Olatz Inspired Duvet Cover DIY (Part 1)

I am sure many of you have seen the coveted Olatz Duvet cover in Jenna Lyon's bedroom.  

Well, this is mine:

My mom gave me a practically new king duvet that has been sitting in its plastic case for the past year.  Duvet covers, especially king size, are so expensive.  Even a plain one from ikea is $60.  I really wanted something classic with a big pop of color for our mostly beige bedroom.  Below is how I made my own King size duvet cover for about $50.  Please do Keep in mind, this is only my third or fourth sewing project, so my sewing terms and process will most likely be way off compared to the average sewer...seamstress...see I don't even know the term!  I have made a few pillows, hemmed a few curtains....and miserably failed at some maxi skirts.  "How hard could a duvet cover be," said I.  "It's just a giant pillow cover."  About eight non consecutive (I have 3 young boys :) hours later, my product was complete.    

The Materials you need:

2 flat sheets (of your bed size)  Mine are from BedBathandBeyond $43 with 20% off coupon

Coordinating thread for sheets $1

2 yards or so of your border fabric $5

Coordinating thread for border fabric $1

zipper by the yard (I needed 3 yards for my king) $1.50

pull for the zipper $.50

Iron

Tape measure

Rotary Cutters (or good scissors)

Pins

Mine came out to be about $50!

Let's Get Started:  (Make sure your fabric and sheets are washed and dried)

UPDATE.  ALSO:  Make sure your border fabric is set (meaning the dye is set).  Research this.  You can do a test to see if the color bleeds by running cold water on it.  If you need to set your fabric use a product called Retadyne or RIT's color fixative.  Do this step!!  Y'all, the white on my duvet cover turned pink!  I washed my red fabric beforehand 3 times, and it still bled!!  I eventually got it out after many trials of products and finally with Carbona's color bleed fix.  This product is not recommended for fabrics that bleed onto themselves, but at that point I had nothing to lose.  It worked amazingly.  My red border faded a bit, but it is really only noticeable by me.    

Measure and record the size of your duvet.  Measure and record about how long you want each border piece to be.  Overestimate on this one.  It is better to come up too long than too short.

Measure and mark the length of your strips.  I wanted my finished border to be about 6 inches.  So, each strip I measured out about 14 1/2."  (It will be folded in half and add about an 1" for a hem)

Measure again to make sure every strip is the same.  Measure again.  Cut your strips

 

Next, you will fold in half one strip, pin into place and sew along the edge to make kind of a tube.  Do this with each strip.  Make sure you do the exact measurement at your footer for the hem.

Turn each strip inside out.  Lay out your strip so that the seam is in the center facing downward.  Iron flat.  

Iron each flat sheet. (this takes about 30 minutes)

This is important.  Measure out each sheet.  Not all sheets are the same.  My sheet packaging was three inches off of my measurements after I had washed and ironed each sheet.  Even each of my sheets  differed in size.  Measure again.  Record your measurements.    

Trim your sheets to your desired measurement.  I wanted an extra 3" on each side to allow a couple inches of extra space and 1 inch for seam allowances.  

  

Continued in Next Post.