Arts and Crafts and Algebra

Today I’m making new valances for my kitchen and 2 matching aprons. It didn’t start out to be a crafts project, but these things happen….. Last week I went to Ikea. They had the most AMAZING clearance price on curtains – beautiful white fabric with red “toile“ flowers. Originally $14.99 per package, they were marked down to $0.99!! For that price how could I NOT find a use for them? My kitchen is in the process of going from “white and blue” to “red, white, and blue” and I was hit with inspiration. So, I bought a package of valances. When I got them home I discovered there was only one in the package (the sign could have been more clear – it read “2/package”. Apparently that only applied to the actual curtains). After much irritation I drove back to Ikea only to discover that there were no more valances. Fine – it was under a dollar after all. So I bought a package of curtains instead. According to the information on the package they would still be the same width, just longer. Hemming is not a problem, so I brought them home. It was then that I learned that the width listed on the package was only valid if you considered the ENTIRE width of the curtains when hung side-by-side. GGGRRRRRRR!!

So now we come to today. After some basic math I figured out that if I cut each of the curtain panels in half and re-hemmed the bottom edge, I would end up with four panels whose length was slightly longer than the valances and whose total width would be the same as the original two valances would have been. I shortened each of the four panels, and then I took that extra length and cut it in half (if you can picture it, I now have 4 panels and 4 strips about 2” wide). Finally I took the original valance and cut it into two pieces, each about 25” wide. All I have to do is hem the bottom edges of the 4 panels for the new valences, hem the cut sides of the “EX” valance pieces (top and bottom are still hemmed), hem the sides of those strips, and attach the strips to the sides of the ex-valances pieces.

Total cutting time: 30 minutes
Total sewing time: about 15 minutes
Total cost: $2.10
Final result: perfect white and red valances for my kitchen, and two very “kitschy” matching aprons.

Not bad for an afternoon!