Pleated Window Valance in the Kitchen

On an unplanned trip to Hobby Lobby I stumbled across some fabric and I fell in love. I have always really liked the Toile patterned fabrics but I couldn’t find a good use for one.

When I found this one I thought it would match our kitchen paint colors perfectly and it would make a great valance for the window. Even Chris agreed with the fabric choice so I went ahead and bought 1 1/2 yards.

Before I started making the valance I knew that I wanted something simple, clean that had some pleating for interest.

Since the kitchen window is wider than the 45″ fabric I had to sew together several pieces of fabric to make it wide enough. I worked it out such that I had a seam located where I wanted to pleat the fabric.

I used a seam gauge and pleated the over the fabric one inch and pinned the pleat all the way down the valance. I top stitched just the top of the pleat a few inches down to keep the pleat in place. Then I came back and iron the entire length of the pleat to sharpen the crease so it would stay pleated once it was hung.

To finish the sides as well as the bottom I first serged the raw edge and then I did a double turn one inch hem. To hold the hem I top stitched close to the folded edge.

For the top I cut strips of fabric that were 2 1/2 inches wide. I sewed them together so the seams matched were the pleats were. Then I folded this in half and sewed it to the top of the valance.

Since I didn’t want a large bulky curtain rod I chose to use the Dignitet curtain wire system with two extra supports to keep the wire from sagging on the over 70 inch span.

It’s a little hard to photograph with the light from the window but here is a close up of the valance.

It has two pleats evenly spaced on either side of the center. The center portion is about two times the distance between the two side pleats.

I really like how the curtain hangs on the wire. We had to hang the valance a little higher than I originally planned so that the cabinet door wouldn’t bump into the wire and hardware. Although once it was hung it was hard to see how high above the window it actually hangs. It just looks like it’s meant to be even with the cabinets.

I think the color and pattern on the fabric fit in really well with our kitchen.

There’s just something about a window that just feels unfinished until it has some kind of curtain. I’m glad that I finally finished up this window.

Anyone else feel like you need some kind of curtain or valance for a window and a room to feel finished?