New Valances

Well, it took a while...but I finished the new valances for the kitchen. Sheesh. You'd think it was some elaborate pattern or something. Nope. The problem is in my "short cut" tendencies. I thought of lining the valances with a blackout liner. I even saw it suggested on a blog or two. But, hey...I didn't really need that. My fabric was heavy enough. I'd be fine without it. Grr. I was up and down from the chair in the kitchen so many times it should have counted as a workout. I kept adding layers to block out the sun. Lesson learned.

These are the valances that were hanging in the kitchen until recently. 

(I like them, but I wanted to lighten up the kitchen a bit.)

*Please ignore the spotty window. Apparently, I was slacking on my chores.

And the new...

It's just a fixed roman shade. 

I didn't actually need it to open and close, so technically speaking...this was not complicated.

Simple, right?

This is what I saw when I first hung it up:

The sun was just accenting my less-than-perfect bottom edge. I knew I needed to add some fabric behind it, so I added a strip to the bottom and moved on to the other window. 

This time, I made the bottom hem extra wide to block out the sun. 

It still wasn't enough! 

And I had a new problem:

Obviously, my layers didn't meet up just right, so the sun was peeking through the middle now, too. Eventually, I got it. I had to sew an additional layer of heavy fabric onto the entire back of each curtain.

My simple little shades are quite heavy.

But I like 'em...so I'm calling this one a success;)