The new bed skirt |
The border that was coming down. |
The Log Cabin quilt I made for my son in 2005 using Civil War reproduction fabrics. |
Once I had the border off, I decided to remove the dark drapes which had been hanging in this room. Earlier this year I had made a pair of grommet top drapes from canvas painters' drop cloths, which I lined, and originally put in a different room.
I liked how soft the canvas is after washing once or twice, and drying (stopping often to remove lint). I realized that different brands were quite different shades of beige - one brand more yellow, and one much more grey. I used the yellowy fabric for the drapes, but they really didn't go in the original room.
Drapes as originally hung. Okay, but not great! |
I ended up rehanging those drapes in this room, and they looked perfect.
With the walls and windows looking nice, I turned to the bed, which was on risers to accommodate storage needs, and I thought about getting a bed skirt to hide the under bed storage. I looked around pinterest boards, and saw a very cute pleated bed skirt made from canvas drop cloth here. With lots of pictures, but no tutorial, I decided to give it a try. I love how it turned out, and how it looks with the Civil War quilt.
Unfortunately, I didn't take too many pictures during the process, but I'll share my process here.
My first step was to measure. The drop (with risers) was 18 inches, and I measured the twin bed at about 72 x 36.
I think the drop cloth I used was used a a 9 by 12 cloth, which included a heavy seam in the middle length. I washed the cloth twice, and dried twice. Warning: much shrinkage!!!!!
I removed the heavy seams.
With the walls and windows looking nice, I turned to the bed, which was on risers to accommodate storage needs, and I thought about getting a bed skirt to hide the under bed storage. I looked around pinterest boards, and saw a very cute pleated bed skirt made from canvas drop cloth here. With lots of pictures, but no tutorial, I decided to give it a try. I love how it turned out, and how it looks with the Civil War quilt.
Unfortunately, I didn't take too many pictures during the process, but I'll share my process here.
My first step was to measure. The drop (with risers) was 18 inches, and I measured the twin bed at about 72 x 36.
I think the drop cloth I used was used a a 9 by 12 cloth, which included a heavy seam in the middle length. I washed the cloth twice, and dried twice. Warning: much shrinkage!!!!!
I removed the heavy seams.
The real challenge for me was the bulk of this project, and I started trying to make it manageable. I knew I wanted 20 inch pieces at the end, so I cut strips a bit bigger (maybe 22 inches wide, but the length of the piece - they varied - this was an initial rough cut). Each piece was about 10 feet in length. I also added up the yardage I needed for the skirt, figuring 8 inches for each pleat, and about 10 inches for the overlap on the back end. I needed about 25 feet of bed skirting.
I then sewed three pieces of the 22 inch wide fabric together, keeping one end of each piece even.
I then used some heavy duty hem tape (5/8 inch) on a 1 inch hem. I was very careful with the sizing of the hem, checking it every few inches. This makes for a sharp hem.
Once I had the hem done, I very carefully then cut the piece to a finished 19 inches. I used my cutting mat, and the dining room table to accomplish this.
I had figured that I would pleat the skirt every 12 inches, with pleats on the corners. Again, I used my cutting mat, and lots of pins. Once the whole piece was pleated, I sewed about 1/2 inch down from the top to keep the pleats in place. I broke three needles! I also tacked down the pleats at the bottom and pressed them all with loads of heat and steam.
Once I had my pleats sewn down, I marked 7 inches from the top, and top stitched 1/4 inch from the middle of the pleat.
Close up of top stitching and mark |
The finished little button on the skirt. |
I used an old sheet I had for the platform. I decided against using the canvas for that purpose, since it is so loose, and I thought would be hard to get precisely fit on top.
I started pinning this together at the end (which shows the most) centering the two middle pleats, and sewed together with a 1 inch seam. Again, I was precise with this, using a guide bar on my machine. The corners were tricky, but not impossible. I used hem tape to finish the top of the sheet and overlapped the skirt just a few inches on each side at the head of the bed, which is against the wall or against the headboard, if we had one!
A view from the top of the bed |
I love how this redo turned out. My son will be visiting this week, and I hope he likes it too.
Take care,
Gretchen
Take care,
Gretchen
Love the idea of using drop cloths to create the curtains as well as the bed skirt! Definitely going to use that idea for the next time I need curtains!
ReplyDelete(Visiting from crazy mom quilts)
Nice! I never thought of using drop cloths! Quite clever.
ReplyDeleteGreat job! I want to do something similar! You have inspired me!
ReplyDelete