I get the best ideas when cleaning, maybe it’s because I don’t want to think about what I’m cleaning. Three kids under 10 using the same bathroom-need I say more??
I’ve had this shower curtain for years now.
I have no idea why I have held onto it for as long as I have. Maybe my younger self knew deep down my older self would need it someday (like today). I had used it in our very first house we bought 13 years ago when we first got married. I washed it a few times and it had shrunk considerably and was no longer long enough to hold the “shower curtain” title. I liked that it was a fabric curtain and thought it’s future would be pillows…until today
I’ve done this no sew valance before but I had used painter drop cloths in the past. That idea is genius too since drop cloth makers are kind enough to sew all four sides of the drop cloths for us. The key with drop cloths is patience, gallons of bleach and a top load washer. I soaked my drop cloths in bleach for days and washed them 1509 times. They’ll never turn true white but you’ll get a light beige/gray linen look after they have been washed and bleached multiple times. If you are doing a drop cloth valance I suggest getting this size.
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You can also use a tablecloth as well. How cute would this tablecloth be as a window valance? It matches my favorite dish towels
The hardest part of this project is hanging the curtain rod. Any curtain rod will do (see my DIY version here). Next you want to fold the fabric in half over the curtain rod like this (my curtain rod is hiding but it’s up there)
Make sense? Next step involves either twine, jute, ribbon, yarn or whatever you have on hand. I had yarn in the basement so that’s what I used. Cut a pretty long piece and you are going to want to gather the bottom of the valance with the yarn and pull it up. Have I lost you yet?
Hopefully the picture helps. You want to do this on both sides of your valance.
If you look closely you can sort of see what I did with the yarn. You can either leave it like this or do one more gather in the middle which I did
And now you have yourself a pretty little valance that took less than 5 minutes to “make”. The possibilities are endless with this one. Drop cloths, shower curtains, table cloths, fabric. I love these easy ones…
