Up Close and Personal

Introducing the new handmade kitchen valance! And I didn't even have to use a glue gun! Ha.

This has been months in the making. I bought extra material when we had the fire place hearth cushion made so it would all match. The green material along the bottom is also supposed to be some throw pillows for the couches...but that is the next project. One at a time.

I had a great time making this. I really enjoy sewing! I went to a girls night scrap booking session and at the last minute decided to take my sewing machine and make this instead. A couple hours of uninterrupted sewing was all I knew it would be!

I went all out and sewed in cording too. It was quite the adventure with only minimal stitch ripping. Ha! It got pretty tricky at the edge though and although I didn't bust out the glue gun, I did make good use of some scotch tape. I had no idea how to attempt cording but that was part of the fun. It was like a little mini engineering project! (for someone who didn't know exactly what she was doing, that is)

So I wrapped the cord around the edge and sewed it in place but then...

...it wasn't quite long enough so it started to fray. That's where the tape comes into play. I certainly learned a thing or two. Like that you have to sew the hem along the sides first before the top and bottom...otherwise the rod pocket area can't be hemmed. Oops.

Overall I am happy with it. If I could change it I would have made it longer but the engineer in me didn't take the depth of the rod into account. But on the plus side, I have gotten a lot better at sewing a straight line. It's pretty fun bonding with my little machine. And it's even more fun to know I made it!