One of the things I discovered in the stash was a 9-foot by 12-foot canvas drop cloth. That turned out to be the exact right amount of fabric to make a new bed skirt for our king-sized bed.
No fancy styling here ... our comforter was straight of the dryer, and I decided that wrinkles are real life.
Here is what it looked like before ... a sweet, two-tiered, ruffly, 1990s edition bed skirt ... that was too short because it was measured and made for our previous house when our bed sat on wall-to-wall carpet instead of wood floor.
This isn't your usual type of bed skirt. Years ago, our bed was one of those soft-side water beds ... unbelievably heavy and impossible to simply lift up to remove/change/wash the bed skirt, so I designed an alternative. The foundation portion of the bed skirt stays in place between the mattress and the box spring, and the skirt part is attached to it with snap tape! It's a simple matter to unsnap the skirt, wash, dry, and iron it, and snap it back into place.
The skirt is made in three pieces, one for each side of the bed. A king-sized bed is 78-inches wide and 80-inches long. With the drop cloth cut into quarters lengthwise, and one of the strips cut into thirds and pieced onto the other strips, this allowed for three pieces of fabric that were almost exactly twice the measurement of each side of the bed. Perfect proportion and no waste!
21-1/4 inches from the floor to the top of the snap tape.
Separate pieces for each side, to split the corners and allow for the bed posts.
I recycled the snap tape from the original skirt onto the new skirt. The new skirt has pleats instead of gathers ... more to my current taste, and WAY easier to do.
It took a few hours, but none of the construction was too taxing. Three LONG rectangles, hemmed on all sides, measure and fold the pleats, with snap tape applied to the top edge. I installed each panel as I finished it, to feed my need to see progress.
By the end of the afternoon, it was finished ... and what a difference!! (The remains of old bed skirt could still be useful to someone who wants a LOT of white polished cotton fabric, so I folded it and dropped it into to Donate Box.)
The second Master Bedroom project was a set of drapes. I bought a package of turquoise velvet drapery panels at Ikea years ago, because I loved the color and I figured that I would hold onto them to use the fabric for something one day.
I have wanted some sort of curtains for our bedroom for a long time, but we had a not-so-small issue to overcome. Our bedroom has two windows, one on each outside wall. The best place in the room for our bed is in front of one of the windows. We need that window for light (otherwise the room would be like a cave). What type of window treatments would work for both of these windows?
North window, behind the bed.
West window.
Bedroom floor plan. With all the doors and windows in this room, the only logical place for the bed IS in front of the north window.
Earlier this week, while I was working in the sewing room and came across that package of velvet drapes, I had a brainstorm ... would it look right if I totally ignore the window behind the bed and make drapes only for the west window? I decided to give it a go.
Grommet-top drapes aren't my style ... so I cut off the grommets, added a strip of white canvas lining to finish the top of the panel and to form a rod pocket. (The panels weren't long enough to allow me to fold over the top to make the rod pocket, that's why I had to add the extra fabric. It's hidden, so no one knows it there but me.)
It only took a few minutes and four screws to install the curtain rod (which I also had on hand).
The chair? I moved that up here over Christmas, when we had to clear out the living room for the ceiling demolition. It's a little tight there in that corner, but I like how it looks and it gives us a place to sit to put on socks and stuff. The pillow was a bargain buy at a barn sale last month. The last name on it is the same as one of my ancestors, so you know I had to bring it home.
There you have it ... two sewing projects, using only materials that I already had. Total additional cost, $2.49 for a spool of thread.
