Monday, June 8, 2009

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!

24 comments:

Teri Lynne Underwood said...

What a great idea! I need to do something like that in my daughter's room. She moved from full to twin sized bed. Kept the bigger comforter because she loves it and she's nine and doesn't care how the bed looks. I let her keep it because I'm learning that some things (like having a comforter that fits a bed that is never made) don't matter. LOL

P.S. RTing the giveaway cause (in case you didn't see on Sarah Mae's blog) I am dying to have one of the most adorable tassels!!!!

tpillstrom said...

I'm very impressed! I'll have to show Amber! She loves a good home imporvement project! I'm thinking of recovering my love seat! I'll let you know how that goes!

Miss Laura Lu/RMS4291960 said...

I love it! I did the same thing with my dust ruffle! Well almost! I took an old sheet and put it between the mattress and box springs then hot glued 2 ruffles around the bed! I don't like to sew so I used iron on tape to hem the bottoms and iron on pleating tape to gather the material. I'm so glad someone loves their glue gun as much as I do! God Bless! Love ya! Aunt Lauralu :)

Anonymous said...

YOu have so got it going on!!! I love the tip you gave us using a maker. I just may have to try that one one day. Im telling ya... you would never know it was a drop cloth! Cant wait to see what you do with the left overs.
I see you have some very sweet tassels that just found new homes too.....Sweet!!!

Kat said...

Ingenious.

Kat said...

Did I spell that right?

Misti of Studio M Designs said...

Good thinking girl! Those darn dropcloths are awesome for so many things. I once made like Scarlett O'Hara and yanked down some drapes off of the windows and thought they would make a much better bed skirt in the master bedroom. I was right! I just poked, and tucked, and poked and tucked (no glue gun for me) but I had tons of fabric and didn't want to cut it, so I just tucked until I had the PERFECT bedskirt. Funny the things we can come up with out of necessity!!! You are super smart!

~Misti

"Intentionally Katie" said...

I love those curtains too! I'm tagging this post and begging my MIL to help me make that for our office. I've had fabric and NO inspiration for what to do with it. Simply perfect - thanks for posting!!!

HSingMama said...

I like the idea of adding grosgrain ribbon to the bedskirt. It looks good now...but that would make it look great. Be sure to post if/when you do add the ribbon.

I love those curtains in the photo. I've been looking for ideas for my living room and these curtains just might work! :o) Especially using a dropcloth.

Thanks for the ideas! :o)

Heathahlee said...

Thanks for the encouragement, peeps!

Rebecca Harber said...

Wow girl you have been busy. You can come to my house and help me make curtains for my kitchen, dining room and living room. I just got a new embroidery machine and I'm making all kinds of cute stuff. Right now I'm working on bibs and burps clothes for 2 friends that are having babies soon. Which reminds me that I should probably be sewing now instead of blogging. Oh well I needed a break. I'll definitely stop by your Etsy shop those tassels are too cute.

Free Art Printables said...

Great use of a drop cloth!

Nicole A. said...

Great idea and I love it! It looks Awesome!

Chris said...

This is brilliant! I am SO doing this! Thanks for sharing!

Willow Decor said...

What a great idea! Found you via Chris at Just a Girl! So glad I did!
xx-Gina

Roeshel said...

Wow! Love it. Very clever and you did an amazing job!

Nancy Hood said...

Here via Chris's link at Just a Girl and would love to come back and browse your ideas! Happy 4th!

Cathy said...

Now how darn crafty is that..awesome. I wish I could think like some of you gals..

Anonymous said...

That is beautiful! And so easy! Dropcloth is so versatile, I just love it. We are getting ready to build pergolas on our back patio and I'm going to use dropcloth to make a "cover" over the top to shield the sun, and to make curtains on the sides of the pergolas. I can't wait to see your curtains!

Jennifer Juniper said...

That is hilarious that you glued it to the box spring! Love it! What our home ec. teachers would say...

Anonymous said...

I love that simple idea! Thanks for referring me here. I just might have to try that. as a quick solution. And thanks for visiting my site.

Tiffany {Simply Modern Mom}

Bed Linens said...

I recently came accross your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I dont know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.

Screaming Meme said...

You are so clever!!! I love it, HeathahLee!

Dawn said...

Oh my gosh that's great!! The dropcloth is a great, cheap idea and it looks amazing! But for me, the ingenious idea I see the gluing it to the box spring!!! I have a bed skirt I am constantly FIGHTING because it never stays where it is supposed to. I end up with 6 extra inches on one side of the bed, and 6 inches of "hey look under my bed" on the other! Wonder if my husband would notice, care, or freak out if I glued that sucker down....