Tutorial: Drop Cloth Bedskirt

It’s been too long since I’ve crafted something from painter’s drop cloth, and I can’t resist any longer. I’m in the process of redoing the guest bedroom (yet, again) and found myself in need of a new bedskirt. There is a full size bed in there, and the skirt I’ve used before just wasn’t going  to match my new color scheme. No biggie, now that I’m a sewing pro (giggle), it shouldn’t be a problem to make one. They are basically rectangles, right?

Now you know I’m not into precision when it comes to sewing, so I can only share with you what I did- the laziest method EVER.  If you’re looking for those tight tailored bedskirts, this post is not for you. If you’re a real seamstress, or take pride in doing quality work, this might actually make you run away screaming. Nevertheless, here goes it.

Here’s what you’ll need:

• Old bedskirt (in the size that you want, or make adjustments accordingly)
• Drop cloth
• Sewing machine/thread/pins

To save time and my sanity, I just cut the skirt part off of the old one so I could reuse the sheer white fabric that goes on the boxspring. I laid out my drop cloth flat and placed one of  the long edges of the old skirt on top. I knew the original skirt was too short so I added some (unknown) length to the bottom and a seam allowance to the top. If you want something more neat, I recommend ironing your drop cloth (which I didn’t, part of the errr…character) and measuring your lengths. Remember to account for any of the sheer overlay that you have to trim off (in my case, the seam allowance came off with the original skirt).

Cut out your drop cloth strip and lay it out again to cut an identical piece.

Do the same for your short edge. You should have 3 pieces, 2 of which are (mostly) identical. Pin your pieces right sides together to the sheer overlay where you cut off the original skirt.  I stopped being lazy for 1 minute paused to check the corners, making sure the strips laid together nicely and fell to about the same length. Then I went around and sewed the whole she-bang together.

By some miracle, the thing actually fits. You also get a bonus sneak peek at the bed in the room-in-progress.

I may add ruffles to it, what do you think? I’ve never made ruffles before, but I think maybe one on the edge made out of drop cloth or even burlap would look really sweet. Stay tuned for more updates to the guest room!

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