Drop Cloth Bedskirt

Edited to add on 7/2/09: The giveaway mentioned is over, but you are welcome to head over to my Etsy shop anyway! :) I'm adding this to Kimba's DIY Day party!
Before I go any further, let me remind you to head over to Like a Warm Cup of Coffee where Sarah Mae is hosting a giveaway of one of my tassels! Go on! THEN you can come back here.

A couple of years ago (or maybe not quite that long ago), our friends Jeff and Lisa gave us a king size bed. They were getting a new bed and we had wanted a king size for a long time. So, for the price of manual labor moving beds all over the universe (okay, around the corner), we got a bed we wanted. No, it wasn't new, but have you priced new king size beds lately? Sheesh.

With the bed came the bedding. The set they gave us with the bed came with the motherload: Comforter, pillow shams, bedskirt, and curtains (like, a bajillion curtains). The only problem was they didn't go with my bedroom. I knew I needed to update the comforter, but I wasn't going to go out and buy the first thing I saw. That is, until I saw this at Target. I was shopping with Kat one day and when we came upon it, I'm sure I heard the Doxology. I wanted that quilt reeeeeeally bad. So, with Mother's Day coming up, I hinted strongly to Sound Man that it would look bee-yoo-tee-ful in our bedroom. Long story short about that, he came through. He's a good man.

The only problem with this is that the set only comes in a quilt and shams. No bedskirt. I really need a bedskirt (or dust ruffle for some of you) to hide the massive dust bunnies boxes I have under the bed. So, what to do?

I had bought a 9x12 drop cloth at Home Depot for about $20 a few weeks ago to cover one of my tables at the A'Fair, knowing I could use it for something else later. After seeing a couple of posts from Susie Harris and Kimba I knew I could come up with something. Enter bedskirt dilemma. Perfect!

First, I washed and dried the thing. It had gotten dirty at the A'Fair, plus it had a funny smell that some things have when they're new. Plus, I wanted a washed, sort of messy look. I'm a washed and messy kind of girl. Then, I draped it over my bed:Then, I made sure that I had the hem on the floor where I wanted it, pulled a couple more inches and tucked those between the mattress and box spring:And took my very precise, very professional Sharpie and just stuck it in the tucked part and drew a line down the whole mattress:I was a Home Ec. Major. Dr. Diamond would heave if she saw this. I don't give a flippin' flop.

Next, I cut a very precise line where the sharpie line was:Or not.

Then I got my trusty glue gun out. You know what Nester says, "IDHTBPTBB!". What did I do? I glue gunned (is that even a word?) the fabric right to the box spring!I just pulled and tugged until I had it at the right level on the floor. Then glued that sucker down. At the end of the bed, I had more fabric than I needed, but I didn't want to cut it since I was feeling lazy (it was, after all, almost midnight...Sound Man and Kiddo were off camping), so I just made kind of a pleat:Then precisely and professionally cut another length for the foot of the bed. I had planned on making the seam the very middle of the bedskirt, but messed up and it was several inches off. Like, 24 of them. So, I made another pleat:All the while shoving and gluing and tugging until I liked it. Notice I didn't say, "Until it was perfect." Because it ain't. But look at it now:I think the picture is a little dark, but trust me, it looks great. Please do not look at the roll of tp on my bedside table. We were out of Kleenex, give a sistah a break.

And look how much material I have left over to make curtains!This project was so easy. The hardest part was trying to move the bed where I could get to the box spring easier. Did you know that king size beds weigh 20,000 lbs more than queen size? It's a proven fact. Ask my back.
I plan on gluing some brown grosgrain ribbon to the bedskirt, just to give it a little more presence. Then I can use that ribbon to hang the curtains. When I get it finished you know I'll show you!
Don't forget to enter the giveaway!