Anthropologie knockoff.

A very long time ago, I posted about this bedding, which I wanted very very badly.

Not QUITE so long ago, I posted about beginning my project. If you remember I was gung-ho and ready to go, but, I know myself. And I knew that I would probably stall. And I did. And it was all very typical of me. At least I can predict myself after 23 years.

Well, I pulled out the bedspread again last week and got to work. When I wanted to put it away and forget it again, I sternly told myself 'no'. If I started getting ready to stop awhile, I kept going just to spite myself. There were lots of looooong seams. There was a ton (a TON) of pinning involved. It got intense. >_> I got neckaches. 


But, I finished!


I feel happy with it. It isn't just like Anthropologie's. But its enough like it to be what I was wanting, plus I like that no one else has a bedspread like mine, you know, all the original, unique and one-of-a-kind stuff and stuff. And you know, that last part made almost no sense. :D

My inspiration.

How it went was, I found a set of king size cotton jersey sheets (in ivory, my color of choice) and a plain white bedspread, both at Target. (Anyone else heart Target, majorly?) The bedspread was ideal, because it was already divided into squares (35, to be exact) so I had a kind of template in mind. Then, I made a newspaper square, the size I wanted my jersey squares to be, taking into account seams and all, and just hacked squares out of the sheets. I ended up making all the squares I needed out of just the flat sheet, so that rocked.

Then, I took all my squares, and a needle and thread, and I made a twisty knot deal in the middle of each one. Like so.

On the left is my pile of knotted/twisted squares, on the right is my pile of unfinished ones. Note my Mountain Dew pants of awesomeness.

(After I finished all the squares, is when my *cough* long break from the bedspread happened.)

The next step was to pin and then sew squares together in long strips of 5. The bedspread was 5 squares across and 7 down, so 7 rows of 5. Interestingly though I counted at least 3 times, I still ended up with 36 squares. I guess I'll make a matching pillow.

Here is the plain bedspread. Yes, my pictures are cruddy cellphone pictures, but I deal with it.

After sewing 7 strips of 5 squares, I then sewed the strips of 5 together, eventually creating a big stretchy knotty mess of squares. (Jersey is pretty forgiving for a project like this, though on the flip side, the stretch can make it a little frustrating to work with.) Then i put the knotty mess right sides together with the bedspread and sewed all the way around except for about a 12 inch space at the end. Through this space, I pulled it all through till it was right side out. Then I hand sewed the space shut. With the invisible stitch my mom taught me back when I was a nine year old starting out in 4H. 

Then, I had considered stitching 'in the ditch' to hold the squares in place, and also cuz it would look more like Anthro's version, but by then I was ready to BE DONE so I just went at the corners of each square and tacked it down by hand, just to keep the jersey top from shifting around so much. That did the trick.

There it is! In all its finished gloriousness. Is it weird that the word I'm coming up with for it is 'tasty'? ... Yes I was afraid it was. But listen to this, this is the best part: I made mine for about $30, where the Anthro spread would have cost me about $250. I can live with it.


Credit where credit is due, to KojoDesigns and their tutorial. Theirs is bigger, beautifuller, and they have better pictures. :P


Oh, and please, don't ask to see it on my bed. I have a good reason for refusing. You just need to trust me.