No Sew Dress Valance — A Rainy Day Project

I’m linking this up to Funky Junk Interiors’ Anything Goes Saturday Night Special.  Make sure you check it out as I get great ideas and inspiration from the gals who share their talent over there!

Maria Von Trapp turned curtains into play clothes.  I decided to turn a dress into a curtain — well, a valance.

I was browsing the sales racks in Target the other day when I found this dress with an adorable pattern.  The sage green in the pattern was almost the same as my kitchen color, so I said, “Aha!  I think I can turn this into a valance.”  I found the largest size available in the pattern and purchased it — $6.

Isn’t the ruffled bottom adorable?

So I waited for a rainy day and started my project.  My original idea was to use Stitch Witchery to put the valance together, but I searched and searched and used some choice words but couldn’t find it.  Since I was determined to get ‘er done I decided to make the valance with my hot glue gun.  Scared?  So was I!

Here’s what I did.

I removed the brown lining in the dress then cut the skirt to the length I wanted, plus about 4 inches for wiggle room.

Then I measured out how much lining I wanted for the gauzy dress material and cut that, plus about 3 inches.

Next came the scary part.  I glued the gauzy skirt to the lining all around.  It worked out better than I had hoped.

I knew I had to cover the glue gook at the top of the valance as well as create a nice top border.  So I folded down the corners of the lining and glue them down.  Then I folded the lining over once, glued, then over again, and glued.  I only glued the final fold in a few spots so I could leave room to hide the tacks underneath.  You’ll see what I mean in a minute.  Because only the under side of the lining touched the hot glue no hot glue showed when I was finished.

After letting it dry for a few minutes (hot glue dries super quickly!) I grabbed my upholstery tacks and mallet to whack the valance into the wall above my kitchen window.  Notice the fold of the lining — I left areas that I didn’t hot glue so I could hide the upholstery tacks underneath the fold when mounting the valance.

I got up on a kitchen chair and, starting at the ends, tried to hammer the tacks into the wall.  They weren’t having it.  After several attempts I decided to show that wall who was boss!  I went into the basement and found the only nails we had on hand — trim nails.

Long suckers, aren’t they?  I would advise that you use 1/2 inch nails when you do this to your own wall.

So I tugged and nailed and pulled and nailed until the valance was placed about where I wanted it.  It’s not perfect.  I’m sure it will be replaced some day.  But it’s good enough for me, for now.

And so you can see how well it matches the wall color — a photo without a flash.

Total cost?  $6 dollars.

Tags: DIY, Hot glue, no sew, Thrifty Decor

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