Sewing Saturday!

I'm not sure how it came about, but I'm pretty sure my dad just up and volunteered my mom's help all day Saturday.  Without hesitation I accepted!  I would have put her to work stringing wooden beads for my upcoming master bath chandelier project.  But sadly the 5,500 beads I ordered haven't arrived yet.  Stay tuned for that project.

We intended to just make the nugget's bedroom curtains.  But then we finished before dinner, and I somehow convinced her to stay on after dinner for another project!

We didn't document the curtain process because there are a million tutorials out there on how to sew drapes.  But I will say, these are beautifully lined and look really legit!  I'm loving the bold colors and patterns.  Can't wait to see the whole room come together!  More about the second project after the jump!



























Then I suckered her into tackling my questionable duvet project.  Here's the issue.  I knew exactly how I wanted my bedding to look.  In the last house, it was all pristine and tailored, and I was a fraud because in all the pictures and for those of you who've been in my house it always looked perfect.  But the other 360 days a year we didn't have company, it was unmade.  So this time I wanted a deliberately messy and marshmallowy and supersized bedding ensemble that still looks pretty even without 2 sets of hands nipping and tucking at it in the morning.  The other problem is, Brent and I usually sleep with 2 separate sets of blankets because we're both blanket hogs, and I really wanted to find a cover big enough for us to share!

If we had a queen size bed, we could easily buy a king or california king comforter/duvet and be done with it.  But we have a King size bed, and there's no "going up a size" in the bedding to get that oversized bedding look.  When I can't find what I want in a store, I go hard core into DIY mode.

So, I bought TWO king size duvet covers from West Elm either on sale or with a coupon so it was less painful!  These duvets have vertical bands separating the cover into sections of ruching.  It's this duvet, and this is a lot what I want my bed to look like!  This is probably a queen size bed they're showing with a king size duvet.

Gosh this picture is painful for me - I love this sheet set that is entirely discontinued and unavailable.





Here's what it looks like (without the comforter inside) as is out of the package in real life.  See how it just barely covers the sides of the mattress?  That simply won't work.  Also, reality check for you - try hard to ignore the cough drop on the floor and the clothes hanger wedged behind the nightstand that I only noticed from taking the picture!  :)


So the plan was to cut off 2 of the vertical ruching bands from the spare duvet, stuff with batting so it's fluffy, and then attach each of those strips to the left and right side of the uncut duvet cover.  That center section will remain unharmed and the regular king size comforter will go in there.

It was a little challenging just because the fabric was so puckery, and I generally hate working with batting, and oh yeah - I'm not the best seamstress.  That said, my $49 Walmart Brother sewing machine from my college days and I are starting to bond over all these projects.  :)

So this is after we cut one of the bands off, and that's all the photos we took.  It was getting late, and we were on a mission to finish!



And here's the finished product!  Voila - a king plus that nearly grazes the floor.  It even covers up the cough drop on the floor!  :)  Another problem solved.


I'm thrilled with how it turned out and can't wait to see it all come together.

Special thanks to mom for all the ironing, pinning, and cheerleading.  I truly couldn't have done either project without you, let alone two in one day!

Two more projects down, only a million more to go.  Up next:  office chairs, master bathroom chandelier, and a feature wall of pallet wood collected from our construction site!  

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