Dani found my website a year ago. She bookmarked me and saved my info until she found the fabric she wanted. She finally saw the right fabric on a tv show, and amazingly was able to track it down!
She had also seen the valances I did for Doug and Diane's kitchen, last winter and really liked those. I visited the house, measured, got an idea of what she wanted and I then went out and found co-ordinating fabrics for the pleats and piping.
Here is a close-up of the fabric:
Isn't it gorgeous? I just love it!
Here is the Kitchen before:
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| I just love the plates. I was a tiny bit sorry to have to move them as they are just lovely. I think Dani is going to hang them on one of the other walls in the kitchen. |
And after ! :)
Changes to the pattern:
- I widened the swag pattern from it's original size. I also shortened it a bit. Tim and Dani love the light and didn't want to cover too much of the windows so it cut it to @15 inches long at the longest part.
- I also added a bit more "swoop" to the top of the pattern. Tim (who claims to not know anything about window treatments or fabrics and whom I do not believe one bit :) ) thought that they would look nicer with a bit more dip in the top. So I took it down about 1.5 inches from the original pattern. I know that doesn't sound like much but when it is in a curve, it makes a big difference. I made a pattern template where I altered the 'swoop" to be about 3 inches form the original and it looked distorted. So I halved that and 1.5 was perfect.
- Side returns are 5.5 instead of 3.5 so I just widened that pattern piece.
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| Pieces are cut out and ready to be assembled. In the background you can see my assistant, Sophie. She usually lays under the table while I work , supervising. |
I cut the interlining as one piece. The pattern calls for cutting the interlining like the face- as separate pieces then sewing them together. That method is fine, but the problem is, there are then three seams in each pleat area. In the past two of these that I have made, I could not get a nice, perfectly crisp pleat like I wanted.
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| This is the swag fabric & pleat fabric sewn together. |
I cut and sewed the face fabric, the floral and stripe and then pressed it. Then I used that as my template to cute the interlining as one piece. This made much less bulk in the pleats areas and I was able to get a nice crisp pleat that laid flat.
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| Here is the face fabric being used as a pattern for the interlining. This reduces bulk in the pleats! :) |
For next time:
I am going to cut the back lining piece in the same was as I did the interlining, by using the face fabric as a pattern piece. I have a client, Regina, who is looking at the pattern in a beautiful black and white print. The pattern calls for the pleats to be lining in the back with the same fabric that is in the pleats on the front. With a black and white face fabric, a white lining would blend in nicely in the back. This would also cut the bulk in the pleats down to almost nothing ensuring that the pleats lie the way they are supposed to with nice crisp lines. In a multi colored fabric, I do think the back of the pleats would need to match the front as they are seen a tiny bit.
The Knobs and Posts:
are from Pate Meadows. I chose the 5.5 inch projection posts for this to accommodate the window moulding and the pleats behind the valance. In a perfect world, you could order these to your exact size- like I really would have preferred a 4.5 inch projection from the wall. But we live in an imperfect world ( "Screws just fall out all the time, the world is an imperfect place"... Quick!!! name that movie quote!.......................ok, I will give it to you- Breakfast Club.) so I had to choose between two sizes. The posts come in 3.5 and 5.5. I felt 3.5 was just to small for this room. So 5.5 it was.
The knobs are so so so pretty.
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| Close-up of the knob. |
Knobs are mounted 2 inches out from and 5 inches above the moulding on the side windows. Center windows are 3 inches out from and 5 inches above. The center windows are 1 inch more because if I added those 2 inches, all the swags across all three windows would be the same size.
I did not use the plastic anchors included with the posts. I also did not use the amazing drywall anchors that I have been using. I didn't use any anchors at all on these because those posts are actually wood and very light. These valances weigh very little. I put one post in and tested it out and it was solid and secure. As long as no one is playing Tarzan on them, they will be more than fine. They will stay put until they decide to take them down, which I hope is many years away. :)
The door:
The door needed something too. If we had done the windows and not the door, it would have looked unfinished. I do not think the Delaine valance would well work on doors, so we did a valance mounted on a board (1 x 2.5 ). It is gathered in the back with button thread at measured intervals. Welt cord at the top and bottom. It also has a depth of 15 inches. The curved bottom edge matches the curved bottom edge of the window valances, so it ties them together.
Here is both the door and the windows. I will tell you, because I am sure Dani would want me to tell you, that the ironing board does not live in their kitchen. :) It is only there because I used it to give the valances a nice hot press seconds before hanging them up. It makes a big difference in hanging this particular valance. I lay them flat to deliver them but no matter how careful I am, they still get a bit wrinkly en route. The swags must be perfectly smooth to look nice.
Materials used:
Dani found the gorgeous floral print online. The stripe in the pleats and the fabric covering the welt cording are from Artee fabrics, in Virginia Beach. Cotton interlining and lining are from Rowley. Post and knobs are Pate Meadows. Pattern is the Delaine Valance, Pate Meadows.
You are amazing!!!!!!! We are so happy, and you are so talented. Tim wants me to add that if you ever need help "finding friends," just give him a call!
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