The Amusing Simple Window Treatment

The window treatment in my Meme's Room was fast and easy.  The whole thing probably would have taken me 2 hours if I hadn't changed my mind in the middle of the project.  The entire time I was working on it I was amused.  This treatment is about as low sew as you can get.  Not no sew, but very little sew.  I am fairly accomplished at sewing.  Been doing it for over 40 years and have made everything from formal wear to slip covers.  Here I was making a window treatment for my sewing room without sewing!  I guess it takes very little to amuse me.  Maybe it's the isolation out here.

The idea for my window treatment started with a tutorial post I saw a month or so ago written by Jenny at the Little Green Notebook.  I loved how her pelmets looked and also loved how simple it was to do.

photo courtesy of Jenny at the Little Green Notebook

They are made out of foam core board!  But those who know me well and know how I sew and craft also know that I never follow directions.  Rarely anyway.  Anytime I can simplify something using tools or stuff we have, I do it.  I'm all about simplifying things.

I bought the foam core board and then drew out my design I wanted on one sheet of it.  Using very complicated tools, a dinner plate and a yardstick.

Then using the trusty duct tape I keep hidden in my stuff (if I don't I could never find any) I taped the 2 pieces together

and took them out to my bandsaw and cut the curve and the piece off the end.

I love my bandsaw.  I'm so glad I have my bandsaw and think everyone should have one, along with trusty duct tape.

This is what I ended up with.

I took the pieces apart and simply taped them down the middle to make one piece.  Again using my trusty duct tape.  Then I scored it on the remaining line at the sides and simply bent the sides inward.  This is when I had to stick it up on my window with more duct tape to see if I liked it.

I did. A lot.  Next I took the pieces I cut off the sides and put a top on my fancy window treatment with the trusty duct tape.  Then it was just simple upholstery, with my fabric of choice, a layer of batting and a hand stapler.  I ended up with this.

Surprised?  Because this is so not the window treatment I had in the post about my room!  I simply sat this one up on the window moulding and it stayed.  I stepped back and looked at it with my shelves.  Again I liked it!

By the way, this is what I did for New Year's Eve. Don't I live an exciting life?  I decided at this point to go have a glass of wine and watch a movie with M for the rest of the evening.  I had the wine and watched the movie.  He slept.  See, exciting life.  But simple.

New Year's Day I got up and walked into my room and looked at the pelmet for the first time with the room as a whole.  In the daylight.  I did not like it.  At all.  The white looked kind of beigeish and while the pattern of the fabric looked good with the shelves I did not like it with the other stuff I had done.  At all.  I don't quite know how to explain why I didn't like it except to say it was a different mood or something.  Simple fix, back to the work table and off came the Paris/Fashion fabric.  Staples come out of foam core super easy by the way.  Simplify things, remember?

To the fabric stash.  Because if you have as much fabric as I have, you don't go buy new.  (unless you think you want the Paris/fashion fabric)  I spotted (pun intended) this right away.

It's a pink linen with the white dots, the same color as my chairs.  Well, yeah!  Another simple upholstery job but just in case I thought I'd check before I finished the top.

Uh oh.  This is a light weight pink linen and I used a thin cotton batting because I didn't want it puffy.  See the silver duct tape line right down the middle?  Now was when I was wishing my stashed duct tape was white.  Like Jenny at the Little Green Notebook used.  But I was simplifying things, remember?  This was another simple fix though, I just slid some printer paper down inside between the batting and the foam core board and then finished the upholstering.

I used the fabric that I used on my memo board and my ironing board cover to make cording.  This is when it is nice to have boxes of stuff like this.

Most of the time it's just a pain having to find a place to put it.  I cut a strip of the fabric on the bias, folded the cording in the middle of it, put my zipper foot on and sewed it shut with a simple straight stitch.

I only put this in so that I could say I did do some sewing on this pelmet!

Then I sat down and hot melt glued the cording on.  How simple is that.  This is the way the inside looked

and I left it like that.  Do you hear that My Girl?  K?  I.  left.  it.  like.  that.  The whole time I was hanging it up I kept repeating to myself, "No one will see it, it doesn't have to be done perfect, it just has to be done.  No one will see it......."  I think I may have started my own personal 12 step program.

I wanted a sassy little ruffle on the bottom, like designers sometimes put on dresses back in the 20's.  So I simply tore me off two lengths of fabric and stitched them down the middle to make one long piece.  I folded the long edge in half, right sides together, stitched it to make a tube of fabric, turned the tube right side out and sewed along one of the long edges to make a rod pocket.  This made a simple 2 sided valance that looks good from the outside too.

When I attempted to hang the rod I discovered that I had somehow bought a rod 6 inches too long for the window.  Rather than come down off my Hill and drive the 45 minutes to return it and then back again I just cut it off.  And pinched, bent and crimped until I got the pieces to fit back together again.  Simplifying things, remember?

Here is my tube valance hung up.

Looks a little stunted, right?

Here is the very complicated way we hung the pelmet.

Yep, we screwed a 2x4 into the wall studs because it was what we had.  No. one. will. see. it.  It was a wee bit too tall for me even standing on my desk so M did it for me.  When he was done I simply set the pelmet on it

and secured it with a roofing nail.  One roofing nail.  Right in the middle.  Simplify things, remember?

A close up peek at the cording.

When I visited the Little Green Notebook to get the link for this post I noticed that Jenny's pelmet had cording on the top.  I really liked that and thought it would look good on mine.  But.  One roofing nail.  Right in the middle.  Problem solving comes naturally to me - the Pop in me.  We just won't say anything about being a natural at creating the problem in the first place, okay?  I made another piece of cording, stood up on my desk and hot glued it on.  Looks great doesn't it?

I just love the way this simple project turned out!

Note to self:  The next time you decide to do a project that you saw on a blog several months ago, go visit the blog to remind yourself how to do it.  BEFORE you do the project.  That is why you bookmarked it.  It does sometimes make it easier to follow directions, a bit.  If you don't though and you have to climb on the desk to fix something with the hot melt glue gun, be sure to take enough glue sticks up on the desk with you.  So you don't run out of glue with 4 inches left and have to climb down and get another glue stick.


You are not as young as you used to be and pink chairs and desks are not as easy for you to climb on as they used to be.

And remember.  Simplify things.