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Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Budget Anthropologie Tutorial : Cirrus Duvet

Hello again my sweet friends! I just completed a week long project, making a cheaper version of Anthropologie's Cirrus Duvet cover! I made a version of an Urban Outfitters one last year, but my kitties have since torn it up pretty good.

I used elements from these two tutorials as a guideline. 

I started with 7 Twin sized Gaspa sheets on clearance from IKEA, a total of about $50. (4 sheets for the top, 2 for the back, 1 for detailing and pillow cases!) I bought twins because they were on sale and in the color I wanted, and they didn't have any larger sizes. You can also buy single flat sheets at Target for relatively cheap, as I believe the Ikea single sheets are being phased out in favor of sets (which is why they were on clearance). 

NOTE: I made a King sized duvet for my queen sized bed. I have a husband who is very tall and requires more blanket than most :)

For you though, you can use your preferred bed or sheet size, using 2 sheets for the top, 1 sheet for the back, and 1 sheet for the detailing/pillowcases.


I had to buy matching thread as well, 4 spools which came to about $11, so a total of $61. A king sized Anthro version runs (on sale) $130 (original prices ranged $168 - $208)  ( I only used 2 of the spools of thread, so really it breaks down to slightly less.)

I also used a Ruffler foot, on setting 6 (1 ruffle per 6 stitches) which I got for about $16 a year ago for my ruffled bedspread. You can use other gathering techniques as well, but I like the predictability of the ruffling foot. I also recommend removing the bottom element of the ruffler for working with this quantity of fabric, and playing with the stitch length and tension, as my machine did some funky things when I first tested it out.


First step, wash your materials! (I got a new set of white sheets to go with it so I tossed those in there too.) And then let your cat lay on them for a bit. Get the hair in there really good. That's it!

A kitty fabric warmer is the ultimate in luxury and fanciness.

Next, iron everything out. Mine wrinkled pretty badly in the wash so I had to do a lot of ironing to get them flat enough to mark out the lines for ruffling. (I know it sounds weird...iron out the wrinkles to make ruffles...but trust me it makes the job a lot easier.)

I sewed sheet 1 and 2 together on their short ends, and did the same with sheets 3 and 4. (I then ruffled the top half (1 & 2), then sewed it to the second pair (3&4), then ruffled the rest.)

Decide how many rows of gathering you want, and mark out your fabric accordingly. I chose 8 rows, 16 inches apart. My finished topper wound up being too long for my bed, so I cut the last 2 rows off and that left me with 6 rows.

With the ruffler foot set on 6, sew along each row you marked until all the rows are ruffled. Be gentle when moving the fabric after this, as the thread can easily snap and you'll have to redo sections or compensate later!
Ruffle the very top and bottom edges as well.

Rufflie Ruffles!
I recommend that you check the cover against your bed after each step, just to make sure you're on the right track size wise, so you can adjust as necessary!

Going on the longest side of your Details sheet, cut the same number or strips 2.75 or 3 inches wide, and iron them as you would bias tape, in half longways, then fold each half inwards again. These will help stabilize the ruffles and prevent them from coming undone in normal wear and tear. It should look like this:


Once ironed, pin each strip over top of the ruffled lines, like this, and top stitch 2 lines, sewing close to the edges of the strips.
Take the time to pin things properly, it will save you time in the end and helps you make sure you have enough material to go end to end, and ensure straighter lines and fully covered ruffles.

You will use a LOT of pins on this project. It's helpful to have many on hand.

Once you sew each strip down, it should look like this! Cat not included.

Do you see the kitty hiding? Make sure your cats play in it a lot while you are testing things out.
It's important to gain their approval. 

Check against your bed again! Mine was too long, so I cut off the bottom 2 rows, (about 32 inches of fabric) and used that fabric to cut some edging.

Edging: Cut four 5 inch wide strips from the longest part of the sheet (in my case the bit I cut off, yours may be from the detailing sheet, in which case you may not have enough for pillow cases, but you can figure that out)


Ruffle both sides of each strip on setting 6.



Make some extra in case you need to adjust for size variations, and pin and sew everything your topper. Sew corners together diagonally to create a square edge. Pin topper facedown to backing sheet and sew edges, leaving one edge open to add ties or buttons or finish how you please.



Once I sewed everything together, I flipped it inside out and top stitched along the edging.



Using the leftover fabric, strips, and extra ruffles, I traced an existing pillowcase to create 2 custom matching pillowcases! I pinned the strips covering over the edges of the ruffling, and sewed everything down before closing up the edges of the pillow case. This part only took about 30 minutes!


Make sure you get a thorough inspection to insure proper feline satisfaction.


Kitty cat approved!

 




 Ta Daaaaaaa! there you have it, my $61 Cirrus Duvet cover!  Hope you enjoyed the behind the scenes on this project, and I hope the tutorials I posted and my own walk along will help you make something lovely!

Thanks for reading!


32 comments:

  1. oh my goodness. you are so cool. you keep amazing me with all of the ridiculously awesome things you make!

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  2. You are quite talented Mari!! Great work!

