The Epic Duvet Adventure - Part One - The Supplies

Welcome to my Epic Duvet Adventure.  As I mentioned in this post, I am making my daughter a duvet cover inspired by a $248 (twin size) Anthropologie duvet.  Here are all of the supplies I bought (and that you might need if you want to embark on a similar adventure of your own):

1. Jersey cotton fabric - I chose this hot pink jersey fabric from Hobby Lobby.  It's 59" wide and 100% cotton.  Here's the long-winded explanation of how I figured out how much fabric to buy:  J's duvet is composed of thirty-five squares that are each 12" (5 wide x 7 long), so I knew that I would need thirty-five 18" fabric squares for the top of the duvet.  59"/18" = 3.2, so you can get 3 squares across with the fabric width.  7 x 18" = 126"; 126"/12 = 10.5'; 10.5/3 = 3.5 yards.  So, based on my math, I bought 4 yards of the material.

**Important lesson learned:  100% cotton jersey shrinks when you wash it.  A lot.  So, I wound up going and buying two more yards.**

The fabric was $6.99/yard and I used a 40% off coupon = $25.16

2. Embroidery thread - I didn't know how much of this I would need to make the rosettes/knots, so I bought 4 skeins.  $.40/each x 4 = $1.60

3. Thread - I bought 2 spools.  $3.69 x 2 = $7.38

I had needles already, so I didn't need to buy any, but that's an important piece since you have to hand sew the rosettes/knots.  I also already had a sewing machine at my disposal.

Now, if you wanted to make the duvet as similar as possible to the Anthro one, those would be all of the materials you would need.  Apparently because I am a glutton for punishment, I wanted to further customize J's duvet.  I liked all of the gathering that comes from the rosettes/knots, but I wasn't 100% in love with the look.  So, I thought to myself, "how can I possibly make this project even more time consuming and frustrating?"  Answer: make chiffon roses for the center of each square to sit on top of the rosettes/knots.

So, for that you will also need:

4. Poly-chiffon fabric - I chose this light pink chiffon from Hobby Lobby.  I wanted the strips for my roses to be 2.5" wide (and I had to make 35 of them), so I bought 2.5 yards of this.

The fabric was $4.99/yard and I used a 40% off coupon = $7.49

**Important note: this particular material HAS to have some poly or something else that will melt when exposed to heat/flame (more on this in a later post on construction).**

So far the total spent for the duvet:  $41.63

That's all for now--my next post will be all about the prep work and getting all of the pieces ready for assembly!

Much Love,

Misty

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The Epic Duvet Adventure - An introduction

I will be the first person to admit that all of my crafty endeavors have been the result of one particular character trait:  I am cheap.  I cringe at the thought of spending ridiculous amounts of money on something that I could make myself.  $60 for a Pottery Barn Halloween costume?

Pffft--$10, 5 hours and a few choice curse words later, and I have a homemade version that I think is much cuter.

My most recent crafty project was inspired by my search for the perfect duvet cover for my almost 5-year-old daughter.  We recently moved and I really wanted to make her room special.  I found a ton of adorable options online, but the ones I liked the most were (usually over $100) more than I was willing to pay.  My absolute favorite came courtesy of Anthropologie.

Now, in my dreams, everything in my home and closet would come from Anthropologie.  Unfortunately this is reality, where paying $248 for a twin-sized duvet would not only be impractical, but would also probably result in my untimely death when my husband found out. (totally joking, sort of...)  Utilizing my google search skills, I came across an awesome tutorial for a DIY project based on this very quilt courtesy of Kojo Designs.  I immediately decided to give it a go and thought it might be fun to document and blog my experience.  So, welcome to my Epic Duvet Adventure--feel free to follow along on the journey!

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All of the Costumes You Might Have Missed

If you know me, you know that Halloween is one of my favorite holidays.  Here is a compilation of J's Halloween costumes over the last 5 years:

Year one:  Elephant

 

Year two: Angel

Year three: Cupcake

Year four: Little Red Riding Hood

Year five: Butterfly

Is it too early to start planning next year's costume?  I don't think so....

Talk soon,

Misty

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Picking Up Where We Left Off...

Sometimes in life, the best laid plans go awry.  You find yourself headed in a direction that you didn't anticipate, didn't intend and sometimes can't escape.  Such was the direction I found myself heading with this blog.  I had every intention of being a good blogger and posting frequently--clearly that didn't happen since my last post was in 2010.  Where does the time go?

Here is a brief summary of what's happened in the Land of Larkins since I posted last:

1. I got a promotion at work and we moved to Little Rock, Arkansas

2. J turned 3!

3. We bought our very first house (exciting and a little scary)

4. J started dance classes

5. We got a new puppy (meet Scooter)

6. We missed home and our family (a lot)

7. J turned 4!

8.  I decided a career change was in order and set out to find a job closer to home

9. We said (tearful) goodbyes to all of our LR friends, packed up our belongings and moved home to Columbia, MO

10. I started my new job

11. J started acrobatic gymnastics

So, that's the last two years of our lives (in a very small nutshell). We're loving being closer to family, but definitely miss the friends we made along our three year journey in the southern part of the country--hopefully I'll be able to devote a small portion of my time to keeping this blog updated so they can follow along with the current adventures of the Larkins clan.


Talk to you soon!

Misty

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Best Friends

My sweet girl said something that brought tears to my eyes this week. She wrapped her tiny arms around my neck and whispered in my ear "Best friends. We're best friends Mommy." Sometimes being a mom makes you cry, sometimes being a mom makes you laugh, and sometimes being a mom takes your breath away. But being HER mommy ALWAYS makes me feel like the luckiest lady on the planet.

Much love,

Misty

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Things I'm Looking Forward To:

1. Seeing pictures of Jay's first trip to Florida with the grandparents. She got to go to Disney World and couldn't stop talking about how she took a picture with Princess Tiana (her current favorite)

2. Finishing up my current section of my work rotation. While I appreciate the unique experience it has given me, the past 7 weeks have been extremely challenging and not very fun.

3. VACATION! T-minus 5 days and we will be headed home to enjoy some well-deserved time with our family and friends before Jerome and I head off to Las Vegas on the 12th.

4. VEGAS! Jerome has never been and I'm excited to share the experience with him. We're going to see a Cirque show while we're there and I can't wait!

5. Counting down until my girl's trip to Spain with my friend Sarah. Two months, 14 days and counting...


Here's hoping you all have something fabulous you're looking forward to!


Much love,

Misty

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We are family...

 I know I promised these a while ago and have been pretty lax about posting lately, but I promise to do better :)

Here are our family pictures taken by the wonderful Crystal Courtney of Crystal Chick Photography:

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