Living Room/Dining Room Valences

In July, I posted a blog about a valence mock-up made out of muslin.  That mock-up was about 45" wide.  The first windows my client decided to tackle with this valence were 82" wide!  So -- do we add more swags and chevrons or do we make the same design, only larger?  

The answer was clear when I saw the dimensions we needed.  The valence was to be attached at about 107" from the floor, several inches above the window.  And the valence needed to come down long enough that the top of the window was not visible, even more length needed because the viewer would be so far below the valence.  We ended up with 37" length on the ends and 23" for the swags.  This actually fits a guideline I have seen - a valence should be about 1/3 the length of the window.  To add swags the size of the mock-up, but with the new length needed, would make the valence look stretched from top to bottom and would have taken much more fabric.  We went with enlarging the original design.

The scale settled, I made new patterns of the size needed.  There are three types of pieces:  The center chevron, the cascade for the ends, and the swag.  All pieces are made with four layers in this case:  The main fabric on the front, lining (with an accent band) on the back, and interlining and blackout lining in the inside.  The interlining gives the valence a luxurious feel and the blackout lining keeps light from coming through and interfering with the look of the folds and creases.

On the left is the back of the center chevron.  The lower edge is a band made of the accent fabric (a beige satin).  When the chevron is folded, the accent fabric will show on the front side as seen in the next picture.  To create the band, I simply cut off the bottom of the lining and sewed on strips of the accent fabric.  The cascades on the sides and the swags also have a border of accent fabric on the lower edge of the back.  

  

This is the cascade.  The picture on the far left shows using a ruler to ensure the accent piping is applied in a straight line.  I used lots of pins to keep the bias-cut fabric from stretching and slipping.  (I also used a ruler and lots of pins on the chevron since its edges are cut on the bias.)  You can see in the picture with the folded cascade how the accent band on the back shows through the front at each fold.


The piping for all the pieces is made using sausage bead weighted cording.  The piping is made from accent fabric, with a narrow layer of interlining between it and the sausage bead weights to cover the bead "bumps".  This type of piping gives the pieces extra weight so they hang well.


The swag pieces were very large - with too much width to cut on the bias as would have been done if possible.  Swags cut on the bias hang a little better than swags cut on the grain.  But even if we had gone with narrower swags, the width needed would have prevented cutting on the bias.  It took a little work, but the grain-cut swag had a nice form in the finished valence.

Each valence will have a cascade on each end, a chevron in the middle, and two swags, all hung from a 1" x 4" board.  To prepare the board, I took a piece of lining fabric and stapled it so it covered all the wood.  I used a wide enough piece of lining so that there was enough left to cover the stapled valence pieces at the end.


The next step was to staple on the chevron in the center, then the cascades on each side.  To prepare those pieces, I folded them on my work surface, pinned the top edges, and ironed very well, pinching the weighted piping at the folds.  As I stapled them to the wood, I was able to make any adjustments needed so they hung nicely.  The stapling itself was very easy since I use an upholstery staple gun powered by an air compressor.  The only way to go, in my opinion.

Getting the swags on the wood was challenging as it involved working with the folds to make them hang just right.  I adjusted some of the folds, which required cutting the top edge.  The finished product, then, was not the same as the original cut pattern!

 

 Here I have finished attaching the pieces to the wood and have brought over the flap of lining, folding it at the edges and stapling all around.

One last bit of preparation was to tack the folds in the chevron and cascades so they hung flat, but in a natural way.  As you may be able to tell, I had the board clamped to my work surface, and fortunately had enough height for the pieces to hang without touching the floor.

Here are the installed valences.  To hang them, I attached 3 angle brackets to the wall at the desired height, then laid the valence on top.  With someone holding one end in place, I was able to screw the angle brackets to the bottom of the wood (using a cordless drill with a screwdriver bit attached of course!).


 
One final detail - to keep the edges of the cascades close to the wall, to keep sunlight from shining through, I pulled the bottom of the cascade tight and nailed a tiny brad through the piping into the wall.





I have to tell you about my perfect drill - the Bosch PS10-2A 12V Max I-Driver.  It's cordless, not too heavy, slim and sleek, has plenty of power, and has good balance.  But best of all, I can rotate the head to different angles, including straight up!  This was great when screwing the brackets to the wood on these valences.

I gave my previous one like this to my daughter, and right away went to buy a new one.  But the stores I searched do not carry it!  I bought it online.