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  3. If I needed a new bed spread I'd totally make this!
    Found your blog via Sara Tyer's, loving your tutorials and things:)
    <3 Leney

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  4. Love, love, love! You are super talented! I have bookmarked and will be duplicating. I have a question if you would...what type/brand of ruffler did you get? I bought one online and found out that it will only ruffle the edge of the fabric. I need one to ruffle right down the middle like you did. I am at a loss, as all the feet out there make no mention of which type they are. Any advice would be extremely appreciated!!

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  5. Kathryn - I used a regular ruffler, but I took that bottom part off that prevents you from doing larger amounts of fabric! If I remember right, if you look closely at it, there should be a small screw that you can undo to remove the thin bottom piece of the ruffler. You should be left with the part that darts under to create the ruffle. Then all you have to do is sew! It should ruffle on its own. I do recommend going somewhat slowly and carefully until you get used to it, (and test it out on a small piece of fabric first!) because rigorous ruffling can cause the thin pieces to snap. It happened to me! Hope that helps!

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  6. What kind of closure did you use?

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  7. I just overlapped two twin sheets in the back of mine, but for single sheet backs you can use buttons, ties etc!

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  8. I got a ruffler as I am about to embark on this project adventure. Your tutorial is AMAZING and I loved the color you chose! What did you set your stitch length and depth at? The measuring of everything is a little daunting!

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  9. Ceri - I noted it above, but I set mine on setting 6, which equals 6 stitches per inch which means you will use roughly twice the length of fabric as you want your final product to be. I also unscrewed the bottom piece (that is used to ruffle and sew the ruffle onto a second piece of fabric at the same time: there should be two tiny screws on the outside edge of the ruffler that you can unscrew and remove the bottom part)so I could ruffle freely on the single large sheet of fabric along my marked lines. I pretty much eyeballed everything and simply doubled the lengths of my final piece to get the amount of fabric I needed! Hope that helps!

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  10. * correction, not 6 stitches per inch, it means a ruffle every 6 stitches! my mistake!

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  11. Thanks Mari! I finally just gave up on measuring and dove into it! I set my stitch length at 2, but throughout the ruffling process I was afraid that it wasn't "ruffly" enough. After laying it out on the bed, it looked much better! Thank you again for such a great tutorial! And thanks for the help!

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  12. I have been drooling over these anthro duvet covers for years and now I can finally make my own. Thanks for the amazing tutorial!

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  13. Mari, your duvet cover looks fantastic! This tutorial is MUCH easier than others I've seen where they piece the strips together. I have to do this now!!

    Did yours hold up to your kitty? I have four furballs...hoping they don't sharpen their claws on the rufflies...wish me luck.

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  14. thank you Kim! I knew there had to be an easier way to do it than sewing individual strips. I have 3 kitties and this has held up remarkably well in the year since I made it! It is still in int condition, which is more than I can say for the waterfall ruffley one I had first made, they tore that sucker up! I do keep their nails clipped so that helps with tear prevention. But the material I used is a nice quality, and the strips sewn down on top of the ruffle lines help prevent a manner of snagging from the cats' playtimes. Two of our furballs are gray, so the fur blends in perfectly with the color I used which is an added bonus! Good luck with yours! - Mari

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  15. Would you say that a beginner could do this? I did a lot of sewing in high school...but it's now ten years later and I'm just starting again.

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  16. Hi Kristin!
    I think it will depend on your patience and willingness to properly prepare all the elements. The ruffler can be a bit tricky to figure out, and the amount of fabric needed does extend the amount of time and patience you will need to work through it all! Other wise it is fairly simple in technique, I used basic the most basic machine stitching throughout and eyeballed almost everything. If you are not sure how you might handle it, I would suggest trying the techniques I mention above on a smaller scale, like a pillow cover! It's a good way to test out the methods I used and see if you can find it feasible for yourself!

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  17. I just saw your post and I really like how you have simplified the way to make this duvet cover. I have seen many blogs on how to make the duvet and it just seemed easier to just go buy it, with the time you would have invested in it. One lady had sheets running down her hallway and pulling the thread by hand...I have no patience for that. I have a Ruffler for my sewing machine and just took the foot off to try it out. Thanks for a great blog!

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  18. This is the most wonderful duvet cover ever. I am definitely going to have to make this... Though I do not have a ruffler foot... I don't know if I could handle all that gathering by hand. I want to make this so bad and will definitely keep this in my future to do sewing list!!!

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  19. This is gorgeous! I am making a duvet cover like this for my daughter for her new twin size big girl bed but I am alternating 2 different fabrics for the strips. Do you think it would be easier to sew the strips together and then ruffle them or ruffle each individually and then sew them together?

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  20. such nice and unique design of cheap duvet sets uk. really like this. thanks for sharing such a nice collection.

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  21. NOTE: I made a King sized duvet for my queen sized bed. ... ikingduvetcoverset.blogspot.com

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  22. Easy way to ruffle is to crank up the tension

    http://www.iheartnaptime.net/how-to-sew-a-ruffle-four-methods/

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  23. Good post. i got a duvet cover from a place. It provide silk bedding. after i bought used. Silk quilt deeply felt really good. Comfort and care. Promote sleep. A good choice

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