfectly and just press into place. However, I am a bit dubious about the two windows on the sliding doors – they don’t seem to be quite stable, so we have purchased two pieces of thin metal strips that will fit into the window frame and help hold them in place.
The front windshield presented the most difficult problem. When I first tried to press the Reflectix into it, the piece would just fall down as the window has such a severe slant. We decided to solve this problem by making a large rectangle. I have attached a couple of pieces of elastic to loop over the sun visors when it is in place and with works very well indeed. It does not totally block out the sun, but gives us plenty of darkness for sleeping.
Another solution would have been to simply hang this piece from the back of the two font seats, something we may do on occasion. I’ll update on any changes we make as we travel.
So, there you have it! Custom window coverings for your van or car! Hope you have found this helpful! Let me know if you have any questions and thanks for reading!
