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Many of you had asked how I made my
bedspread, so I put together a pseudo tutorial of how I did the little bunchy square. Thingies.
ONWARD.
(My apologies in advance, I didn't take many pictures while I was making it, and the ones I did were kinda sketch...so...bear with please!)
and...ONWARD.
1. So firstlies, you are going to need a horrific amount of fabric. The
original bedspread is made of jersey, so that is what I used. My local
Dirt Cheap had just gotten in a shipment of huge white Hayne's t-shirts and I bought about 45 (they were $0.50 each!) You, of course, can use whichever fabric you desire! Another idea is maybe finding some jersey sheets, or just outright buying fabric.
2. Okay. You are going to want to lay out your shirt(s), and cut off the sleeves and neck, staying as close the edges as you can to optimize fabric useage. (You should have two pieces, a front and back)
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| Lay out your shirt |
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| Cut off sleeves and neck in straight lines |
3. Locate the approximate center of your current square/rectangly piece of fabric, and pinch it...
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| PINCH IT! :) |
...then pull it up, and lay it down. (Sounds confusing, but basically make a ghost shape out of your fabric square)
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| Sideways ghost! |
4. Next, take some strong white thread or embroidery floss...
...and tie off the tip (will end up being the middle) of your fabric, leaving about two inches on the short end.
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| Knot it TIGHTLY! |
When you open it back up, you should have a little puff!
For added strength, go back and forth through the base of your puff a few times with your needle and thread.
5. Next, with a new strand of thread, come up from the bottom of your puff, poke through the center...
...and go back down through the puff. I did this three or four times per puff :)
And it gives it that nice 'rosette' look.
6. Take a piece of square paper in the dimensions of your choice, and lay it (centered) on top of your fabric square. I just used a standard piece of scrapbook paper, and it worked out great!
Then, using your square paper as a guide/template, cut the excess fabric off of the sides of your square. Rotary cutters work FABULOUSLY for this.
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| You should end up with something like this! |
7. Now, repeat steps 1-6 about a billion times! I popped in my Doctor Who DVDs to help pass the time :)
8. Once you have a nice stack of squares made, take 2, right sides together, and pin the corners on one side.
9. Due to the nature of stretchy fabric and my sketchy measurements, not all of your pieces will line up exactly. This is good; it adds to the pleated-ness. With your corners pinned on one side, pleat the fabric squares so they line even out and line up.
10. Then pin your pleats good and tight...and sew a straight line. I like to leave a good 1/2 inch seam allowance, just because (a) its a bedspread and I flop around in my sleep alot, and (b) its jersey and tends to stretch and pull. In hindsight, I could have serged the edges...but...I...didn't...?
11. Now, repeat this process until you have several rows of 5-6 squares apiece. I have a twin bed and mine ended up being 6 squares wide by 7 long. Once you have your rows, sew them together until your bedspread is long enough. (I'm sorry if that is confusing, I didn't take ANY pictures after I made the squares!)
12. Once I had my squares all sewn like I wanted them, I picked up a full-sized regular white comforter, and, right sides together with my puffy squares part, sewed along the edges, and cut off the excess. Remember to leave an opening to turn your project right side out! :D
13. As far as actually quilting, I simply stitched the corners, due to the bulk of the project. It helps if you work from the middle, stitch the corners of the very middle square, and go out from there!
Once I get the pillows made, I'll post those!
I'm sorry if that was crazy confusing! I kinda flew by the seat of my pants as it was! To be honest, I really didn't think it would turn out, so I kinda half-did alot of it =/
Questions? Thoughts??
Toodlieos!
-J
