Ellen, You have to leave 2 side seams open. 1 Take main fabric sew one side seam. 2 Take lining sew 1 side seam that will match with the main one. 3 Lay right sides togehter. You're going to have this strange looking garment with only one seam sewn lying there. Pin the bottom and the straps. Sew bottom (this eliminates 2 hems). Then sew the straps around the area where you have a side seam. 4 On the side that's the open side seams pin the arm hole/straps and sew to where the open seams are. 5 Now you're going to turn it right side out. You're still going to have this strange looking garment with 2 open seams but the stitches will all be on the inside. 6 Here's the trick, you're going to take the main fabric and and pin it right sides togther. The right side of the main fabric front to the right side of the main fabric back. Pin a little bit of the lining fabric the same way. Sew that on the machine. You're going to have a 4-5 inch area of the lining that you are going to have to hand sew with a whip stitch, etc. to finish the dress. Hope this makes sense and helps. If all else fails pin everything and "pretend" you've sewn it so you can turn it right side out and see what I mean. I'm a visual person much to Joansews(Mother's) dismay. I constantly tell her, "Don't try to tell me how, show me how". Susan

We had Verizon when we live in Annapolis. Had an instance where service went out (it was just us as both next door neighbors where up and running). Called Verizon, waited FOREVER and was told it would be FIVE DAYS before someone could come out. So I drove up to the local Verizon service shop (not a store but the place where all the technicians go to every morning and get the truck, supplies, assignments, etc..... dingy warehouse building in the back of a dingy industrial park). Talked to the foreman there and he filled out a service request for 8AM next morning. Funny sidebar: He's typing out the request and he noted "Customer irate". I said "I'm not irate" and he replied "I know but if I don't put that down they ignore it". Anyway, sure enough, a guy showed up at 8AM the next morning. And I brought two dozen doughnuts to the shop the NEXT morning! It was much appreciated. I had some other problems over the ensuing years and I just went up to the shop. Didn't even call Verizon's service number. Worked VERY well! So you might try that.

I think what every one is saying, that from your question you are working under the assumption that this is simple and can be done cheaply for a couple of thousand. A couple of thousand that will just get you into the game. I don't know what it is like in your area, but in our area you need a permit for everything and once you have the building permits, you have to get an occupancy permit. Examples of permits you probably will need, Permit to tap into the house water system, sewer permit, Electrical permit. Construction permit. Each permit will have to have a city approved inspection. You may have to get some sort of permit from the power company to increase the amps provided to the house. One of the question that will have to be answer is the current fuse panel in the house large enough for the increase demand made by adding the shed. If this is an older house, the whole thing will have to be resized. This is especially important if you are planning on heat / AC with electricity. If you are going to heat the shed with gas, you will need a permit to tap into the line and extend the line to the shed. None of the items mentioned above even considers that actual cost of labor and materials to do the item. Some items like electrical work, water plumbing, and others must be done by a city authorized and licensed person. Some times it takes different people with different licenses to get the job done. As an example; It you have an AC/Heating unit installed you will need a licensed AC/Heating person, and some on with an Electrical license to get the job done; It there is a gas heater that is another licensed person. We are not trying to be difficult, just trying to help you see the size of the project you want to undertake. In an effort to produce an absolutely safe environment simple jobs become quite complex.

this is a simple thing to sew and you will be fine with it. Once you get your two finished pieces together, it will all become clear as to how to eliminate the bulk. It is a nice and will not be hard to do , at all. For your rod pocket you will need the depth of the rod x's 2 and a tad more just for ease of inserting the rod and then, of course, a seam allowance to turn under the raw edge at the casing line. Do leave a bit of wiggle room in the depth of your rod pocket so that it slides in easily. The most important part of this is to a get nice shape on your scallops or points. Mark carefully and trim carefully and press, press, press! Precision lines, trimming seams and pressing are of utmost importance. One more thing about cutting your pieces is that it is best to cut your deco fabric at least two inches wider than your desired finished width. And, cut your lining fabric only to the desired finished width. Sew them with a one inch seam allowance and when you turn them to the outside you will have the edges of the outer fabric wrap around to the inside for one inch before they join to the lining. Top layer finished width plus 2", lining only to finished width, join with 1" seam allowance and turn. That way you dont have a seam right at the edge of the finished piece. Rather the seam that joins them is recessed in for 1". It makes for a nicer edge. This called a "pillowcase" technique. Give it a google. You just dont 'want the lining to begin to peek out from behind the deco fabric at the sides. I like these valances, They are nice and tailored and they dont take much to make either in effort or materials and you can change them out if you get tired of the old fabric. Really, they are easy and quite nice. When it comes to sewing that sharp point you might want to google some ideas about that. One idea is to not actually stop at a point and pivot the machine needle, but, rather to take a couple of small stitches straight across that sharp point and then go back up the other side of the point., Your seam is only going to press into a point to a degree. It has bulk. You might try a trial run on those points with some scrap pieces. It takes some care to get nice points. If you are not familiar with sewing crisp points, give it a google and take a practice swing at stitching it and trimming it. You dont want to trim too close at the point because it will come apart.