Tailored Valances
Tailored valances are another choice when trying to accent your windows. Many of our customers don’t want a poufy look and often don’t realize there are many tailored or flat designs available.
Actually there are two areas of visual impact on a tailored valance. One is the pleat and one is the space between the pleats.
There are really infinite ways to pleat a valance. Often we will take the same amount of fabric we usually use in a drapery pleat and flatten it. The pleat can be a single flat or we can stack another flat pleat on top to make a double flat pleat, perhaps slightly narrower that the under pleat, giving the pleat more dimension. Sometimes the fabric is divided equally but often it can be folded all to one side. Alternating the direction the pleats are folded, the amount of material in the pleat, and whether the fullness comes to the front or to the back can add interest.
Although the pleats might seem the most important part of the valance, I spend a lot of time proportioning the spaces between the pleats. Should the spaces be wide? (20”-24” wide and only 2 per valance) Or should they be narrow? (8” each but more of them) Each of these valances would be tailored but they would have very different looks. Often there will be multiple windows in a room and they might be different sizes, so I try to make the spaces between the pleats look as close in size as possible to each other.
Actually there are infinite designs that can be created by changing the spaces and the pleats. That is what makes creating a custom treatment so much fun!
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