Bedroom Bits: The Stragglers II

When the madness of May ended and I had caught my breath, I was able to finally put together some more of the smaller details of our bedroom redecoration project.

I picked up a new blanket for Betty in a great shade of purple at Ikea while we were on our super quick trip* to Portland in April!  At $4.99 I could not have made one this size for less.

 From a few sources I was able to gather some more Waverly prints in the same line as our duvet material at sale prices.  Woo!  I had tried to find those purple and grey colors in any other material and it was mostly fruitless, at least in prints.

I used photos of Delia (left) and Betty (right) to make patterns of their silhouettes. 
I was able to find these colors in woven cotton solids, also at a great discount!

Once I got the idea to do cameo-esque silhouettes of the Beastie Grrrlz I couldn't get it out of my head, so it was a matter of finding enough different fabrics that looked good together to me.  I loved the idea of a hint of trellis in the room, so that became the front/background.

I made a cord trim out of a chevron-y type print from the Waverly collection with the browns, grey, white, and purple from the duvet print to pipe the pillows' seams and used the solid purple to back them.

I was hoping to find a multicolored gimp braid that coordinated or something more dramatic than cream or grey, but had no luck in the time I was willing to dedicate to the hunt i.e one trip to one store.  To cover the seam in the gimp border, I used a covered button kit from my stash and the purple part of the trellis material.

Next up: Bottoms up!

Eric and I have discussed how we both feel more able and willing to be more playful and silly with the house decor here.  We think it's partly because this house isn't a particular style-with-a-capital-S from a particular era with any kind of pedigree and also maybe because we're somehow freed from the constraints of having a history in the area.  Anyway, so far that means resin dinosaur heads , faux bone collections, and buttocks pillows.

While I was at it, I remade this pillow that I was given by a dear friend  who got it from his aunt's place when she died many years ago.  I had removed the mustard colored backing fabric and reused the pillow form some time ago, so I was starting with just the front piece and just stuffed it with poly-fil.

I used the same handmade cording to pipe the seam and backed it with some velvet I had in my stash that just happened to be the right tones for the duvet and walls.  It took LOTS of pinning and re-pinning, but I got that velvet sewn on straight and square the first time.  YEY!

Special secret bonus shot:

Somehow dog bones and toys seem to end up accumulating in our bedroom; now we can tuck them behind these pillows if we want to before we eventually collect them all and bring them back downstairs.

 Coming soon(er or later): repaint the mirror over my chest of drawers, tackle the closet and funky half bath, and get art for the big blank walls.  Those last few might take awhile.



*We went for a couple of family birthdays, but I turned it into a F.A.R.T. (Fabric Acquisition Road Trip).