Duvet Cover

I always seem to struggle to find a duvet cover that I like. The last purchase was a desperate one since the existing pillowcases and duvet cover had become threadbare and now another set of pillowcases looks set to follow suit.

Yet again I was inspired by the Lotta Jansdotter book (the one with the apron pattern), which explains how to make a double duvet cover out of conventional width fabric. It seemed straight forward enough so my next challenge was to find some fabric I liked that also wasn’t too expensive, since you need quite a lot! This is where Ikea came to my aid. I’d already fallen for their Evalotta fabric by designer Malin Åkerblom – the background colour suiting the accent colour I have in my hall and landing. With a lot of help from a friend with a tall ladder, great DIY skills and a head for heights I have managed to cover a whole wall on the upper staircase with it. It being one of the first things I see when I venture out of the bedroom each morning, it certainly brings a smile to my face (which the previous bare wall did not!)

I also liked Malin’s Evalena fabric but couldn’t think where it would go in the house. Of course, that was until I decided I could make my own duvet cover. The fabric is heavier than conventional sheeting so I didn’t think it would make a great duvet cover if used for the whole thing so this is when I decided to use it for a key section of the top cover, with other cotton (also from Ikea) for the sides and underside. Lotta's instructions use the fabric running width-ways across the bed, but this wouldn’t work with the Evalena pattern. Also, the instructions assume you are using all the same fabric or at least fabrics that are the same width. Unfortunately Evalena is 150cm wide and the red cotton is only 140cm wide. This meant that I spent some time with pencil and paper trying to work out the best arrangement of strips of red both aesthetically and economically.

Anyway, last weekend I put all the theory into practice – easy in terms of sewing but a bit of a faff trying to find floor space big enough to lay out pieces of fabric to measure over 2 metres square, one of which starts out over 6 metres long. However, it was done in an afternoon and I then finished it off this weekend by turning the small strip of red that I had left over into two pillowcases.

I’m so pleased with the result. I also now won’t have to wait until I exit the bedroom to see the birds to break into a smile – surely you can’t resist smiling at those bees and bugs?!