Matching a Print for Seaming Panels

I'm making valances for my daughter's kitchen, and the window above the sink required a wide valance that is wider than my fabric, so the fabric and contrasting lining band had to be pieced.

Some fabric panels do not have patterns that match at the selvage sides, so they require a bit of work to match the pattern well.  You will cut your panels several inches longer than you will need for the valance.  This is because the pattern sometimes "drops down" several inches here and there across the fabric panel, so you lose inches at the top or bottom of the panel when piecing them.  Always buy extra fabric when you have to piece fabric panels--at least one full repeat extra.  Some drapery fabrics do match well at the sides, but this one was one that didn't.

Always have a full panel in the center of your curtain or valance.  The side pieces can each be a full panel or a half panel.  I used a half panel, so I cut my second panel in half in the exact center vertically.

Always match selvage to selvage.  Place the two selvages right sides together.  Fold back the top selvage so you can see the pattern.  Move the top folded selvage until you can match a pattern on the lower fabric.  You may have to move the top folded selvage several inches into the other fabric to find a match.  Here's the match of my fabric across the length of the fabric.  The top selvage is folded back.  You can see I lost about 5 inches or so of the lower fabric to find the match.  Click to enlarge pictures.

 Now carefully pin through all layers at this point.  This is just to match it up all the way across the fabric.  Crease the fold of the top fabric well with your fingernail or an iron.  This will be your stitching line.

Carefully take out a few pins at a time, and without moving your fabrics at all, place the pins into the creased mark of the fabric.  With a fabric pencil, lightly mark the folded line on the wrong side, too, so you can easily see it when stitching.  I place these pins right down the center line of the crease.

 Now fold it back once more to be sure you have pinned in the right spots.

Now sew right down the creased and marked line.  You can baste first if you'd like.  Here's the finished seam with the pattern matched.

Here's the lining fabric also matched and seamed.  With a stripe fabric, it is very easy to match the stripes so the seam hardly shows at all.  The seam is at the bottom of the red stripe.  It looks like one continuous piece of fabric.