Thanks so much for the gracious comments about our Thrifty Master Bedroom. Finding all the right furniture pieces is so rewarding and I love the thrill of the hunt. I had quite a few of you email me and ask for a tutorial on how to make a pleated bedskirt.
I was thrilled that the headboard I found had fabric that I could work with, just paint the frame and it was a total winner. I also had some fabric left over from some drapes that I had previously made and it was the perfect color and pattern to coordinate with the headboard. To my surprise I also had just enough to make a bedskirt. These are so simple to do, if you can just sew a straight line, this is an easy project.
I don’t have a picture of how I made this one, but I do have a tutorial that I shared a few years ago of a pleated dust ruffle I made for my guest bedroom. The principle is the same, just decrease the number of pleats if you want a more tailored bedskirt like the one I have on my master bedroom bed.
I hope this tutorial helps you design what is perfect for your room.
Here is a pic of the finished project.
First you just need a couple of measurements. The distance from the top of my box springs to the floor is 14 inches, so that is how long my finished ruffle will be. Now I usually line a dust ruffle, however this fabric was quite substantial and I wanted the pleats to be really sharp creased, so I chose to leave it unlined. I cut my fabric at 16 inches, that is enough for a bottom hem and to sew to the top of the bedskirt. You also need to know how much fabric you will need. Measure the distance around all three sides of your mattress, and add in how much more your pleats will take up and that is how long your 16 inch strip of fabric needs to be. Convert that into yards depending on how you are going to cut the fabric.
The red in the plaid that I wanted to hide was actually across the fabric, so I chose to cut my fabric the long way. You can do this too if the pattern you want will allow it. Here is a diagram of how I cut my fabric. Three strips the full length of the 4 yards, that way I only had 2 seams joining the strips together. Just cut and seam them together and you are ready to start the hemming and pleating process.
All cut and pieced together, so I have just one long strip 16″ deep.
I just folded under a double 1/2 inch hem and stitched. Make sure you choose a thread that will blend with your fabric so you don’t have an unslightly seam. Easy to hem it all before anything else is done.
This is the red stripe that I wanted to hide inside a pleat.
Just fold each side of the fabric into the center of the red and then stitch. I used a white thread to show you.
Continue the same process all the way around all of your fabric. ( when you sew all your strips of fabric together, make sure you stitch the strips so the seam falls inside a pleat and doesn’t show.)
Iron each pleat down so it is very sharp and crisp.
I use a sheet for the top of the dust ruffle. Just lay one across your box springs and cut around it so it is the exact size as the top of the springs.
Lay the dust ruffle right side down on the sheet and stitch the ruffle all the way around the sheet on all three sides. I use a generou 3/4 inch seam.
When the dust ruffle is folded over all the seams are underneath.
Here it is pressed down and laying on my bed. (oops, looks like I have a thread that needs clipping.)
That’s all there is to it. Really is super simple, just a bunch of straight line sewing.
I hope this helped you to realize you can make one of these, it really isn’t hard at all and custom bed skirts can be really expensive. This took about 4 yds of fabric that I found on the sale rack for $3 yd. I used an old sheet I already had for the top, so this actually cost me about $12.
Give it a try, I am sure you will be surprised at how easy it is to make and you will have something perfect for your room.
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