skirt for a bed with side rails

Here's a project that I just finished. It's not shop related, but I thought you might like to see anyway. :)

This is our bed. So comfy, with some gorgeous bedding, too. But, since I had never gotten around to altering the bed skirt to fit the bed frame, all the stuff that we are storing under it (we live in an apartment with limited storage space) was visible to anyone who walked by the doorway. That was something I decided to finally fix!

I already had the bedskirt that came with our bedding, and it was the typical bed-in-a-bag kind that is supposed to lie between your mattress and boxspring. Since we have a solid bottom bed we don't have a boxspring, and the side rails of the bed are in the way and would get covered if I was going to just spread the skirt before putting the mattress down.

So ... I cut the side panels off of the skirt.
That took a little bit of courage since it is from the Martha Stewart Trousseau line at Macy's. If I messed up it wouldn't be cheap to replace!
I took a pack of 2" wide sew-on Velcro and cut it into 1" wide strips, lots and lots of them.

I pinned the female sides about 8" apart on the outside (the side that would be showing) of the bedskirt panels, and sewed them in place using my machine.

I then took my husband's staple gun and crawled under the bed to staple the male sides of the Velcro to the inside of the side rails and panel at the foot of the bed, 8" apart again.
John walked into the room as I was doing this and laughed - it must have been a pretty funny sight to see me, 8 months pregnant, with my head and arms under the bed and my belly and feet sticking out!

The last step was to stick it all in place!

Ta da!

If you are joining me from A Vision To Remember, The Persimmon Perch, Market Yourself Monday, or Craftastic Monday, Welcome!

an old and favorite poem

"Trees" by Joyce Kilmer

I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree ...

flower pin tutorial

Here it is! The thing I was working on - other than compulsively organizing our apartment in preparation for Baby #2 - is this little tutorial. Enjoy! :)
(by the way, this is a great way to use up random scraps of fabric that you might otherwise toss as you are spring cleaning your stash)

start by sewing - with a doubled thread to prevent breakage - through the end of the strip to anchor your thread and gather the end. this will be the center of your flower.

materials:
fabric - a strip (at least an inch wide) cut from a 45" piece of material, selvage to selvage
scissors
needle and thread
pin back
fabric glue

Cut a piece of fabric at least an inch wide (your flower will be twice as wide as your strip). I used a quilting weight fabric that was 45" wide for this flower, but you can use any type in any length. The length that you use will determine how "full" your flower is.

continue to sew a running stitch along one side of the strip, pulling the thread to gather it every few inches.

once you have sewn and gathered about 12" or so, begin to coil the strip into a flower, sewing it in place as you go...

...continuing to gather, coil and stitch until you come to the end of the strip.

It should look a little like this.

Sew the pin back on and knot off the thread. Almost done!

Glue a snippet of fabric over the bar of the pin (this part allows you to hide any messy stitches).

Ta da! That's it. Rather simple and quick, unless you are interrupted, that is ......... some of these flowers have taken me more than a day to complete. :) And, if you want the one I made for the tutorial, you can buy it here in my Etsy shop.

in progress

I'll show what it is in a little bit. :)
For now it is in progress in between enjoying the Spring weather, keeping up with Emma and doing a bit of Spring cleaning. Oh, and trying to get Emma's baby album put together before Baby #2 shows up!