Up for air- and into the clouds

Where to start?  The past few weeks have been so busy!
The project that eclipses all else at the moment is an 8000 sq ft house with- at last count- 38 windows getting shades.  We're a little over halfway through the shades and other treatments, and then there will be draperies for the biggest windows.

My favorite treatment so far, in this house, is the little girl's room.

She requested a cloud under the rainbow that is painted over the window and up onto the ceiling painted with blue sky and clouds.  We looked at a photo of a cloud made out of what looked like cotton balls, and I thought, that's nice enough, but I can take it a little further.

My inspiration was sheer, rouched panels we made last year.  I thought I could extend the rouched top into a valance that would span the window.

This little mock-up illustrated my idea for the client......

and then Denise selected a pretty voile with little sequin-like heat-set dots in multicolored pastels.  The resulting cloud looks like the sunrise.

Amazingly, about 12 yds of fabric were used for the valance alone!  It was cut into strips, shirred, and attached to the cloud-cutout fascia made of Firmaflex, letting the cloud shape show through. Shirred single width panels frame out the window.
In the end, the cloud valance extends across the window, the panels hanging beneath it.
White raw silk shades (ribbed, lined with French blackout, with clutch lift systems) provide privacy.