Saturday, August 11, 2012

Animal Print Valences From One Curtain


      We all try to make a great classroom on a budget, right? Check out this idea.
        I bought a curtain at Walmart for $9.97. ( yes, just one curtain) It seemed to be the best deal for the fabric. I'd looked at sheet sets and fabric, but neither of them had the substance that this curtain had. It's also got a great, bright zebra print.
       So, the top of the curtain had a rod pocket that was the same size as the hem, and the hem was exactly like the rod pocket. You could have hung the curtain up either way. This gave me the idea of how to make the most of my fabric!
       The next thing I checked was whether the fabric looked different if hung upsidedown beside the right-side-up. (sometimes it looks different in color or texture...) I needed to know this because I planned to use the hem as a rod pocket, which would have that part up-side-down.....

       I folded the curtain in half, putting the top and the hem together and cut the curtain exactly in half. Where the cuts were, I folded the fabric down and made 2 more rod pockets the SAME SIZE as the others. Now, I had 2 pieces of curtain with a rod pocket on the top AND the bottom. This may sound wierd, but it worked perfectly.
   
       Next, I folded each of these exactly in two, laying the top and bottom rod pocket sections on top of each other. ( I did this one at a time)  I cut along the fold line of both pieces. These cuts were where I stitched a tiny little hem on all four valences.
      There! Done! This Animal Print classroom now has four beautiful valences for $10.
       This idea would, of course, work with any classroom theme if you find a curtain that coordinates with your theme.
       

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