Easy Sew Valance Tutorial

Hello again from The French Hen's Nest 

Since we moved into our home 3 years ago we have had wood blinds at our dining room windows and no other window coverings.  Our view is our front yard and we have a lot of trees which means birds and squirrels to watch. I knew I wanted to make valances for the windows but I was waiting to see which way my decorating went.  This year we found a beautiful french dining table and chairs for a steal at Salvation Army so my dining room needed to be Frenchyfied. What's more French than Toile?

I found the fabric I wanted at Joann's and waited for it to go on sale.  Two weeks ago it was half price and I had a 20% off coupon so I paid $10.00 a yd for Waverly fabric, which full price is $25.00 yd. What a deal! I purchased 2 yd.

 
As you can see I chose a blue/white toile to go with the tiny blue/white check on the dining chairs. 

I don't have a cutting table so

I used a Simplicity cardboard 

cutting grid that I bought from Wal-Mart for $2.99.  I got all 

my supplies ready and spread out my fabric.

 I have 3 windows, each 32" wide.  The fabric is 54" wide and I needed 2x the width of the windows for the fullness. I ironed each yard in half making an easy cutting line and cut 4, 18" x 54 " pieces (#1).  

For the single window (32") I used one piece 54" wide and 18" from the 4th piece, sewing them together with a 1/2" seam. (#2) 

For the double window I sewed two 54" pieces and the remainder of the 4th piece (36") together. (#3)

I already had fabric I bought from GW for the lining so I cut this to match the toile.  I pinned the fabric together with right sides facing.  Then I sewed across the width, 1/2 " from the top and 1/2" from the bottom.  Since an uneven hem would make the valance top and bottom look uneven , I used a piece of blue painter's tape on my sewing machine as a guide.

My 20 yr old Singer!

After sewing top and bottom together, I turned the right sides out and pressed using the steam setting on the iron.  I then turned in about 1" on each open end and steam pressed.  I used pins to mark  3" from top for the curtain rod pocket.  The rod pocket will depend on the diameter of your curtain rod.  Once again I used a piece of blue painters tape 3" out from the needle as my guide to keep my seam straight.  You could mark with a disappearing ink pen instead. Then I stitched the sides beneath the rod pocket closed.

After pressing the valances once more I hung them up.

I'm really happy with how they turned out.  It was an easy project and took about 3 hours. The cost of fabric and thread was  $25.00 (I already had lining material). You should try it!

Linda

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