Two pillowcases and a dust ruffle with no purchases.

Fabric Added Since Last Report: 0 yards
Fabric Added to Date:  165.192 yards

Fabric Used Since Last Report: 3.944 yards
Fabric Used to Date: 90.306 yards

Net Used for the year -74.886 yards

I’d really like to be able to say I used 100 yards  by the end of the year, but that’s probably pushing it.  But check out others’ stash reports over at Patchwork Times.

Periodically I’m surprised by my stash.  Earlier this week was such an occasion.  I decided that I needed a couple of Christmas pillow cases.  In fact I purchased a couple of plain white cases with the intention of decorating them with applique (what was I thinking?)

When I got home I pulled out my box of Christmas fabric and found two fabrics with enough yardage to create a couple of pillow cases.  For the most part I don’t buy holiday fabric — the Halloween fabric I’ve purchased lately has been an anomaly.  I’m pretty certain the stripe fabric is from my mom’s stash — it has a weird piece cut out of each end.  The red fabric possibly came from a friend when she was clearing out her stash.

These were for the White Elephant gift exchange at the Christmas party I went to earlier today.  I used the packaging  from the pillowcases I bought to put together my own package of pillowcases.

What do you think?  At first glance do they look “store bought”?

This is the back of the package.

Sure enough the woman who picked my package thought they were “store bought”.  It wasn’t until I asked her to read the back of the package that she realized I had made them.

Earlier this week I posted that I finished my dust ruffle.  I’ve subsequently been asked if I could do a tutorial on how I made the dust ruffle.  This is my attempt.  A printable version is here: DustRuffle

I had an old twin size dust ruffle on the day bed. It didn’t fit well, was starting to fall apart, had to be adjusted every time I changed the sheets on the bed and finally wasn’t a good color to go with my quilts (it was a green and black plaid – which surprisingly worked OK with the pink quilt, but clashed horribly with anything else). The distance from the springs to the floor is only 11 ½” so I discovered after an on-line search that I wasn’t going to be able to buy a replacement dust ruffle. Clearly I was going to have to make one.

There wasn’t a pattern – only a vague notion of how long the ruffle needed to be and that I probably wanted 2 ½” the width in fullness. The first thing I needed to do was measure the width of needed and the length. Bedpost to bedpost measured 76″ and the length from the top of the springs to the floor was 11 ½”.

I bought 2 ½ yards of fabric and 2 1/4 yards of Decorator Velcro. Decorator Velcro is sew-in on one side and sticky backed on the other side.

Step 1 – measure the bed to determine the finished width of the dust ruffle.  I wanted mine to go from bed post to bed post which worked out to 76″.

Step 2 – measure the length of the dust ruffle.  From the edge of the bed frame to the floor is 11 ½”

Step 3 – determine how big and how many pleats are needed.  I decided I wanted 4″ pleats and an odd # of pleats – 7 sounded good and as it turned out was perfect for the math.

Here’s the math:

4″ pleats times 7 pleats = 28″.
76″ width minus 28″ for pleats = 48″
48″ divided by 8 flat sections = 6″

Flat + Pleat 1 + Flat + Pleat 2 + Flat + Pleat 3 + Flat + Pleat 4 + Flat + Pleat 5 +Flat + Pleat 6 + Flat + Pleat 7 + Flat

But before cutting can commence, the TOTAL width of the pleat needs to be determined. The pleats I made touch in the back like this line drawing:

That means that I need 12″ for each pleat.  4″ for the front of the pleat and 4″ for each side folded under the pleat.  Now to figure out how long a piece of fabric for the width of the dust ruffle.

8 flat sections times 6″ = 48″
7 pleats times 12″ = 84″
2 side hems times 2″ = 4″
Total width needed 48″ + 84″ + 4″ = 136″

For the length, I decided on a 2″ hem top and bottom plus the 11 ½” finished length or 15 ½”.

So, I need a piece of fabric 136″ x 15 ½”.  I decided that I would cut my fabric across the width instead of the length since it is easier cut than cutting down the length of the fabric.  I determined that I needed 4 lengths.

136″ divided by 40″ = 3.4 strips.

I cut four strips 15 ½” long.  Before stitching them together, I pressed up a 2″ hem on both the top and the bottom and turned under 3/8″.  It was easier handling a 40″ width of fabric instead of a 160″ piece of fabric.

Next I stitched the sections together, matching the press creases.  I used a 3/8″ seam, which I pressed open and then top stitched down.  Finally I stitched the top and bottom hem.  I did NOT stitch the side hems.

Once the fabric was prepared, I marked the pleats.  I started in the middle of the fabric marking 4″.  I didn’t want my seams to show on the front of the pleats so I started in the center folding the seam into the pleat.

When the center pleat was marked, folded and pinned, I measured 6″ either side of the first pleat and marked the next pleats.    I continued until I had all 7 pleats pinned in place.  Then I pressed them – all the way to the hem.

Next I stitched the pleats in place – two lines of machine stitching and a little bit of hand stitching.

Finally, I measured for the side hem.  I cut 8″ from the last pleat on either side of the dust ruffle, pressed under 2″ and then turned 3/8″ under again.  I stitched this down.

