Easy Tea Towel Valance

I realize that some of you are wondering what the heck a tea towel is, let alone a tea towel valance.  Tea towel is a "Canadianism" (as Mr. B. says) for a kitchen or dish towel.  It's a little known fact that I was born and raised in Canada and I am full of "Canadianisms".

I'm used to the fact that my "Canadianisms" cause all sorts of confusion.  Like the time I sent my brother in law (Mr. B.'s brother) to the store for a "tin" of tuna. He returned some time later and apologetically handed me a bag.  "Sorry." He said. "I looked and I looked for tins but could only find cans of tuna.  I hope it's okay."  He wondered why I started laughing... I'm giggling while I write this.

I'm getting off topic though.  Let's get back to the valances...  My kitchen window needed a new valance.  I couldn't find any ready made valances that I liked, and I couldn't find a fabric that appealed to me.  One day I was buying tea (dish/kitchen) towels and it struck me... these would look great over my window.  The short side was the perfect valance length.  I loaded my shopping cart up with the towels.

The valance was super easy to make.  There is very little sewing because the towel is totally finished and hemmed already.  This makes it a great beginner sewing project.

My kitchen window is 62 inches wide, or 5 feet 2 inches.  I used the long side of the towel for the rod pocket, so I bought one towel for each foot of window.  You may want to add one more towels for fullness, or in case your towels shrink when you wash them.  It's a good idea to wash the towels first in case of shrinkage.  

Working with the long side, fold the towels over about an inch to an inch and a half depending on the size of the curtain rod you are using.  Iron the fold and pin.

I started sewing inside the corner hem, so I didn't have to stitch over multiple layers of fabric.  Sew straight across following the inside of the hem as your stitching guide.  Pull the pins out as you sew.  Repeat on each of the towels.

Slip the curtain rod into each of the towels, adjust the gathering and hang.

The nice thing about this valance is that I can reuse it for drying dishes when I decide to redecorate.