Pink silk Austrian valance and other pretty stuff~

 Today's post is filled with pretty stuff!! 

I found this darling Venetian style plaque at an Etsy shop,

Stacy's Shabby Shoppe. Stacy has lots of feminine 

and romantic items for sale, and this one called my name. 

 Its vintage and PERFECT for my pink and gold bathroom. 

  Now I just have to decide where to put it!

 For now I tucked it behind a wire and beaded candle sconce. 

 Hanging artwork is usually the last thing you do when 

you are decorating a room...but sometimes you just 

can't help wanting to put it up on the wall!  For those that

 are new to this series on my bathroom makeover, 

 the closet doors I painted have pink and gold accent colors.

 This Venetian tray in pink and gold perches on the edge 

of the tub holding some bubble bath for moi~!

  The new draperies I am now happy to

 have in my shop (click here to see more) are linen sheers 

with a damask grey print~ truly french vintage in feel!

Its hard to find panels extra long, and these are 102"!

 Since the tub is off center from the window, 

I draped one panel straight to the floor, and pulled the

 other side back with a gold acanthus leaf holdback. 

 For over my dressing table I wanted to make an Austrian shade

 out of a fancy ($$$) pink and copper strie silk panel 

I had in my stash from another house, days gone by...

 You can do this with any drapery panel you already have~here is how to turn it into an Austrian valance.

That means its stationary, it won't be going up and down...that would be an Austrian Shade. This valance is a fussy treatment that usually is quite expensive to have made...so pay attention if you would like one on a dime.  Get some shirring tape with two rows of string in the tape. Cut your drapery panel to be 3x the finished length of what you want your valance to be. The width of this fits my window as I want to have floppy ends and I plan to staple the extra width around the sides of the mounting board. If this sounds too hard, just look at the pictures and you will see what I mean.

 The shirring tape that you will cut and pin to your fabric, 

leaving a bit to hang over the edge of the fabric.

You can get this tape at most fabric stores.

 Stitch it down on the outside of each side of the tape (so two rows of stitching). I am going to have two swoops so I have three rows. You could do four rows and have 3 swoops, or 2 rows of tape for one swoop~your choice! I plan to add the moss fringe along the bottom when I am done to jazz it up.

 Here is the tape pinned in place 5 inches from my ends so it will have a floppy edge. You can stitch it to the ends if you don't want the floppy edge.  I tucked the end of the tape in the bottom hem and folded it over. Then stitch it up! Take out your pins!

 Stitched the trim on and now you can 

see what it looks like from the good side.

 Now pull all the strings up and see all the folds 

start to take shape. See how easy this is? 

 Flip it over and I'll be darned~its an Austrian Valance! 

Now at this point my panel had a ready made rod pocket 

at the top and I could have just slid it into a big rod 

and hung it, but I wanted mine to go on a board.

 Staple the top of the panel to the board and then fold

 the excess around the edges and staple that too.

Its now ready to hang by using angle iron brackets. 

 This is the valance in the window~you will get to see 

more of it at the reveal cuz I still have stuff 

to do on the dressing table skirt.

 Its a feminine and fancy type of treatment 

and its rare that I make these...

actually this is the first one I have made in 21 years!! 

They are pretty done up in sheers too~so now you now 

how to make this expensive valance for yourself.

And one more pretty thing I want to show you today is

 this lavender hooked rug my sister Susan found

 for me in Kansas City while shopping for items for my vintage store!  

Its in the hallway outside my office and I love it!

Have a pretty day everybody~
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