The last sewing step on the dust ruffle was to stitch the Velcro to the top of the hem.  I used a narrow blind stitch and stitched down both sides of the Velcro.  I did NOT cut it to size, but simple started at one end, trimming the Velcro when I got to the other end.
Finally it was time to attach the ruffle to the bed frame.  I wiped down the frame with an alcohol wipe to make sure the frame was free from dust and dirt.  Then starting on the left side of the frame, I pulled about 6″ of the backing from the Velcro and pressed it on the frame – about 1/4″ from the top of the frame.  I worked 5 or 6 inches at a time trying to keep the Velcro straight.
I lined up the top edge of the bed skirt with the top edge of the bed frame and pressed it in place.  Now I can easily move the mattress to change the sheets or tuck the quilt in on the back without moving dust ruffle.  Pulling the trundle out from under the bed won’t pull out the dust ruffle either.

I’m considering making a custom ruffle for my king size bed.  I would attach the sticky side of the Velcro to the top of my box springs.  I don’t know if I would make 3 ruffles like this one with the ruffle on the bottom of the bed long enough to wrap around the foot of the bed a few inches and then hold it in place with a pin.  Or if I would make it in one continuous piece, allowing a little extra fullness to get around the corners.  If I ever get that far, you can be sure I’ll post a picture on my blog.

I hope these instructions make sense.  I’d love to see a picture of your dust ruffle if you make one from these instructions.

The number for November was 9 so the blocks were Snow Family and Pieced Santa.  You’ll notice that there is not a Snow Family in the blocks pictured above –what can I say hand work falls to the bottom of the pile, but I still have this evening to redeem myself.  But on the other hand, earlier this year I fell way behind  I used November to catch up!

Once the Snow Family is completed the only block left will be Here Comes Santa.

I’ll use fusible applique on this block as well – then I can finish the center of my quilt!

Check out the links over at Patchwork Times to see how others are doing on their UFOs.

The theme for this week’s contest at the Quilting Gallery is Stars.  Over the years I’ve made several quilts with stars, but chose to enter the log cabin quilt in the contest.  There are 36 quilts in this week’s contest.  To see them all click HERE and pick your favorites.

No, it’s not the quilt and pillowcase.  I did those a few years ago.  You can read about them HERE.

My latest project is the dust ruffle.

Previously I had a poorly fitting, falling apart black and green plaid dust ruffle.  It was made for a twin bed – not a day bed so not only was it too long, I couldn’t get it to stay in place when I changed the sheets and slid the mattress along the springs.  Something had to be done.

I decided a gray fabric would go with just about any quilt that I might put on this bed.  And I only wanted/needed it to go across the front of the bed.

It is attached on to the bed frame using decorator Velcro – one side is sew on and the other is stick on.

The only drawback is when we disassemble the bed the Velcro on either end will have to be pulled off to get to the bolts.  But since I’m not planning on moving anytime soon, I don’t foresee a need to disassemble the bed for a while.

This weekend  I pulled out my Orca Bay and finished Part 6.  Now it’s time to work on the Strings from Part 4.  Nothing like working backwards.  I think part of the reason  I got side tracked was the purples were too dark.  So, I pulled lighter purples from my stash to use in the dark stars.  I kept the darker purples for the light stars.

Check out other design walls over at Patchwork Times.  I suspect that there will be a few design walls with step one of Easy Street.

Between the Noah Block (finished by the way) and pieces for Orca Bay, I managed to use a bit over a yard of fabric.  Too bad I can’t count.  I thought I needed an additional 72 QST units only to discover that I had enough made already.  So, they’ll go into the orphan quilt block box for use in another quilt some day.

No fabric (or shirts) were purchased this past week.

Fabric Added Since Last Report: 0 yards
Fabric Added to Date:  165.192 yards

Fabric Used Since Last Report: 1.017 yards
Fabric Used to Date: 86.362 yards

Net Used for the year -78.83 yards

See other stash reports following the links over at Patchwork Times.

Michelle over at Quilting Tutorials is sponsoring an on-line Christmas /Winter Virtual Quilt Show.  Vote for your favorite quilt on December 3rd and 4th, but you can start checking out entries today by clicking on the icon here or on the right.

Entries are being accepted through November 30th.

I have two entries for the show.  The first is a poinsettia wall hanging.  The poinsettias are three dimensional and I added some ‘bling’.  The pattern is #709 – Poinsettias by WonderArc Designs LLC.

This quilt  measures approximately 55″ square.  I machine quilted it on my sewing machine.

The second quilt is a table runner I designed as a mystery quilt for a quilt retreat. It is called “Gift Wrapped”.

The runner is approximately 17 x 47.  It was quilted on my home sewing  machine.  If you click to enlarge the quilt you can see holly leaves quilted in the gold.

Edited:

Per special request — close-ups of the “bling”.  If you click on the pictures they should enlarge.

As much as I would like to join in on this year’s Bonnie Hunter Mystery Easy Street, I can’t figure out a good fabric combination from my stash.  Never mind that Orca Bay is still in a million pieces.  So, instead of Easy Street I’m going to resume working on Orca Bay.

It appears that I can’t count.  I’m short 72 hour-glass blocks – even taking into consideration that I’ve made 8 of the star blocks.  Once those are done I’ll work on the larger string blocks.  Mine are purple and I know I need to cut more strings — thus the stack of purple fabric.