The easiest window treatment ever

A couple years ago already, I found this incredible maxi skirt at a vintage clothing store near me. I just fell in love with the fabric, but I had the same dilemma I always have at vintage stores - nothing fits my 21st century frame. I bought the skirt anyway because there was so much fabric I knew I had to be able to do something with it.



I figured it would make a great cover for a cornice in my studio. Cornices are a favorite window treatment of mine since they're a way of taking something as soft and ethereal as curtains and adding a clean hard edge to it. Plus, they're ridiculously simple to make. You just need a piece of wood in the shape of your cornice.

For this simple straight forward one, I wanted it to be eight inches tall, so I got a 2 x 8 and had a piece cut to how wide I wanted it to hang across my window. Then I had two pieces cut to how deep I wanted the cornice, minus two inches so the final measurement would include the width of both pieces of wood.

I lined up the two pieces perpendicularly and put three screws through the top piece and into the side piece.


Then to make it super sturdy, I used a bracket on the inside of the cornice.


Pull out your trusty staple gun and cover the whole thing with quilters batting. I used a couple of layers to make it look nicely upholstered instead of just a wrapped up piece of wood.


Since I was using a salvaged fabric, I had to sew some strips together to get it wide enough for the whole board, but after I did that I just stretched it across the front and stapled the fabric to the back. Don't be shy with your staples, and try to keep those corners neat.


I didn't have enough of the skirt fabric to make a lining for the cornice, so I used some random cheap lining fabric I had in my stash. As neatly as I could I folded the edges under and stapled the lining down.


To hang this up, just get some L brackets, screw one end into each of the side pieces, and the other end into your wall. Easy Peasy.

You might also want to remember to account for any other window treatments you'll be using when you determine your width. The last time I made a cornice I forgot and I had to jam a curtain rod up in there in a very unattractive manner. This time I didn't worry about it because I knew I didn't have the fabric to go any wider, so I figured I'll just staple some sheers to the inside.