Crazy Beaver Curtains and Vintage Sewing Valances

I have finally taken pictures of some of the other things I made for the new house! 

This is one of the valances that I made for our homeschooling/sewing/play room. I LOVE the print!!! It's all vintage sewing items. Printed burlap is the best!!!

I made this valance the same way I did the DIY No Sew Valance. SO much better than putting the burlap through your machine!!!
I also used the decorative nails to hang the valance instead of a curtain rod.

Here is the crazy beaver print that the girls picked for their room!!! Dumby me didn't get quite enough fabric so there's only one panel per window. I tried going back but the beaver print was long gone. :/ 
It's OK, though. The girls love their new curtains and Deanna assures me that she never opens them anyway. She doesn't like the light. LOL


I've got 1,001 things going on here BUT I will have 2 new tutorials coming up in the next couple of weeks. Not to mention, we start a new homeschool year today!! Wooo hooo!! Lots of homeschooling posts coming up, too!!! And there will always be the special Friday posts! :D


                           HAVE FUN SEWING AND HOMESCHOOLING!!!!

Owl Print Kitchen Curtains

So, I needed some new kitchen curtains. We moved and all my old curtains were worn out! My kitchen here is very retro.... That's just my way of saying OLD!!! LOL Seriously, the stove is older than I am!!! My cabinets are those really old dark wood with the hammered metal handles... Yes, it's THAT old! LOL But I think I can work with it. At least there's a new dishwasher, right???

Anyway, I bought a really cool owl chalkboard with the gift certificate that Jacob gave me for Mother's Day.

I wanted to use it in the kitchen and I wanted my curtains to tie it in.

I mentioned the other day about the recent 50% off sale at Hancock's, well, I bought about 4 yards of white broadcloth to use with an owl print that I have had in my stash forever!!

Here is the result!

I am so pleased at how they turned out!! They brighten the whole kitchen up!! And I think they go well with the age of the kitchen. Very late 60s, early 70s, yes??

I used flowered nails to hang the valance over the sink and the panel on the door. I really like the way it looks. The nails match the hammered metal on the cabinets. 

I also made some very simple little flower buckets to use on my dining room table.

I bought the buckets at Target for $1!! They already had the chalkboard stars on them!! Then I grabbed a $3 set of yellow flowers. I pulled all the flowers off and placed them in the buckets. Simple, cheap but cute!! Well, at least I think so! ;)


Next I'll be working on some simple black curtains for Joshua's room. After that the girls need new curtains. Wait until you see the print they picked out. OH, BOY!!!

DIY No Sew Burlap Valance Tutorial

I am very excited to bring you this SO SIMPLE, SO EASY tutorial. I am loving the way it turned out!!!

We moved and got new furniture so I needed something new for our windows. Our living room window is 9 ft long!!! And we have this amazing view that we didn't want to completely block. What to do.... AH!! A valance! But not just any valance! A chocolate burlap valance!! 

Thank goodness Hancock's was having a 50% off sale!! I bought 7 yards of chocolate burlap for about $25!! Enough to do the valance and a straight panel for the other living room window.

I have sewn with burlap before and while it's a fairly easy fabric to work with, it makes a HUGE mess going through a sewing machine. That's when I decided to go no-sew with them!

I bought fusible bond for heavy fabrics.

This was my first time using the fusible bond so I was a little nervous at first. I should not have been. It was SO FREAKIN' EASY!!! You just iron it right in, it couldn't have been more simple. 

For my 9 ft window I used about 4 yards of the burlap. It had a very wide width so I decided to turn it sideways and use the width as my length, if that makes sense.... In other words, the selvage became my hem. 

All you do is cut the length of fusible bond that you need and place it between the fabric. Add a hot iron and VIOLA! You have a hem!

Since I was working with such a ginormous piece, it took several cuts of fusible bond.... LOL 

This is what the hem looks like afterward. 

For the space where the curtain rod goes, I just measured and folded the top over. Then I placed my fusible bond on the edges and ironed. 

Easy Peasy!!! 

After I put the valance up I took some gold toned ribbon and looped it under the valance, tying it at the top. 

I have to say that I absolutely LOOOOVE it!!! The Hubby thinks I should pull it up even more. He wants to see more of the view. 

I am still trying to decide if I like the other window.... It just looks a little wrong to me somehow. If I figure it out I'll post about it and let you know!!!