Last Big Project of the Year

Not 'complicated' big as much as '90" square big, plus matching pillow shams' big.

So.

Many years ago--but I'm not sure exactly how many, because I seem not to have taken a photo of it when it was completed--I made this patchwork bedspread and matching pillow shams for our bed

 And I still like it!  And it is mostly still in good shape...mostly.

That deteriorating square behind Chip isn't the only problem area, but it's the most prominent.  I might try to fix it someday, but, for now, I decided to make another bedspread.

...or...well...I decided to do that...not very recently.  At least a year ago--probably more.  I figured I would do some sort of patchwork with no batting (and no quilting) again.  I checked a book out of the library that was about making patchwork with one normal-sized block that you repeated ad infinitum to make the entire blanket top.  I liked that idea.  Then I found a book in a used bookstore about making patchwork with one enormous block as the entire blanket top.  I really liked that idea.

I picked my fabrics and figured out a block in an illustration program and played around with the color distribution until I found something I liked--oh!  I can look at the file date to see when I was last working on that...‎June ‎16, ‎2018.  Yeah.  So, I figured out something I liked and decided to do that and didn't do that and eventually realized that I had forgotten to include the central block, and, while that center block probably could have been pieced from the scraps of the other fabrics...I didn't wanna.  And then I used one of the chosen fabrics to make this dress instead.  I am happy with that decision.

So I put the project aside to ruminate on some more, and then I saw it: the Rosewood woven duvet cover from Anthropologie

...now...I have no idea how I ever stumbled across this, because I am...not the Anthropologie demographic. (I suspect? it was when I was looking for inspiration on how to craft a light cover to hide the original light fixture in this room--a lotta DIY blogs were taking inspiration from the fringed and wooden-beaded light fixture offerings from Anthropologie.  I ended up going another direction.)

I was taken with the coordinated discordance of the whole thing.  Why have two same-shape-but-different-color stripes plus two unrelated stripes?  Why those colors?  Still, it inspired me, and I spent a lot of time sketching my own possible versions.  They all included patchwork.

But!  When a'thriftin' two weeks ago, I spotted a roll of surprisingly drapey poly/cotton/rayon-blend jacquard in a diamond pattern, and things clicked.

Even though I suspect this side is the face, I don't like it at all.

This side, though

Yessssss...

Oh, and

I paid $2.99 for what turned out to be a bit over a yard and a half.

Time for more sketching!

You can see that I had considered making an odd stripe, much like the inspiration duvet cover, but I rejected that and decided to make all three stripes the same.  I went with three stripes instead of four just so the jacquard sections could be fairly large.  I also went with a single stripe in the centers of the white sections, because I was not feeling that enthusiastic about things.

The jacquard was only 56" wide, so I added the little vertical strips to eke out a few more inches of width, as well as negate the need to pattern match, because I just didn't feel like I had enough of it to devote to getting everything perfectly aligned.

I dug into my stash and found a super lightweight light purple denim and a teal chambray--both from the generous family destash brought by a friend over the summer, thanks again!--that played well with the overall colors in the jacquard.  I got into my stash of 100% cotton thrifted flat sheets (eagerly grabbed when the local Goodwill had some huge cardboard bins full of motley house linens with a "$9.99 for everything you can fit into this large bag" signs on them) and decided that, while the ivory sheet with the woven stripes may have color coordinated better, I liked the texture of the white sheet with the simple dobby squares more.  (The ivory stripe ended up being the backing.)

I was able to use the regularity of the pattern in the jacquard to cut the strips needed from that.  Everything else got ripped.

There were so many loose threads all over everywhere in here for a few days.

After that, it was a matter of sewing this to that, top stitching that fresh seam (you knew I'd top stitch, of course), and then repeating

and repeating

and repeating

(there was an edge awaiting top stitching in this photo)

Eventually the top was assembled and I put it on the bed to see...if it was a good idea or not

...maybe?

At this point I did consider making it a duvet cover, but the comforter I had that would go into it was not wide enough.  Making this thing narrower was not an option--I would have preferred it to be wider, and, in retrospect, I could have gotten another 4" by making the upright purple bits the same width as the horizontal purple strips.  But, y'know...I didn't do that.   So, no duvet.  I also considered adding batting, but none of the batting I have on hand is wide enough.  I hadn't originally planned to use batting because I like having a fairly thin bedspread, because it gets hot at night in summer here (we use air conditioning, but we keep it pretty high--why crank it down low when we can just have a lighter layer on the bed? buuut I can't have just the sheet.  nope.  can't.)  This thing was getting so heavy, though, that it seemed sensible to add batting and then make another, genuinely lightweight bedspread for summer.

But

nah.

So I ripped the woven stripe ivory flat sheet to the same size as this and sewed it face-to-face with this, leaving an opening that probably should have been larger to turn everything right-side-out, then finished by top stitching ¼" (roughly--very roughly) from the edge all around.

Yay finished!

...with the bedspread.  Still needed pillow shams.

Chip did QC on sleepability on the bedspread

while I worked on the pillow shams

I had plenty of the feature fabrics left--while in the process of cramming the first pillow in, I realized I probably should have made the dark teal strips on the very edge wider, instead of going with my measurements...which turned out to be too skimpy.  I had to get into my stash for some plain white cotton to use for the backs of the pillow shams.

And then I was done...well...except for the area I discovered where I top stitched a fold in the backing, and then the part where I popped some stitches while struggling with the pillow shams...

Still.  Done now!

 Hello, Floof.

I have been informed that it looks ~posh~

Haven't slept under it yet, but will soon!