Ruffly Duvet Tutorial

As promised here is a closer look at these ruffly duvet covers.

The old comforters looked like this, they don't exactly go with the new

decor and we couldn't find one we liked that fit the budget. (The very small budget)

AND when Beth over at the Stories of A-Z posted her new anthropology duvet cover, here, I was in love!

Two BIG problems though. Anthropology doesn't make this cutie in zebra stripes and it was not in the budget.

So I decided to take a crack at re-creating one.

I gathered fabric. For this project I needed lots of big wide pieces of fabric so I used mostly sheets from Ross. The black fabric I found on the bargain table at Jo Ann's.
I measured the width of the old comforter and cut my fabric strips twice as long, so there would be lots of ruffly gathers. All of the strips needed to be pieced together to be long enough.

To determine the length I measured how long the old comforter was and randomly chose lengths for each strip until they equalled the length of the comforter. uh... that's confusing. It went something like this:

Old comforter = 84 inches long

White strip #1 = 18" wide

black strip #1 = 6" wide
zebra #1 = 24" wide

white strip #2 = 5" wide

black strip #2 = 13'" wide

zebra strip #2 = 10" wide

White strip #3 = 8' wide

Total = 84 inches

I then added 1 inch to the width of each strip for seam allowance.

Next sew a gathering stitch along both the top and bottom of each strip.

*Hint: This project takes a TON of thread so I used colors I already had that I didn't have plans for. I stopped sewing and made a break mid way across each strip, to make gathering easier.

Pull up the bobbin thread to form gathers

Then measure the top and bottom of each strip and adjusted the gathers to just the right width.

I got out Stanley (my tape measure) for this because he's long enough and holds nice and still.

With right sides together sew each strip together until you have something like this.

We thought this ruffly couture could even pass as an elegant frock!

Now for the back. I purchased a solid black flat twin sheet from Wal-Mart for less than $4.00.

Cut it to exactly the same size as the ruffly top and sewed them right sides together, around all four sides. I left a 24 inch opening on one of the long sides so I could turn it right side out.

Now for the old comforter.

I sewed a 3/4" button on all four corners

Then sewed elastic loops on the corners of the duvet cover. You want the loops to fit the buttons nice and snug so sew them a little smaller than the buttons.

Slide the buttons inside the elastic loops.

Then turn it right side out.

I don't plan on taking the cover off to wash it so I whip stitched the opening closed.

If you do need to be able to take it off you could definitely make a zipper or button closure.

And there you have it! It's ruffly, fluffy and so cozy!

I spent $22.00 to make each one.