No Sew Ribbon Valance

I couldn't find a valence to match my daughters pink and black Paris themed room that didn't cost my husband a lot of his hard earned money. I wanted an inexpensive yet girly look to hide the roller shade. I also don't like to sew.  Although, I was going to sew but I couldn't find material to match either.  So one day I accidentally found Eiffel Tower pink and black ribbon. You all know the great accidental find, the one while roaming around aimlessly at the local craft store you when you find what you had NOT been looking for. Of course you fall in love and buy it knowing that one day you will use it for some project. After months of sitting around I started to google ribbon curtains and found some similar ideas but then my idea took on a life of its own, no sew!  

Materials

After this picture I took a couple trips back to the store to get different ribbon. Who buys all their needs for a project on the first trip?

I ended up with...

2 rolls of 9 yard, 1.5 inch Paris and white with black dots
1 roll of 15 yard, 1.5 inch black shear and light pink shear
1 roll of  15 yard, 7/8 inch hot pink
1 roll of 15 feet, 7/8 inch black with pink hearts.

Total 8 rolls of ribbon. Depending on all the variables you might buy more or less. I had no idea this project was going to exercise the basic math skills.

I got it all the ribbon for 50% off and spent a little over $15. Each window cost about $18 with the curtain rod.

Since I knew nothing about ribbon I learned a ton on this project. Patterned ribbon comes in a smaller yard amounts. I was really thrown when I got home and I had a 15 ft roll.  They even change from yards to ft?  For example, the shear black ribbon you get 15 yards per roll. The fancy Eiffel Tower is only 9 yard rolls. Then the black with pink hearts was only 15 feet!  Just an FYI for you new to ribbon.

For this project it didn't seem to matter if it had wire or not.

Close up

I used 31, 24 inch strips of ribbon. I found that 1.5 inch ribbon when looped over and not pulled too tight will take up about an inch if put on a 1/2 inch curtain rod. Simple math right. 30 inch window you need about 30 strips of 1.5 inch ribbon.  

I had to get a little fancy with my pattern . I worked from each end to the middle. I started at one end and mirrored it on the other end.  My self diagnosed OCD would not allow a ABCD ABCD pattern because the color on each end of the rod would be different.  GASP! So I did ABCD ABCD DCBA DCBA  I hung an E and F in the pattern every once in a while.  Let me repost the top picture so the visual people, like me can see.  E is about middle. Black with two hot pink on each side.    

                                                                ABCD  E  DCBA

Okay so let talk knots. This next part might be clear as mud. Apparently, I used the lark's head knot. 

I laid the ribbon on the table so it was even on both ends, pattern toward the table. I slipped the ends of the ribbon under the curtain rod. Loop toward me.

I then took the ends and slipped them threw the loop.  This is a normal larks head knot.  You can do it reverse which is not the look you will want.  I had to redo a few.

Clear as mud right?  Well at least you know the name of the knot and can google for it. I trimmed up the lose ends and that is it.  So easy, inexpensive and I love them!

If I had to do it over again I would make the ribbon longer. I think most valances are about 15 inches so I would make the ribbon 30 inches long instead of 24. I did 24 because it was an even way to cut 9 yards. I tried to keep the math simple and buy as little as possible without having left over materials.