Tuesday 20 May 2014

Duvet Cover to Dressing Gown

Last week I decided to be a little bit sensible and sew something that I actually needed, using material that I already owned, as a quick break from getting tempted by all the pretty dresses, shiny new patterns and colourful material. Although what I made is still pretty and colourful, so it's all good. Here's my new dressing gown...


This is the second pattern I've made from the book 'And Sew To Bed' by Caro London (the first was my pyjama trousers), it's the Wrapover Short Dressing Gown. For some reason I felt a bit weird at first about posing for blog photos in a dressing gown, but then I decided that it actually covers more than some clothes so I should just go for it. But not subject you to too much of my pasty, milk-bottle legs, and definitely take the photos inside...


As you might have guessed from the title of this post, the material I used was actually originally an Ikea duvet cover. I bought it a couple of years ago, and it has already been used for some smaller projects (pre-blog) and there's a decent amount left still so I think I'm doing OK for the money I paid (which I'm sure was less than the current price of £20, which is still not bad!). The great bonus about using the duvet cover for this project was that the check used for the reverse of the cover gave me a ready-made contrast print which matches the colours of the rose print perfectly - yay! Here's a close-up...


You can also see one of the cute little gathered pockets here. Constructing and adding these was probably about as complicated as this got (i.e. not that complicated), so it was a pretty quick project to sew up, after all there's no need for particularly accurate fitting with a dressing gown really is there? You might not want to do this as a first sewing project because the instructions are a little brief, but they're still clear and fairly straightforward so shouldn't be anything to trouble people with even only a very small amount of sewing experience.


It would also be a good project to do if you wanted to practice a bit of top-stitching as you have to top-stitch all along contrast on the front/neck band, cuffs and pocket band, as well as all along the belt. My top-stitching isn't always the neatest in the world, but I took it slowly and I'm happy with how it turned out this time.

It's also a good chance to practice French seams, as they're used on all of the seams on the main material. The contrast strips are all attached and then folded back on themselves to enclose the raw edges before top-stitching too, so that combined with the French seams means the inside all looks nice and neat too!


There's not much else to say about this one I don't think - it was a nice simple project, which turned out just how I hoped it would and has given me a nice new dressing gown for the warmer weather. I'm planning on making one of the other patterns from this book soon, and once I've done that I'll write a full review.

Anyone else ever made anything from a duvet cover?


17 comments:

  1. Love this. Something I would love to sew for myself. I love using duvet covers, I always look out for them opshopping. My last two Anna dresses were both duvets. And I have another duvet that shall be a summer dress (undecided pattern) and one that will become cushion covers.
    http://kaitlynssimplyvintage.blogspot.com.au/2014/04/sew-dolly-clackett.html
    http://kaitlynssimplyvintage.blogspot.com.au/2014/03/blue-china-roses-anna-dress.html

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    1. Thank you! Sounds like you're doing better with finding pretty duvet covers than I am, both of your Anna dresses are lovely. I keep an eye out for duvet covers in charity shops but never find any nice ones!

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  2. When my crafty childhood self was in junior high, I made myself enormous "swan wings" sleeves for a presentation on swans. A tube for my arm and lots of flappy batting....and I walked around school like that for a few hours! The horror!

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    1. Haha, your swan wings sound like great fun! I bet they livened up the presentation!

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  3. I love your bath robe! Reminds me I should make one for myself as well. And actually I have that duvet cover covering me bed now :) Did you unpick all the quilting stitches? That must have taken you ages. So far I have used old bed sheets for muslins only :)

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    1. Thank you! You obviously have very good taste in duvet covers! I just had to rip down the side seams of the cover so I don't think it took too long, but I took it all apart a couple of year ago now so I might just have forgotten how long it took!

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  4. This is lovely. The trim really makes it special. I think I would be a little embarrassed modelling nightwear too. But it looks great, perfect for the summer.

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    1. Thanks Louise! I was really pleased with the trim too - using the 2 materials from the duvet cover worked really well here because it means they're totally different prints but match perfectly!

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  5. Gorgeous! I love flowery fabric (even more in red and pink) and I think using the check fabric was a great idea. Beautiful pockets too! Perfect for a lazy breakfast on a sunny morning!

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    1. Thank you! I was really pleased with how the floral and the check looked together too - although I can't take much credit for it because the pattern said to use a contrasting fabric for the trim, and the check was the on the back of the duvet cover so was the obvious choice for a contrast!

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  6. I love the fact you've made your dressing gown from a duvet cover. The trim really sets it off. I'm going to have to check out the Caro London book.
    Ali xx

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    1. Thanks! I'd recommend the book from my experience so far - I read a couple of reviews online from people that weren't totally happy with the it but there are quite a few nice patterns in there and they've worked well for me so far!

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