...finished kitchen...and how to make a valance curtain...

...well the kitchen is 'finished'...except for a table and chairs that is...and I'll be sure to show you those when we find the perfect ones... ...I have probably complained about...er...ummm...mentioned all of the fiddly bits to paint around in the kitchen... ...it's not easy...but I found this neat little tool...it's a stubby flexible little paint brush...and I was skeptical when the guy at the paint store told me about it... ...but I'm a believer now...if you have a lot of trim or cabinets to paint around this little guy will be your best buddy...

...so now on to some curtains...'cause as soon as you finish painting a room...you're going to need new curtains... ...well...in our case...it's just a valance...so I measured some gingham that pretty much exactly matches our new walls...

...you'll need 2 1/2 to 3 times the width of your window depending on how much gathering you want...ours are 2 1/2 times...for our 45 inch window we needed three yards of fabric...

...I wanted a 15 inch valance...so I measured up a 1 1/2 inch hem... ...and 5 inches for the rod pocket and that little poufy part that sticks out up above it...not sure what you call that... ...so that the entire length would be 15 inches... ...then I serged around the long rectangle... ...and turned under the serged narrow ends... ...and pressed those... ...stitched the two narrow ends and pressed the hem and top again... ...then it's just a couple of long straight seams for the hem and the two seams for the top rod pocket.... ...I looked it up...and that top part of the valance is called a 'heading'...and we wanted it to be 1 1/2 inch...so I measured that... ...and stitched the top seam first... ...and then stitched the bottom seam of the rod pocket...

...one great thing about gingham is that you have nice straight lines to follow...HA! ...all done...I know it's hard to see those seams... ...so little arrows to help... ...the little rod pocket... ...then just hang them up... ...I may go back and shorten this one over the sink...a couple of inches...it seems to cover too much of the window... ...anywhoo...that's another project marked off the (still very long) list... ...finished kitchen #1... ...finished kitchen #2...and Jack's ball...he dropped it and ran as he's so shy of the camera for some strange reason... ...finished kitchen #3...

...isn't that the perfect little nook for a small table...the boys want a hi-top...but I don't think that will look good with the sort of low window...we'll see...

...what do you think of all that blue?...

~Have a lovely day!