guess what i did this wknd?

i made new valances for my kitchen windows!


for close to three years now i've kept the same old lady sheer valances that were inherited with the house up. i'd been wanting to change them and had in mind what i wanted but never came across it. that is until i just happened to take a stroll through the fabric aisle at walmart one day. imagine how excited i was when i saw exactly the striped fabric i had been looking for in not one but two colors (green and red) - both of which would work in the kitchen.

walmart doesn't give out fabric swatches so i left the store with a plan formulated: since the fabric was only $6/yd i'd buy both and decide which to use once i got them home. my mom was coming to visit so i asked her to bring her sewing machine. i did a little sewing in 8th grade home ec so i figured i could tackle the straight seam required by a valance.

on my return trip to walmart i decided to just go with the green stripes instead of getting both. i was so anxious to sew that i forgot about ironing seams. this is where things started to go a little haywire. actually things started going haywire when i cut my fabric with crappy scissors. unfortunately, the good shears were at my mom's house (along with the straight pins and other sewing accoutrements). (now is a good time to tell you that i am a perfectionist and what other ppl will gloss over and plow through i painstakingly agonize over getting it umm...perfect. this is an extremely stressful habit.)

okay so follow me here...we've got jagged fabric edges and me trying to iron a straight seam for the hem and rod pocket. in other words, i was driving myself bananas so my mom took over (thanks!). while she did that i sat at the sewing machine in anticipation. to make this long story shorter, there was an issue with the bobbin case and i COULD NOT SEW MY CURTAINS! you don't understand how disappointed i was. my mom was like it's not working use the hem tape. and i was like NO! I'M GONNA FIX IT! MAMA, I WANNA SEW!!

well, i'm no sewing machine repair person and the manual wasn't any help at all so i resigned myself to using the hem tape. the valances came out not bad at all if i do say so myself. they're a little crooked but i don't think anyone will notice.