...making duvet covers

One of my hopes for this blog was that it would motivate me to 'make'more. I really love sewing, but definitely do not use my sewing machine enough. With the help of my very talented mother-in-law I have made things like curtains and cushion covers for our new house, but it has been ages since I did any sewing by myself, just for fun rather than for necessity.
So, with this blog I am going to try to sew more, and then write a post about it. Regularly. Possibly weekly. We'll see how it goes...
This weekend I decided to make my son a new duvet cover. He has only recently moved from his cot to his toddler bed, kindly lent to us by some friends. He has also inherited some lovely sets; a blue spotty one, and a beautiful appliqued one. I have been looking for a third set and really wanted to find him a festive one, but struggled as most places seem to only sell covers emblazoned with Cbeebies characters or football teams. Not the look I was going for.
So, I decided to make some myself! It was so easy. All you do is choose a single set and trim it and sew it down to size. Here's how I did it.

First, I took a duvet cover I already had and pinned it onto the new one, making sure that the bottom bit with the buttons were lined up, and that it was lined up to one of the longer sides. That way you only have to sew two sides.

Then I cut round it leaving about an inch for seams. ( as you can see, I don't go in for measuring things carefully-I just hope for the best!)

 Then I machined the two sides on the right side of the duvet. Then I turned it inside out and machined again. This makes your seam stronger, and the edges shouldn't show on the outside or the inside of the duvet cover.

 Machining the outside

 Machining the inside

The finished product! I was really pleased with the result, and this has got me pretty excited about the Christmas Crafting Gem and I have got planned in a couple of weeks. Watch this space!

Maria x